Panda Q&A with Tamara Sapovalova

You may remember Tamara in previous panda years from her blogs. She is now back and raring to go in providing advice, assistance and insights into the professional working world.

Question 1: The last time we spoke to you, you were working as a business confidence coach – tell us about what you are doing now? Do you have a certain focus for your coaching?

Yes, over the years I built up a rich experience in the Startup/ Scaleup industry while working with many scaleup founders. I’m passionate about coaching and the impact that great leaders have on business performance and management strategy when scaling businesses.

I work with companies from the early stages of  scaling to the ones expanding to new territories.

Question 2: We understand you have been working with scale-ups and start-ups, what made you move into this?

I have worked with very early stages startups when I first became a coach 10+ years ago. Scaleup businesses were a natural progression. Leadership is a subject I’m very passionate about. I wish more founders realised that when they start a business, they are not only building a product and service - they are building a culture. The question they need to ask themselves is what sort of business culture are they building and the impact that this will have in the long term in their companies. Will it support and strengthen their growth or will end up bringing them down.

Question 3: What would you say are some of the few struggles professionals deal with in a scale-up / start-up environment?

When you are in the startup stages, the focus many times goes in building the company, the product, raising investments, cash flow, and the entrepreneur's forget about themselves. In the scale up stages, having a team and a business culture that will support the growth challenges of the company.

These are a few of the common things I have encountered

• Entrepreneurs consumed by their business keep postponing their holidays and social activities until the next round, until they finish the next hire, until the next milestone is achieved, until….. until…. By the time they finally get there, another mountain of milestones and pending  issues have accumulated. Therefore, their health and wellbeing is jeopardised sometimes by irreversible consequences.

• Stress related illnesses
• Depression
• Burn out
• Problems managing their teams
• Talent hire & retention
• Not changing management structures as growth occurs
• Choosing the wrong people to work with (co-founders, team, investors,etc.)
• Scaling to quickly or too slowly

As a leader, your responsibility is not only with your business but with yourself. The more you develop yourself and your team, the more chances you'll have a successful and sustainable business

Question 4: What are your plans and goals for 2019?

Work with more companies expanding abroad. I co-founded Latam Tech UK a soft landing boutique that specialises in supporting companies coming from Latin America to the UK and vice versa. This was a result of the experience we have from the Tech Awards we organised.

Question 5: Tell us more about the awards you have been setting up?

The fourth edition of Latam Edge Award will take place during London Tech Week on June 11th, 2019

In November, we launched the first edition Brazil Tech Award in Sao Paulo and on the 21st of February we are doing the launch in London.

The awards are for scaleup companies ready to expand into new territories.

Question 6: What can we expect to see from your blogs this year?

I try to have a simple approach to writing and sharing my own experiences and coaching my clients. Hopefully your readers will identify with some of them and find them useful.

Question 7: What were your highlights for 2018?

The launch of Latam Tech UK and having the opportunity to coach and share the business and personal journeys of bright and inspiring Tech Entrepreneurs.