I joined a company, at the time called TransferWise on the last day of April 2018. It was relatively unknown if you had no need of sending money cross-border, and its brand was overshadowed by other prominent fintech companies such as Monzo and Revolut then.
(For the sake of clarity, I will use Wise instead of TransferWise for the company; it is the same company after all. All the people mentioned were colleagues at Wise.)
My motivation was clear. I wanted to find out how a so-called unicorn scales, before its eventual IPO as Wise (which I wasn’t sure if it were to come). Not many companies in London were at that stage, and I had no intention to relocate elsewhere for work. Wise was a perfect match and perhaps the only match at the time that I was able to join (thanks to Steve, Dave and Harsh not saying no during my interviews).
I would be lying if I say I knew exactly what I signed up for on that day, or in the following three years. What I do know is ‘til this day I continue to benefit from my learnings from Wise.
This series is my report card for my time at Wise. In true Wise spirit, I aim to offer my candid view on a number of topics.
- Part I: Missions and Values
- Part II: Autonomy in the DNA
- Part III: All about People
- Part IV: Engineering Organisation
- Part VI: Other Strategic Topics
- Part VI: Not just about Work
- Part VII: Closing Thoughts
(^ Lovely people of TransferWise at Summer Days 2019 ^)