This week Nick talks Ian Schenkel
Ian is an award-winning commercial leader with a proven record of delivering triple-digit global growth and successful turnarounds for SaaS businesses. Experienced in securing major contracts across government and multiple regulated sectors, and trusted as an advisor on business growth and international expansion.
Nick and Ian talk through Ian’s unconventional path into tech and cyber security, starting with his early life on a farm in New Zealand and a series of sales jobs before moving to the UK and discovering software start-ups. Ian shares how he co-founded an early CRM business, made plenty of mistakes around B2C selling and pricing, and used those failures as learning experiences. From there, he built a career launching and scaling US tech companies across Europe, repeatedly growing small teams into multi-million-pound operations and navigating acquisitions. They explore the realities of start-up life — rapid pivots, hiring the right people, learning fast, and the difference between heavy corporate operators and “street-fighter” builders who can create traction from scratch.
The conversation also covers Ian’s later successes, including a mobile app business with his brother that exploded after being featured by Apple, and his current focus on cyber security, as well as how he helps companies fix failing regions, EMEA & APAC sales strategy and go-to-market execution.
Ian’s book choices where:
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Priceless by William Poundstone
Ian’s music choice was:
Telegraph Road – Dire Straits
A Different Perspective is a Zeus podcast, hosted by Nick Searle, Co-Head of Equity Sales. Here, Nick interviews interesting characters from the world of business and finance, to uncover a different perspective.
Zeus is an independent financial services group working across public and private capital markets in the UK. We work alongside many of the most exciting businesses in the UK and we are passionate about supporting our clients. This podcast is a series of interviews with interesting characters from the world of business and finance, uncovering a different perspective.
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