The Pursuit of Scrappiness

Eerik (EE) and his partner Marten (EE) co-founded Planet42 in 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. They started by borrowing money from their friends to buy and rent cars to people who otherwise would not have access to credit. Talk about taking risks. Since then, Planet 42 has raised USD 20 million from both VCs as well prominent tech entrepreneurs and is on its way to expand to Mexico this year. By listening to this episode, you will learn:How to build a sustainable corporate culture through radical honesty and kindnessHiring Mr. Right vs Mr. Right NowImportance of having the right co-founderNetwork effects fo hiring good peoplePicking the right market for your product and ignoring geographical shortcutsHow to balance running day-to-day operations of the company with fundraising and market expansionPrepare for the inevitable arrival of competition to a blue ocean by improving your own gameHow to avoid burnout while building your startupFind out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/ Support the show

We discuss 2 things that have seen a meteoric rise in March - Bitcoin and hundreds of millions of Euros in venture capital investments pouring into instant food delivery in EuropeWill Uldis spend his government stimmy checks to buy Bitcoin and why is Janis so excited about strangers in gorilla costumes bringing cookies to his apartment? Find out in the latest episodeBitcoin:Reasons why holding Bitcoin on your company’s balance sheet could be the most rational thing you can do in the current economyAnd reasons why you shouldn’t do it Tesla made more profit from Bitcoin than from selling cars, but is the current price sustainable in long term?Skip the overly technical whitepapers - 4 resources that will help you to learn more about cryptoFood tech:Why ‘dark stores’ and ‘ghost kitchens’ are not titles of shitty horror B-movies, but actually a good thing2 companies founded in 2020 raise close to 100M together to deliver groceries to your door in 10 minutesWith tens of millions of EUR up for grabs potentially in the Baltics who will do that here?Will people return to stores when Covid neds or will ‘One app to deliver them all’ rule the landHighlights of the week:A new investment fund in Baltics 51M for Estonian deep tech companySee the video content exclusively on Linkedin > https://www.linkedin.com/company/pursuit-of-scrappiness/ Questions/suggestions? Join our Telegram group > https://t.me/pursuitofscrappiness Find out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/ Support the show

In our first interview, we are excited to welcome Toms Niparts the Co-Founder and CEO of Jeff-app.com - a matchmaker between people and loans that gathers and utilizes alternative data to help unbanked consumers in Asia access financial services. Toms shares his experience of starting a business remotely on the other side of the world, tips on hiring the top talent with a strong cultural fit as well as insights into the future of fintech and consumer apps. Move fast and break things, but don’t forget to set metrics to measure what you’re breaking. By listening to this episode you will learn:Starting a business fully remotely in a different continent, is it possible?Why hiring is the #1 priority for early-stage startups and what are some practical tricks to manage the hiring efficiently and sort through hundreds of applicationsWhat growth strategies worked for Jeff in getting new customers in Asia without having a huge marketing budgetWhat are the key responsibilities of a startup CEO What chapters from Ben Horowitz’s playbook helped Toms to build his company cultureHow to balance product obsession with cold, hard metricsWhy Square just bought TidalAnd last, but not least - will having Jack Dorsey’s beard help you to fundraiseFind out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/ Support the show