Interview with Holly Cardew
Closing Down 2 Tech Companies, Challenges Hiring Agencies, And The Benefits Of A Distributed Team With Holly Cardew.
Today’s guest is Pixc’s CEO and Founder Holly Cardew
Holly has a really interesting story and has basically been a lifelong entrepreneur. It’s always great to speak to the pure breeds, but it will come as no surprise that she has had her fair share of challenges along the way like most entrepreneurs.
We discuss how her first 2 tech businesses didn’t work, what she learned about market validation from these experiences, and what she learned about working with development agencies.
We also talk about working with distributed teams, Pixc utilises a team of all remote workers, and we discuss the pros and cons of this set up during the episode. But don’t call it outsourcing, Holly doesn’t like the term outsourcing and you will hear why in this episode.
We also talk about Holly’s time in San Francisco, Holly still goes back there regularly, but for those who haven’t been there and are interested in what it is like, Holly provides great insight.
You can find Holly at:
You can find Pixc at:
Show Notes:
03:55 Can you tell us what Pixc does?
04:45 Do people often do a poor job of putting their pictures together on online retail channels?
05:50 How do you go about building a distributed team?
08:05 What was your first experience like with outsourcing work?
11:40 Where did you grow up?
13:40 What was your first entrepreneurial act?
14:15 What was school like for you?
17:30 Were you a born entrepreneur or did you develop into one?
20:35 What did you do when you finished school?
21:55 What was your first day like in a foreign university where nobody spoke English?
26:15 Did you have a lot of confidence at a young age to put yourself out there?
28:15 How long were you in London for?
29:15 How did you first start approaching business in Rural Australia?
33:45 When people ask you what the tough times are that you have been through in your career, what do you say?
37:45 Do you remember the moment you realised your first business wasn’t going to work out?
40:40 What would you do differently from a project management perspective if you had your time again?
42:05 How good are you at moving on?
44:25 What’s so good about San Francisco?
48:50 Why don’t you like the term ‘outsourcing?’
52:00 How do you get people who are remotely located to buy into your vision?
53:55 Do you think it is harder to build a remote team than a co-located team?
55:05 What are some of the pros of having a distributed team?
59:00 Where would you tell people to start if they are hiring a remote team?
1:03:00 What is your relationship like with self doubt?
1:04:55 Are there beliefs within the entrepreneurial space that are widely accepted that you don’t agree with?
Resources, and Companies Mentioned:
