The Deloitte partner who left and became CEO of a fintech startup
Kareene Koh is the current CEO of BrickX, a Sydney-based fintech company using fractional investment to help Australians better access the property market. Prior to BrickX, Kareene had a trailblazing consulting career with over 8 years at Deloitte Australia, where she became a Partner at Deloitte Digital. We sat down with her to ask her about her journey from high-flying corporate to hustling startup CEO.
You spent more than 8 years at Deloitte Digital, eventually becoming a partner. After two decades in corporate why did you change scenery?
I had learnt a lot of skills as a consultant. As a consultant I worked in a lot of functions such as strategy, design, and customer experience — I had lots of experience across a lot of domains that I believed were very relevant to startup life. The opportunity to step in as a CEO at BrickX took on a lot of these skills, so I decided to take the leap!
Being a startup CEO is also not entirely different from being a consultant. When you’re a consultant every day is different. As a CEO it’s similar — I might have a loose idea of what happens day to day but things change quickly and often you just need to adapt and roll with it.
What similarities are there between being a partner and a startup CEO?
There are many similarities to what a partner does at a corporate firm however the context is very different. Being a partner is essentially being one of many business owners. In some ways this is similar to being a startup CEO as you’re also a business owner and you’re there to grow the startup.
On the other hand being a startup CEO is very different, I spend a lot of time on the strategy of our organisation as a startup CEO. I also spend a lot of time with the team building a strong team culture and building out an ecosystem for our users at BrickX. There’s definitely a lot more “big picture” leadership going on. I think the other key point of difference is that as a start-up you don’t have the brand and industry reputation of a large corporate so you spend time working on your partnerships and ensuring you are differentiating from traditional players.
Are there any similarities in the responsibilities of a partner and startup CEO?
I would say that as a partner, though you have metrics to meet and it’s a slow burn, the focus of your day-to-day work is primary on serving your clients. The definition of success and therefore your responsibilities are quite different from a startup CEO.
But in the world of a startup CEO your success is quite binary — your company flies or it falls. For example, your startup hits high month-on-month user growth or it doesn’t. This type of goal is a great way to rally a team and create focus in your business as everyone is clear on what success looks like and motivated for the same outcome.
Why did fintech excite you?
Coming from Deloitte Digital I’m naturally very passionate about tech and concepts such as innovation and disruption and having had the corporate experience fintech is a natural space to play. But I don’t really see innovation and disruption in just industries such as fintech and proptech — innovation can span across multiple traditional industries using different types of technology.
What career advice do you stick by?
All of the decisions I’ve made have been about pushing me into another space. What I care about is when I get out of bed I’m excited and learning, I’ve never made a decision based on trying to earn a higher salary, gain more status, or receive a more prestigious title.
I believe that if you instead focus on learning you’ll have a rich career and rich experiences in your personal journey.
What is one thing that you think makes you so successful?
I work very hard and I always have. I’m very driven. If I don’t understand something I’m not afraid to ask questions and put the effort in to understand it.
For example, when I started working in Deloitte Digital I was suddenly leading engineers even though I had no programming abilities. I had to take the time to learn their language and ways of working so that we could deliver against our goals.
But I am also someone who relies on building a strong team around me. I am a visionary. I need team members who are detail-oriented so for me it’s been about building a team to compliment my own skills and shortcomings.
Nobody is ever successful in their own right. Very rarely do people achieve things on their own, and I think the notion of a hero startup founder is just not true. Look at your weaknesses and build your team around you. Always wonder to yourself: Have I got the cross-section of the capability that I need in this role? Do I understand the context of the work around me?
What food could you have for the rest of your life?
Chocolate, cadbury dairy milk, of course! Nothing but the original :)
This piece was written by Visakhan of Textbook Ventures — we organise startup events, write newsletters and cater exciting activities for student entrepreneurs across NSW (sign up to our weekly newsletter and check out our Facebook to stay in the loop!)
