Dan Westgarth - How to establish yourself as a leader in tech!
E21

Dan Westgarth - How to establish yourself as a leader in tech!

👉🏼 About the Guest:

Dan Westgarth (COO at Deel, ex-Revolut, Expansion Capital) is the COO of Deel, building everything you need to scale a global team. Dan has been building businesses since he was 10 and is now breaking down international borders, allowing companies and workers across the world to come together.

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 20,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and runs a newsletter called Sharath's CliffNotes alongside hosting this podcast.

👉🏼 Description:

Tune in as Sharath and Dan discuss Dan's fintech career journey, the immigrant hustle, and his main customer-forward learnings.

Timestamps:
  • 0:00 | Episode highlight
  • 00:30 | Intro to Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel
  • 1:37 | Schedule of a COO: Priorities, customer support, and more
  • 3:16 | How to prioritize a new project
  • 5:18 | Dan's first business at age 10: PlayStations, cell phones, and beyond
  • 7:28 | The best part about running any business
  • 9:35 | Business lessons from 10-year-old Dan
  • 12:36 | The immigrant hustle: How Dan got his hunger
  • 15:50 | How Deel is changing the world of immigration
  • 18:09 | Dan's journey to tech and COO at Deel
  • 20:10 | How to take care of your customers so they never leave
  • 21:51 | Going from Product Management to COO Learnings from both sides
  • 22:40 | What Product Management and Ops have in common
  • 24:06 | How networking helped Dan become COO at Deel
  • 26:13 | What COOs can learn from General Managers
  • 29:05 | Dan's learning frameworks to get info fast
  • 31:25 | How to shrug off imposter syndrome
  • 33:18 | Exciting updates at Deel: automating HR, reducing admin work
  • 36:00 | Advice for people breaking into tech
  • 38:30 | Outro
👉🏼 Resources:
  • Deel: http://deel.com/
  • LegalPad: https://legalpad.io/
👉🏼 Where to find Dan Westgarth:
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanWestgarth
  • Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-westgarth-710650a4/
👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Episode Video