Zaheer Jappie is the founder and CEO of CarClarity, a new car financing start-up, disrupting how Aussies buy cars and the ongoing management of this.
Hey Ziggy, great to have you back with us. For those who may not know, can you please tell us a little bit about CarClarity?
CarClarity is an online platform that connects borrowers with different car finance lenders based on the best price and loan terms for that individual’s needs. Once the best borrowing option is chosen, borrowers are guided through an intuitive online application process to secure their financing.
What sort of problems and opportunities were you seeing in the market that made you decide to launch CarClarity?
Before founding CarClarity in 2020, I spent 14 years in the fintech space at businesses including Humm, Prospa, and Plenti. Through my time spent at other start-ups, I slowly learnt more about the fast-growing fintech space and observed an unfair gap in the market, where traditional lenders were commonly placing profit margins over customers.
I quickly became passionate about finding new ways to make car financing accessible for everyday Aussies, by weaving fairness and transparency in every step of the process, and that’s how CarClarity was born!
After you launched CarClarity and started to expand, how did you approach hiring people to join your start-up?
I prioritised hiring people that would help expand the business and bring new ideas to the table, through their skill sets and previous experience. I did this by utilising my network – hiring people I already knew.
Since I had worked with these people previously, I trusted them, I knew their skill sets and capabilities that we could capitalise on, and knew they had like-minded approaches to work.
This approach came in handy not only for recruiting but for partnerships and investments too. I always made sure they shared my vision for the company and believed in me.
Do you have any tips that other founders need to consider as they approach hiring?
Hire fast. Your number one asset when starting a business is your people. You will need talented people to join your journey whether that be staff, partnerships, or investments.
It’s really important for business leaders to shift from the mindset of thinking they need to solve everything themselves. This just stretches yourself too thin, when more productive time could be spent hiring talent fast and people that expand the business and bring new ideas to the table, the quicker you can do that – the easier it will be.
For example, we hired our CRM and optimisation teams very early on which helped grow our database and played a key role in enabling growth initially.
One last question before we let you get back to it. What are the standout skills or traits when you’re looking for people to join the team?
When hiring new staff, we primarily look at culture fit and skillset. We opt for good communicators and those who can bring passion into their role and help to expand our business through their specialist skill sets.
Thanks Ziggy, it was great chatting to you again! I’m sure we’ll be catching up again in the near future.
Article originally published by The Nudge Group on 8 November 2021
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