My name is Huw and I’m a start-up nut.
I’ve got 10 years under my belt scaling tech companies in Europe.
I write about my experiences and learnings taking startup businesses from inception to exit.
I’m currently available for advising engagements.
Huw Slater: Scaling Businesses and Unlocking Human Potential
Currently, I’m the COO and co-founder of Oliva, where we help businesses unlock their employees’ full potential. Think of us as the support team behind elite athletes—just for your workforce. We tackle the critical need for enhanced employee well-being and performance in today’s competitive world.
Before diving into Oliva, I served as the COO at TravelPerk, joining when revenue was around $1 million. Together, we rode the rollercoaster of hypergrowth, faced an existential crisis during the pandemic (that was fun), and came out the other side stronger. Along the way, we attracted investments from DST, Kinnevik, Target Global, Spark Capital, Greyhound, and others.
Prior to that adventure, I was the CFO at Typeform from Series A through Series B funding. We managed to quadruple revenue and expand from Europe to the U.S.—turns out people everywhere like engaging forms! Our growth caught the eye of investors like Point Nine, Index Ventures, Connect Ventures, and General Atlantic.
My tech journey kicked off at Box, where I was the VP of International Finance and Operations. I was part of the team that took the company from startup to IPO, scaling international revenue from zero to $100 million. Not too shabby for someone who once thought “the cloud” was just bad weather.
Before embracing the fast-paced tech world, I spent a decade at a FTSE 10 company, ending up as the Finance Director of a $5 billion division. It was a fantastic learning experience, but let’s just say slow-moving isn’t really my jam.
Throughout my career, I’ve been passionate about building and scaling businesses that make a meaningful impact. At Oliva, I’m excited to continue this journey by helping organisations get the best out of their most valuable asset—their people.
I stay awake dreaming about:
Scaling companies - velocity, focus, decision making, high performing teams, capital allocation, fundraising and everything in-between
The Future of Work - hybrid, remote, office based and how these and other tools can help people perform at their best whilst living their best life
GOAT - how ubiquitous internet access will change the global talent market by enabling the true GOATs access to the best jobs
“Win and help win”
— Balaji S. Srinivasan
I advise and invest in start ups because I love to see the ecosystem grow and succeed
Being a European based exec for Box, a US HQ’d Enterprise SaaS company, was an experience like no other.
Always out of sight of HQ, things are just harder to get done, but the goals no less lofty.
What a celebration the Box IPO was after a long slog to get it over the line.
Typeform has the most incredible viral adoption so we had a fantastic tailwind for growth. But virality only gets you so far.
With a “prosumer”/SME customer base, managing retention and then finding new go-to-market routes was critical
At Typeform our offsites were a little different ;)
A black swan event like Covid can be pretty life-changing as an exec. Years of work, evaporating overnight.
Leading through a crisis isn’t something I chose, but the amount I learnt in those 18 months was incredible.
Growth isn’t always up and to the right, no matter how great the product market fit