Squadra

Squadra is starting the year strong, with Dr. Christoph Kaup joining our collective of 60+ leaders to be hired by the hour as mentors, or the day as #fractional executives. 📩 benoit@squadra.soy 👇 Time to meet Christoph 🇩🇪 ---------- Christoph is a seasoned executive with a distinguished career spanning consulting ( McKinsey & Company), private equity portfolio companies, and leadership roles in e-commerce and tech (CEO, CCO, and other executive positions). He brings deep expertise in Consumer Goods, Retail 🧱 , and Automotive 🚘 from his consulting background, complemented by extensive experience in PE-backed B2B, B2C/D2C businesses, and a NYSE-listed e-commerce marketplace. Christoph has successfully led diverse #transformations, including scaling high-growth businesses, executing performance turnarounds, and driving digital transformations - with a focus on profitable growth, operational efficiency, and margin optimisation. A passionate advocate for people excellence, Christoph combines an analytical mind 🧠 with a talent for building high-performing teams, shaping scalable business models, and driving organic and inorganic growth to create outstanding companies. A very warm 🤗 welcome sir. Looking forward to working closely together in 2025. Enquiries at 📩 benoit@squadra.soy

It is my great pleasure to welcome 🤗 Philippe Laroche to Squadra as our latest #executivecoach member, completing an already very strong practice of trained and highly experienced leadership coaches with strong foothold in Paris, London, San Francisco 🌉 and Berlin. With a fast growing number of founders and businesses understanding that investing in personal growth directly correlates with high performing teams and operations, we are better equipped than ever to support startups and scale ups as they transform. A big up to Julien Delpech, founder and CEO at INVIVOX for connecting those precious dots 😘 Now on to Philippe...✍🏼 ------------------------ 🌟 Executive Leader & Transformative Coach Philippe Laroche brings over 30 years of leadership excellence , combining an illustrious executive career in Life Sciences with a proven track record as a transformative coach. 🌍 Renowned for driving organisational change and business growth across multicultural settings, Philippe has held pivotal leadership roles where his strategic vision and operational excellence delivered exceptional outcomes. 💼✨ Fluent in French and English 🇫🇷🇬🇧 and certified at ICF Level 2 by MOSAIK, Philippe leverages his extensive executive background to coach startup founders, managing directors, and senior leaders in mid-sized enterprises. 🚀 He specialises in addressing critical challenges such as: - Aligning vision during shareholder transitions 🤝 - Resolving governance conflicts ⚖️ - Preparing organisations for sale while preserving value 💰 - Accelerating growth while safeguarding identity and values 🌱 - Guiding strategic C-level recruitment 👔 With his hands-on executive experience, Philippe empowers leaders to navigate complexity with confidence and drive transformative results. His approach combines strategic foresight 🎯, integrity, and a commitment to measurable impact, making him an invaluable partner for leaders aiming to thrive in today’s dynamic business environment. Welcome and fantastic to have you onboard Sir !

We're just 2 months away from The Customer Conference in London on 30 January, where an incredible line-up of speakers is coming together to kick off 2025. Join me! You can register here: https://lnkd.in/dDqjq5u9 with my discount access code - TCC4SPEAKERS

You will find countless 😱 reports on why most AI initiatives fail to deliver return on investment. Rather then flooding you with those, I would recommend listening to the latest interview of David De Cremer, author of the AI Savvy leader, by Dave Stachowiak host of the Coaching for Leaders podcast 🎙️...t.ly/qKYtt Below is a webinar we rolled out internally at Squadra as we take on more mandates to come in and augment C-suites in getting AI transformation ready. I am convinced of a few things. Any AI transformation stems from strategic value creation. For customers, employees, suppliers and investors. In this regards, re-reading the book from Felix Oberholzer-Gee called "Better, Simpler Strategy" is not a bad idea. The CEO AI savviness is essential. For non technical CEO's, this can feel quite overwhelming. Still, this is a pre-requisite to success. AI is a means. Not an end. Paraphrasing David De Cremer. Hope you will enjoy the story we did put together using Storydoc. Thanks Frédéric Bénard Simon P. for your very precious guidance and contribution. https://lnkd.in/gZ934esA

🚦 Is AI governance our new "traffic light" moment? AI safety and governance were front and center at last week’s Global AI Safety Summit and EU in the Bay event, and I particularly enjoyed Professor Stuart Russell's thought-provoking insights on AI at the EU in the Bay event. Here are some highlights from his panel discussion 🤓: 🛑 Don’t Wait for a Catastrophe We can't afford to wait for a "Chernobyl moment" to regulate AI. We demand safety assurances for medicines and nuclear plants. Just because there is an absence of assurances with AI shouldn't mean that AI must not meet stringent safeguards before deployment. 🟢 A Universal Traffic Light System for AI? What if AI could be labeled with a simple, universal risk system—akin to red, yellow, and green traffic lights? This approach could help people instantly recognize and trust the risks or safety of AI-generated content worldwide. 🔧 Hardware-Enabled Governance Could embedding controls into hardware itself enforce safety standards and limiting misuse? 🔍 Transparency is a Human Right From Europe to California, the need for transparency is gaining traction. Everyone deserves to know whether they’re interacting with a human or an AI. ⚠️ Addressing AGI Risks Professor Russell warned about the early signs of AGI-like behaviors, including systems replicating themselves without human oversight. Much like the Manhattan Project's thresholds for nuclear weapons, AI governance must include clear global boundaries to prevent existential risks. These insights highlight the complexity and urgency of crafting global AI governance frameworks. The stakes are HIGH, and the path forward demands collaboration between policymakers, academics, and industry leaders. Special thanks to Lucilla Sioli (European Commission), California State Senator Josh Becker, Professor Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley), Sarah Heck (Anthropic), Daniel Privitera (KIRA Center) and Anne Joséphine Flanagan, MBA (Future of Privacy Forum) for sharing their expertise as well on the panel. 🙏 It was also a delight to reconnect with Senator Becker and Sheila Leunig, my fellow GC friend who is also passionate about AI governance. Events like these remind me how critical—and collaborative—this journey needs to be. ❤️

Should Tinder and Bumble brand-extend into the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) space? Probably not. But I would argue that hiring isn't so different than how we build new personal relationships. Join me a week today at 13:00 GMT to talk more about The Art of Interviewing and how to set yourself up for hiring success in 2025. 👉 Registration link: https://lu.ma/9r2w7z8l

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🚀 **New Squadra Newsletter: Focus & Clarity in High-Pressure Situations** 🎯 --- Want to know how Roger Federer and Steve Jobs mastered the art of staying calm and focused when everything was on the line? 🧠 In this latest edition, we explore the mental techniques that top performers use to make sharp decisions under pressure. 💡 Plus, try this basic 4-4-6 breathwork exercise to enhance your focus 👇 1️⃣ Find a quiet place 🛋️   2️⃣ Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds   3️⃣ Hold your breath for 4 seconds   4️⃣ Exhale slowly for 6 seconds 💨   5️⃣ Repeat for 2 minutes 🧘♂️ Discover how this simple technique can improve your decision-making today! Have a fulfilling week dear reader. Share your comments and practices in the thread. ---

🚀 Exciting News from Squadra 👾 I’m thrilled to introduce two incredible additions to our 50 + on demand leaders' collective with Frédéric Bénard and Simon P. officially joining us respectively as part-time and mentor. Both bring deep expertise in AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI, further bolstering our capabilities. At Squadra, we’ve assembled a team of exceptional AI experts, including Frederic Chanay & Stephane Rossi, allowing us to help startups and scale-ups unlock strategic value through AI. Whether it’s education, strategic insights or hands-on delivery of proof of concepts, we are ready to deploy our squad and help businesses transform with AI. 💡 If you're looking to accelerate your AI journey, from strategy to implementation, let's connect! #AI #GenerativeAI #Startups #Scaleups #Innovation #AIstrategy

This is how Arnab Naskar, founder and CEO of STOKR ( more on Stokr 👇 ) describes his mentoring experience with one of our Squadra member and CEO in residence Arthur de Catheu ( founder of PixCapital ). Arnab, 🙏 thanks for your trust Arthur, what a pleasure to have you onboard 😘 More on STOKR ------ STOKR empowers asset managers, fund managers, and issuers to tokenize a wide array of financial assets, streamlining the process of raising capital in the digital investment landscape. Since 2018, STOKR has facilitated major fundraising efforts in real-world asset tokenization, featuring projects such as the Blockstream Mining Note, BASIC Fund, and Aquarius Fund. To date, STOKR has supported the raising of over US$80 million. More on Arthur de Catheu ------ Arthur, formerly a leader in Private Equity and a pioneer in Fintech, has transitioned into a passionate supporter of the gaming and Web3 sectors. He excels in revitalising mature tech companies through secondary investments and driving growth by backing blockchain VC funds and startups. As an angel investor, he promotes innovation and demonstrates entrepreneurial spirit through hands-on investments. 😎 *Arthur's superpowers* Fundraising | Leadership | Product market fit | Scale Hire a mentor by the hour t.ly/PjCsc