What It Means to Put People First | Ben Stephenson, CEO of Impala (Series B)

What does it mean to put 'People First' in a fast-growing company? Meet Ben Stephenson, CEO of Impala—a company building a suite of travel APIs that make building travel tech a lot easier. In this episode, Ben Stephenson explains how he went from Seed to Series B in six months, how the pandemic affected their travel-focused business, and why hiring a head of people made a huge difference in building a remote-first culture. We also discuss the importance of inviting your leaders to the conversation.  Key links: Impala website: https://impala.travel/ Ben Stephenson profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-stephenson-13032b33/ Key timestamps: [01:47] What happened in TechStars? [07:07] How did you approach your Series A? [08:52] How did you raise Series A in less than a month? [10:37] How did you raise a Series B 6 months later? [14:47] What happens when you get a global pandemic in travel? [16:48] How do you shape culture in a remote environment? [23:51] Why do you use external search firms [25:51] What has been one of your most significant learnings as a CEO? [30:58] What can we expect from Impala in the next few months? Thanks to Jens, Jean and Julian (all the Js) for their great input. Got feedback? Email us on [email protected]. And don't forget to hit follow/subscribe so you don't miss out on new episodes.