Why I Joined Vetstoria – Interview w/ Jesse Quainoo
Who is Jesse?
Surrounded by an inordinate number of water bottles and electronic gadgets, our resident Drake superfan, Jesse Quainoo, nods to the rhythm from his Samsung True Wireless
Jesse’s extremely invested in what’s in front of him as he orchestrates the strategy for the sales team over the next quarter, minimum distraction guaranteed. The moment he finishes working, questions fly at him from all directions, luckily I manage to beat others to the punch and get a few minutes to sit down with him.
“We’re at a stage of phenomenal growth and any new hires will need to be resilient as we work hard together to achieve success that we can all share in.”
As the company enters a stage of hypergrowth, Jesse is now focused on hiring additional sales professionals to keep up with the rising demand for online scheduling in veterinary practices.
Jesse Quainoo, Sales Director at Vetstoria, has been with the company for 2 years. During this time, the UK office has tripled in size and relocated to a trendy south London location (next to White Cube gallery if that means anything).
The recent opening of the Vetstoria US office in Austin, Texas, also requires a monumental amount of training and strategic planning from Jesse.
Jesse’s hand-on approach keeps him incredibly busy and that doesn’t even take his family (2 kids, 3 dogs), side hustles (he also runs a tourism platform for Ghana and invests in the financial market) and gym into account. I sat down with him for a great interview where I learned more about his life and motivations.
Full Interview
1. What was your journey to being the Sales Director at Vetstoria?
Growing up, the only career path I’d ever given great thought to was becoming a lawyer. I was enthralled by the power lawyers had to shift and influence the perspectives of those around them, with nothing more than comprehensive intelligence and pure conversational skill. My education reflected this desire, leading me to study social sciences such as English, Politics, Philosophy as well as Law itself.
My interest in business really began around the time my daughter was born. I got my introduction to business when my employer at the time decided to clear out Hamilton watch deadstock at amazing prices; I’d initially considered buying one for myself until I ran a web search and found that they were still selling at full price with other retailers and even more to collectors online. So I took my paycheck and savings and bought as many as I could afford. I created a YouTube video with a link to my eBay page and sold them out online pretty much immediately. This is when I realised what I really wanted to do, develop business.
After that, I sought opportunities with start-up tech companies in industries with great growth potential; leading me to work in eCommerce, Property Services, Human Resources and now the Veterinary Industry.
The key thing that allowed me to progress as fast as I have has been listening and learning from those who were doing what I wanted to do, figuring out how to do it better and executing when the opportunity presented itself.
2. What are you responsible for in the company? What are the most interesting aspects of your role?
I’m responsible for managing the Business Development strategy and generating sales for the business. The most interesting aspects of my role involve working with multiple teams across different continents and selling the tool to meet the individual needs of the clinics we speak to.
Every region is also at a different stage in their knowledge and willingness to use online scheduling, so our messaging has to be tailored to match the market expectations. This often means coming up with imaginative ways to present the information and convince clinics to come on board. This is probably the most interesting part of my role as it’s the most challenging part of the sales process.
3. I know you are heavily involved in the recruitment process not just for sales but also marketing and support. What do you look for in a candidate?
There are 3 main things I look for in a candidate; Confidence, Determination and a great Personality. You can normally sense the strength of these traits within the first few minutes of meeting someone.
I look for these traits because I believe these are the qualities a person needs to be successful and happy within a startup company, especially in tech.
Working at a start-up is not easy, each day is different and there are going to be ups and downs. The key component to keep the company pushing forward, no matter how difficult the going gets, is to have the correct people with the right traits who’ll keep on forging ahead.
We’re at a stage of phenomenal growth and any new hires will need to be resilient as we work hard together to achieve success that we can all share in.
4. There are over 11 nationalities in a relatively small-sized company and I know you had a big part to play in this. Why is diversity important in a SaaS company like Vetstoria?
I think diversity is important in any company regardless of the size or industry. Each person has unique knowledge, insights and opinions which are formed as a result of their unique experiences. By bringing together such individuals into a team, we empower that team to stay dynamic and fresh simply as a matter of its inherent diversity.
Put simply, diversity allows us to think multi-dimensionally and this has been an integral part of our continued success as a business.
5. You are a family man with 2 children and 3 dogs. How do you view the value of Vetstoria for people like yourself?
As you’ve mentioned above, my life is very busy indeed. Having a strong balance at work and home is very important as I effectively have 5 children to care for (3 of which need a walk twice a day).
Having flexibility in my working schedule has been super-helpful in allowing me time to take care of my family whilst handling my responsibilities at work.
Working with former Vets and practice managers also has its perks in the surplus of freely available advice.
6. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned that you’d like to share with someone who is interested in joining Vetstoria?
The veterinary tech industry is being disrupted massively by innovation at the moment, the most valuable of which being innovations that provide convenience for veterinary customers.
Transitioning to online scheduling is the first gateway veterinary practices will have to pass through to modernise; this is because almost every comparable service (opticians, travel, restaurant scheduling, etc.) has transitioned to online scheduling which has ultimately lead to greater customer convenience.
The issue is, a lot of Veterinarians think online scheduling can never work for their practice because they have complex processes that can’t be replicated with a system. But as we’ve seen with the 2000+ clinics currently using our tool, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
My major lesson here is, convincing Vets to attend a demo can be very powerful, as once they see a demo, they are normally able to figure out how powerful online scheduling can be as a tool for the practice.
There aren’t many companies with as clearly a defined path as we see here at Vetstoria, and anyone joining will surely be successful if they learn and grow with the company.
7. Which book would you take with you to a desert island?
My desert island book has to be
The richest man in Babylon. These are stories about hope, determination, failure, achievement and strategic success. I read this book once a year because it centers me and allows me to apply its lessons to my problems. You can read more about Jesse’s favourite books on his Linkedin.
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