Martin Della Chiesa
Podcast appearances as guest
Episode 34 - Martin Della Chiesa
In this episode, I sit down with Martin Della Chiesa, CEO at Skaleet.
On the podcast
Martin became CEO of Skaleet after being a board member for its investor, a New York growth-equity firm focused on B2B software, when a founder retired.
Martin meets almost every new hire for a final interview and meets new joiners in small groups for two hours.
Skaleet's biggest bank customer took 24 months to win, but new projects with it now take three to six months.
Skaleet is building a pan-European core banking platform and has not yet decided to enter the US.
If a CEO had only one job, it should be head of HR; a CEO allocates talent like capital.
A CEO's direct reports must score at least eight out of ten, because sevens hire sixes and eights hire nines.
Direct-to-customer fintechs are tech-enabled banks or lenders, not software companies, and should be valued accordingly.
Revolut's growth has turned banking technology into a CEO-level issue for European banks.
Spanish banks such as Santander moved faster because neobanks challenged them early in Latin America.
German banks now face both neobanks and foreign banks such as BBVA and Crédit Agricole entering Germany, while Trade Republic is a strong challenger.