#19 Leading the World’s Largest Online Workplace (UpWork) and What is The Future of Work with Gary Swart

06/25/2020

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Gary Swart is a tech and healthcare investor at Polaris Partners and a former executive with experience in general management of all size organizations, including leading sales, operations, staffing, and strategy.

Up until April 2014, Gary was the CEO of oDesk (UpWork now), the world’s largest online workplace. He guided the company to industry leadership and through a merger with eLance, while serving as a leading voice for the future of work and the emerging online work industry.

Gary is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build their businesses, where he regularly shares his knowledge and provides mentorship on how to craft a successful path with fellow business people and anyone building their career.

His past positions included:

-VP of Sales and Operations at Intellibank, a SaaS collaboration platform

-Business Unit Executive (SMB Division), IBM Rational Software

-Director of Corporate Sales, Rational Software

-Western Region Sales, Pure Atria

Gary is an expert in the future of work, fundamentals of management, effective interviewing and staffing methods, entrepreneurship, online marketplaces/platform strategy and sales/go-to-market

During this interview we cover:

Going through a merger and getting acquired by IBM
Leaving IBM and Gary’s career path criteria
Growth and development not to steep that you go off of the cliff
Turning down an offer on Netflix as employee #3
Why you should consider merging with a better business model (oDesk & eLance merge)
User Experience as the best marketing tool.
Insights on the Future of Work and the landscape after COVID-19
Hiring talent criteria as a SaaS founder
Investing trends surrounding Healthcare and Technology
Adding value to a company post-acquisition
Productivity and effective leadership habits advice (Hint: ABR)

Book Recommendation: