“If the carbon footprint is the most important KPI of humanity, of the century, then why are we leaving this to excel sheet.” A female warrior who wanted to step up the game in sustainability and technology. But how did she go from a founder of male fashion to climate action? Stay tuned and she will share her story and insights.
The key insights of the interview
- Planetly and Outfittery, going from B2C → B2B
- Key learnings Anna Alex experienced on her journey as a founder
- Pressure as a founder and advice
- Anna Alex self-reflection of her skills
- Work and life balance for a founder
- Core values and company culture of Planetly
- HR Insights and recruiting process at Planetly
- Advice to founders
- View on HR for startups in the beginning
- Planetly current hiring needs
Check out the interview here!
If you want to know more, read below
Anna Alex is the proud co-founder of Planetly. It was actually from her first start up called Outfittery, that Anna got her idea for Planetly. She was curious to calculate the carbon footprint from herself and their company. She soon realised this was easier said than done. She explains that finding the answer to this question ended up with a consultant running around the company with an excel sheet asking lots of questions. Now Planetly is a driving force in the B2B market where their software is a one stop shop for carbon neutrality. She says they first analyze, then reduce hot spots and if that isn’t possible, they find ways to compensate for it in the companies. Sounds exactly what the future needs!
Anna also shared her HR insights
- Super value in having a couch
In the beginning she said getting a couch really helped with setting up the relationship from the get go and the company culture.
- Core Values
For purpose, for profit – they used this to build their performance culture, example they want to use this as a goal to have a business that brings purpose yet scale which then creates impact.
- Network hiring
Selecting carefully, as first employees are setting the tone for the culture. They love hiring through networks when possible.
- Most important traits for startups
It’s too easy to say it’s one. One needs to be open to different styles of work, different personalities. Don’t always hire the extrovert. Combining diversity is one of the most important factors.
- Most important thing for a good leader
Hiring the right people and getting out of the way.
Let yourself be inspired
Anna’s biggest advice is to just set out and try, and keep trying. Even if you aren’t successful with the first time around it is important to be resilient and stubborn. You have already done the hard part, don’t give up.
