Founder interview
Hedi Mardisoo, CEO & Co-Founder of Cachet
Founded in 2018 by Hedi Mardisoo and Kalle Palling, Cachet is building an ecosystem of services that enable platform economy and lifestyle. CEO Hedi has previously worked as Head of Corporate affairs at Swedbank and as CMO at Starman, a large telecom in Estonia. COO Kalle, in turn, was a member of the Parliament of Estonia from 2007–2019. Cachet aggregates and enriches cross-market data from gig platforms to enable businesses like insurance companies to sell better-priced and personalized coverage based on the gig workers’ real work hours. I had the pleasure of chatting with Hedi to know more about her learnings as a founder as well as Cachet’s journey so far.
What sparked the idea to found Cachet?
Hedi:
Gig workers and platform workers are currently faced with a big problem of not being able to access tailored and reasonably priced insurance products. The first problem we tackled was Uber, Bolt etc ride-hailing service drivers’ unfairly expensive insurances. The issue concerns especially those doing it part-time or just a few hours per week — their insurance is as expensive as it would be if they’d be working full-time. Gig economy is about having the ability to decide how much, where and when one wants to provide services but the same logic doesn’t unfortunately apply to insurance products. At Cachet we’re focusing on how we can help to make insurance products quickly accessible, reasonable, more personalised and flexible for gig and platform workers.
A full-time teacher who wants to earn some extra money in the evenings as a courier shouldn’t have to pay the full insurance. So we’ve created a solution where we take into consideration the gig workers’ working hours, when and where they’re working, the worker’s track record and so forth. We then use that information for the insurance pricing; we make the insurance much cheaper, and by doing so, we allow lots of people to continue providing services on gig-basis.
So that’s where we started and now we’re moving to add different services in order to get more data and build new products. We just launched Urban mobility insurance which focuses on the person, unlike the other bike and scooter insurances out there. This means that instead of insuring your rideable, you insure your own health and any damage you cause to others. An accident with your bicycle, e-scooter or any other city rider poses the greatest risk to you, the human. The other involved party may also suffer the same kind of damage.
“It is so incredibly amazing to look into the way the platform workers are working and realize how stupidly stiff and outdated the current 9 to 5 logic is and how big potential there is to change the world.”
What have been the biggest learnings during your time as a founder?
H:
I’ll give learnings from two sides, one from the personal side and one from the domain that we’re in. First the biggest learning from the personal point of view: being a founder is exactly as amazing, fun and challenging as I hoped it would be, while at the same time being as hard and difficult as I assumed it would be. There are always the two sides of the coin; the thrill of it and the cost of it, and they have to be on a constant sharp balance. This is something that I kind of guessed before becoming a founder but is proven to hold true.
From the product and the domain side: we were really surprised by how colourful the pool of people who provide platform services actually is. We could write a book about these amazing stories that people tell to us; lots of teachers, poets, advertisement people and so forth, who do gig work for very different reasons. It is so incredibly amazing to look into the way the platform workers are working and realize how stupidly stiff and outdated the current 9 to 5 logic is and how big potential there is to change the world. This is what makes me and my co-founder Kalle wake up in the morning and do the work we’re doing.
What do you do when you hit a wall and are unsure on how to continue?
H:
Well, it depends on the wall I’m hitting but usually the first thing is to try finding people to talk to; someone who shares similar experiences. Often I don’t even have to look further than to my co-founder Kalle. I also have a big network of friends who are entrepreneurs and have built startups.
My second strategy is to go to my cottage and do some crazy hard physical work which really helps to clean my head and take myself to a completely different place, not just physically but also mentally.
What advice would you give to founders looking for their first hires?
H:
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. My background is in banking and IT and hiring there was very different. Today, when we’re hiring people the key things we’re looking at are competence, background –not only the educational background but also if they’ve worked or studied in other countries; what kind of things they’ve combined in their career and more importantly, do they have the drive to come and work in a same speed that we as founders are working and do they have the motivation and passion that makes their eyes spark to make a change, learn and go through the walls with us. It is also very important to find someone with solid startup experience. My one top tip for first-time founders is to try to build a team with diverse backgrounds.
“ …it’s not about “take our money and leave”; we’re getting not just money but also additional experience, advice and brain power. If you want to run fast, you need more than money; you need expertise and someone who is part of your team.”
What advice would you give to founders looking for their first funding?
H:
One thing I’ve told other founders looking for investors is to find people that you actually want to work with, who understand you and make you feel like they are on the same team from the get go. I can easily say that all of our investors at Cachet are like that. With our investors it’s not about “take our money and leave”; we’re getting not just money but also additional experience, advice and brain power. If you want to run fast, you need more than money; you need expertise and someone who is part of your team.
Before joining Icebreaker’s portfolio we did our “due diligence” and asked other portfolio founders’ experiences to understand how Icebreaker is as an investor. And so far we’ve been extremely happy and feel like we are on the same team and it has overall been a very pleasant journey.
“We’re always running in the speed of light and thinking “we should do this and that and that’s not done and this could be done better” but when you stop and look back at what you’ve achieved, what kind of team you have around you and all the things you’ve already done, and put those on a paper, that’s when you feel proud.”
What has been your proudest moment as a founder so far?
H:
The proudest moments aren’t necessarily involved around any specific events. Often those moments happen when you look back at things. We’re always running at the speed of light and thinking “we should do this and that, that’s not done and this could be done better” but when you stop and look back at what you’ve achieved, what kind of team you have around you and all the things you’ve already done, and put those on a paper, that’s when you feel proud.
A great example of a proud moment is when sitting surrounded by the team, talking about the company’s future and everyone’s eyes spark — people get excited and start throwing ideas and you realize that “wow, this is a team of amazing people that me and my co-founder built”. I’d say that every day when you take the time to look back you’ll have those proud moments.
What is the best advice you have ever gotten?
H:
One of the best pieces of advice has been to know your competitors and understand the market you are working in but not to compare yourself to them or try to fit into what they’re doing and instead follow your own vision and dream.
What are you most excited about in the upcoming months?
H:
We’re slowly starting to fundraise so that will definitely be a fun ride itself. Other than that, we just launched a new product line which I’m extremely excited about, it’s a good one. And obviously the new markets we’re currently exploring are also very interesting and exciting. There is definitely something to look forward to.
About Cachet
https://www.cachet.me
Cachet is a financial services marketplace for gig workers. Cachet aggregates and enriches cross-market data from gig platforms to enable businesses like insurance companies to sell better priced and personalized coverage based on the gig workers’ real work hours.
Founders: Hedi Mardisoo & Kalle Palling
Founded: 2018
