"We take our work very seriously, but we don't ta…

"We take our work very seriously, but we don't take ourselves too serious." - Podcast 59: Rachel Peck, Chief of Staff, Harry´s (the Startup that bought a 93 year old German blade manufacturer, only 10 months after founding.)

Rachel Peck is Chief of Staff at Harry's, a fascinating and very young company in New York, that aims to revolutionize the men's shaving market and are known for buying a 93 year old German razor blade manufacturing company, only 10 months after the start. Recently, Harry's has raised (another) $ 112 million in venture capital. The company has earned nearly $ 1 billion in valuation in the 5 years since it was founded.

We had a very warm welcome in their not only attractive, but also smart-designed new workspace in New York and talked to Rachel about how she, as a young girl from Columbus, Ohio, went to study English literature and theatre before moving on to a PR job and later joining Harry’s as the Executive Assistant to the two founders.

She shared with us her clever trick to find the right job, how Harry’s used data to design their workspace, what they learned from Herrmann Millers' “The Living Office” concept and why she sees ‘Onboarding’ as the most underrated tool.

At the end of the conversation, we surprisingly switch roles and Rachel challenged us with two important questions: “What did you guys learn from the podcast so far? And who do you still want to interview but could not get in direct contact with so far?"

All the answers and the diverting conversation with Rachel you get as usual via:

SPOTIFY spotify.onthewaytonewwork.com

SOUNDCLOUD soundcloud.com/onthewaytonewwork

And ITUNES itunes.onthewaytonewwork.com

And all book tips here books.onthewaytonewwork.com

With Christoph Magnussen and Michael Trautmann

Shownotes:

Before we’re talking about your company, let’s talk about your story! (ab 1:40)

How could you buy a company in Germany 9 months after your founding? (ab 5:00)

What are your business Values? (ab 7:20)

What is the concept behind your office Space? (ab 8:10)

How does your personal day look like in an open space office? (ab 11:50)

How does your working culture feels like? (ab 15:00)

What kind of Tools did you use? Did you change any and how do you teach them? (ab 16:30)

How do you handle your onboarding? (ab 17:00)

How do you structure workflows with your international offices? (ab 26:40)

Do your Founders keep up with their employees? (ab 30:10)

How do you integrate your german team? (ab 32:20)

How do you organize yourself? (ab 33:40)

What are the differences between founding in San Francisco and New York? (ab 39:00)

Where do you get your inspiration from? (ab 40:00)