Ozwald

ex-m&a deal guy working in tech (startup/scaleup)
sharing corporate realities and real truths
🇺🇸🇬🇧

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

This stuff blows my mind.

I’m not doing enough nor am I thinking big enough. How do I fix this?

[dalibali @dalibali2]

XAI dude just bought a 70M house in hillsborough at 31. how do u not feel poor no matter what u make or do for a living?

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

And he’s absolutely right.

One edge about doing smaller deals is that you are able to get all over the deal & learn absolutely everything about it - on bigger deals, there’s ultimately a lot of process management & bureaucracy that can sometimes distract you from the real action. If you can become a sector expert in the “little” niche you’re working in rn, you’ll attract interest believe me - people love deal doers. Seeing deals as reps is absolutely a great framing

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@tunguz Dude shoulda just done Hyrox and got on with it

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

I follow a few Instagram models - wow, the lives they lead.

Yachts in St Tropez, VIP in Ibiza, zooming around the Mediterranean. Wearing house deposits as handbags and jewellery.

Hard not be jealous (even with everything considered)…

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@AutismCapital They’re on that cool drug - mobile phones

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

Totally - did a similar path myself. It 100% gives you an education in best practice, process management and also company politics - all skills which become increasingly critical in startups especially if they take off

I’ve worked with a lot of scrappy, high energy hustler operators from non-IB / consulting backgrounds who do really well for a couple of years but then burn out / lose enthusiasm cos they struggle with the scale journey - it’s unfortunate but banker types usually kick on from here

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@AutismCapital Great sum up. No idea how we reverse outta this

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

Kinda like the early Gymshark approach

[Front Office Sports @FOS]

Sorority sisters are now "campus athletes," according to Nike.

Nike has been in college sports locker rooms for decades. Now, the brand is sponsoring sororities during rush week: “18- to 22-year-old females are powerful cultural forces on college campuses.”

[anna-sofia @annasofialesiv]

guyana is the anthropic of nations

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

Usually the best filter for that is diversity of experience - hiring traditionally biases towards favouring people with long tenures but those who’ve jumped around DO know how to adapt and learn new things - the hiring question then becomes about testing commitment & actual competence

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@PaulSkallas Scary in what way?
Maybe society should digest this fully & everyone respect the role fathers play in their kids lives. It’s become too disposable for both men and women.

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@AlanJLSmith I don’t really think anyone wins. For builders, is there more margin in refurbs or house building?

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@FT What does this actually mean?

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

If hiring for early employees at a tech startup, I’d filter for the following:

1. contrarian opinion, but degrees matter - it shows a kid is academically smart and can commit to hard things. It’s not the full story tho, exceptions exist.
2. kids who’ve done part time jobs from an early age. restaurants, bars, cleaning, admin, cold calling, leaflet distribution - it all counts. These kids usually have grit & strong ambition.
3. any kinda side hustle - vibecoding, tiktok accounts. shows initiative & curiosity

[Sokosumi @Sokosumi]

@ClimbngThePole @erenbali How do you ID these people?

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@erenbali Just hire type A high energy kids who love the dopamine of getting shit done - it’s hard but it’s also simple to ID these people lol

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@zamdoteth It IPO’d for €8bn - as I said, big operation lol

[Ozwald @ClimbngThePole]

@zamdoteth You’re basically talking about a company like Rocket Internet - that was their exact model. It was a big operation