#59 with Rachel Peck, Chief of Staff for Harry's

"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)