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Meet Philipp Becker: Beamery’s New CFO

Announcing new executive hire

The key to success, post-Covid predictions, and changing nappies...

Beamery recently announced its most successful fiscal year to date, signaling that even during a global pandemic and year of unprecedented change, one thing was certain: the world's largest and most recognizable brands were looking to transform the way they engage with, nurture, and hire talent in order to remain competitive and resilient.

To oversee its continued growth, Beamery announced the expansion of its executive team with the appointment of Philipp Becker as Chief Financial Officer.

Philipp brings more than 15 years of extensive experience to Beamery, having served as VP of the Technology, Media and Telecom team at Barclays and Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director at HelloFresh, the world’s leading meal kit delivery company, where he saw sales grow from €20mm to over €1bn. He also served as CFO at Tourlane, a top tech company disrupting the tour operator market.

We chatted with Philipp about his reasons for joining Beamery, common denominators of success, the future of work, and life at home with a six month old.

You have incredible experience running financial operations and tech teams at Goldman, Barclays and HelloFresh. Given all the companies you've witnessed grow, what have been some of the common denominators of their success?

It might sound cheesy or trite, but experience has taught me that success is all about people. The right people make the right things happen. Hiring them, keeping them motivated with a strong vision and purpose, and organising the business around an operating system that keeps teams focused, fast and entrepreneurial, really makes a difference. Where I’ve seen incredible growth and success, has all come down to the people on the inside making it happen day in and day out.

What attracted you to want to work at Beamery?

I personally came across the problem that Beamery solves for way too often. Finding and engaging with talent when the need arises is difficult at best. So when I first learned about the business, I immediately bought into the concept and thought, 'finally someone is talking about solving this issue with the right approach'. When I found out more about the business and its data centric-approach to building a talent operating system, I was sold. Not to mention that even though my recruiting process was fully remote, I really genuinely like all the Beamery team members I have met so far; there is this consistent, confident, entrepreneurial and data driven attitude that permeates everything.

What advice would you give to fellow CFOs when it comes to the Future of Work and finding the best talent in the marketplace?

First and foremost, 'implement and use Beamery!' In all seriousness, Beamery helps CFOs manage business risk, ensure hiring predictability, and better resource projects by giving leaders better visibility into current and future talent, their skills and aspirations. But also, 'make sure you know what person you are really looking for, what the must have and nice to have capabilities are'. And finally, 'get involved in the recruiting process early on and really work closely with your Talent acquisition team and business partners.’

What advice would you give to other financial leaders in today's economic climate to ensure success?

Usually, cash is king. In today's world, cash is more than that, it's literally breathing air. Companies need to be prepared for the fact that macro factors might swing in any way. Therefore, you need to be prepared to create as much runway as possible for your company via prudent spending and fundraising where possible. The mix of those initiatives is very much dependent on your company fundamentals. I firmly believe that post Covid, there will be a chance for greater disruption and new winners will emerge. To be in the group of potential winners, you need to invest in product and people today.

What's been your favorite indulgence while spending so much time at home over the past year?

I have a 6 month old daughter. Does changing nappies count as an indulgence ;-) ?

Haha - yes, it sure does! Any parting advice for other first-time dads out there?

Uff, I definitely need advice on this myself but I would say be sure to enjoy every second, get really good noise cancelling headphones and resign yourself to learning the baby shark song.