The combination of 2019 memories and 2020 aspirations is something to be very excited about. So, I have asked the team of Vaulters to share their most important memories and learnings from 2019, and I am starting it off :).
Monel is wowed by the networks, yet again!
Since the beginning of DiligenceVault, the power of network has been constant, and most recently connected us with our lead investor. It all began in 2016 when a former Citi colleague (Person A below) intro’d me to Person B.
Person B intro’d me to Person C who invested in DV and also nudged me to contact Goldman Sachs for our next round. After Person C’s second nudge, I sent a cold ping to the team at Goldman Sachs to present DiligenceVault as an investment opportunity. This cold ping was reciprocated.
Three takeaways:
- It’s crucial to build a network with a sense of abundance, a network that makes and takes introductions, and a network that is persistent.
- It’s important to recognize the element of luck involved in a good network at work – you need to be at the right place at the right time – had Person A and Person B not met, this path wouldn’t have materialized for us. The train, of all places!
- Observe and learn from your network – who are the risk takers, who nurtures, who takes a risk on you, and on whom you can take a risk on. Develop trust and depth in your network!
In 2020 and beyond, we look forward to giving back to our network… So please reach out if we can be of help!
Sofia digs conversations
“A year of learning, hard work and FUNd diligence with clients. As I hold a client-facing role and have the pleasure of speaking daily to DiligenceVault clients, I have learned the differences on how each client perceives what is “important” to them. Some care about functionality, others about UI, but the common denominator is everyone cares about a conversation. Conversation, as a two-way street, where we can discuss the current client processes and how these can be digitized (and converted to DiligenceVault language). A tip of the month for all the Client Success folks out there: have an extra phone charger!”
Minal aces UI/UX, cooking is WIP
“When I joined DiligenceVault, I quickly learned my strengths were in logic and writing scaleable code but my CSS and design skills were as poor as my cooking. After joining, I have seen the impact of good UI and both these skills have improved drastically. Still working on the cooking. I like the team meet-ups we get to have once in a while. Hoping that in the next meetup in 2020, we get to meet the global team. Where you at, NYC team!?”
Bill takes off the training wheels
Where did the decade go! 2019 was a year of new experiences and growth for both me and DiligenceVault. After riding shotgun and observing other team members provide demos and navigate the entire sales process, I took the training wheels off and began to do demos on my own. I learned to handle difficult questions I did not know the answer to with a lot of, “Uhhhh, let me look into this” and “I am having a memory lapse let me get back to you.” Thankfully, I learned quickly and I am grateful to my colleagues for their guidance and continue to learn something new everyday. I am in awe of the engineering teams skills and wizardry and love having firm wide calls collaborating with them and connecting the dots between the users and product.
Bhautik loves client-driven development
“Representing DiligenceVault at the Abu Dhabi fintech event was a great experience for me. As a behind the scenes, backend engineer meeting users and showcasing the product was a real highlight.
Working in a close-knit team with open channels to sales and client services helps me understand the requirements to make the product more powerful. I’ve learned more from client queries than I ever thought I would. I love helping people solve issues!
Austin questions questions
“Questions! I’m beginning to believe the world is fueled by questions, 2019 certainly was (thanks partly to our inquisitive CTO, Nitin Khosla). Interview questions, on-boarding questions, training questions, product questions, sales questions, just to name a few. But I can’t stop there, I’ve realized it’s a theme throughout. At DV, we ask a ton of questions and we answer even more. Feature questions, tech questions, IT and security questions, pricing questions, and a lot of great adoption questions.
Further, our platform is created to digitize questions, answer questions, collaborate internally for those questions, rate the questions, and understand all of the answers to the questions. Ahhh, questions.
Anjali loves flexibility
“Working with Diligence Vault taught me multifarious things. My mentor guided me so well I believe I am this productive just because of that. I have enjoyed the flexible work schedule and that here the employees get valued much. I felt excited when we won the annual Global Fintech Hackcelerator in Singapore and that we have been shortlisted for HFM Global’s US Technology Award 2020”
Hemant missed the Goa trip
I have learned many things over the past year at DV. I learned new frameworks which was amazing because I love learning new (and useful) things. I have learned how one can chase perfection in many iterations because the first iteration is almost never perfect. I have also learned how to keep work and life in balance and not to let any of these affect each other.
For me, 2019 has been very interesting, challenging, fun and even sad sometimes (because I missed Goa trip :p). Overall it’s been an amazing year at work.
Heidi gets technical
As we close out 2019, I look back on a huge year of growth and celebrate four years with a company that is driving needed innovation in the investment management industry. My training and background include financial analysis, portfolio management, and business development. At DiligenceVault I have learned a whole lot about technology.
Not so long ago, I thought “ghost” was a way for talented people to have careers as writers, leveraging someone else’s name to sell the content. Now, I am well familiar with the Ghost open source publishing platform since I have used it to blog on subjects relevant to the DiligenceVault community. I no longer ‘chat’, I Slack. And I’ve traded in Bloomberg for a CRM system.
Nitin gatekeeps the focus
2019 was a seminal year. Being announced as a winner at a global platform (Singapore fintech festival) was a joyful and memorable moment. On the other hand, when a few team members have unwavering commitment to accept/agree on many feature requests from clients, it is full of lively soap opera moments internally.
Conflicting moments have helped us discriminate better in the way forward. Joyful moments were a gift to balm over the conflicts. Looking forward to the next year of drama and excitement as we execute on global growth.
