What do you do each day at work?
Each day is different but every day is about problem solving. We are at a critical stage of our business life cycle and we need to find innovative ways to grow our user base, so a lot of my focus is going into that.
We are a tech-based business so I also spend a lot of time on App development.
One of the many benefits that technology introduces is the ability to generate data and to use that data in real time to inform strategy and benefits, so I ensure that we have the right data and we can use that data to make business decisions.
Finally, a business is nothing without its people, so I focus on building a strong team and culture.
What led to the development of the Panda app?
A combination of things. Firstly, mental health [disorder] is a pandemic. It is estimated that almost 1-billion people suffer from some form of mental disorder, and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
There are amazing resources that exist but there are still so many people in need of support or who don’t know how to seek support. At Panda we believe mental health care should be accessible to all and we are setting out to do exactly that.
How did you cope with lockdown and how did it affect the way you work?
It was a complete adjustment but I was fortunate that I could continue to work throughout lockdown. The beginning stages of lockdown could be overwhelming but speaking about anxiety and trying to understand as much as I could helped ease that over time.
At first it was difficult to balance family life and work life until we put more structure in place to adapt to the new normal. I was very thankful to our parents, who played a critical role in helping us balance work and in ensuring that we had some assistance in looking after our little boy.
What lessons did you learn from your work with Uber that helped with the development of the app?
1) How to build a two-sided marketplace: Similar to Uber, our Forest [live-audio sessions] is a two-sided marketplace. We have ensured that the Forest has a supply of professionals by contracting with a group of counsellors and psychologists who run support sessions from 10am to 10pm. This ensures that a new user will see activity and can participate in live support sessions while our user base grows.
2) We use data wherever we can — we leverage and measure every data point we can to better understand our user base and improve the app experience.
3) Move quickly and iterate quickly. We began app development in July and launched the app in October.
4) Every detail matters. We use the app regularly and attend directly to customer issues to ensure that we can resolve issues as quickly as possible.
5) Uber taught me to think big and have bold aspirations. We have global aspirations with Panda and we believe we can become one of the leading players in the space globally.
What is your go-to career advice?
Like everything in life, hard work pays off. Don’t do what’s expected of you; find ways to go above and beyond and differentiate yourself from your peers.
