How to hire executives by scrapping the Silicon Valley playbook with Alex Fala

The latest guest on the SaaS Revolution Show is Alex Fala, CEO of
New Zealand company Vend. One of the speakers at SaaStock
Oceania, which takes place on December 6th in Sydney, he gives a
taster of the topic he will cover extensively at the event: how
to hire executives without using the Silicon Valley playbook,
which Alex deems irrelevant unless you are the hottest company in
the Bay area.


Vend was founded in 2011 and Alex joined in March 2015 as VP of
Strategy. Three months later he became CFO. In both roles, he
focused on the business and commercial side of things. By
February 2016, then CEO and sole founder Vaughan Rowsell decided
it was time to let someone else lead the company while he focused
on the product side of things, which was his passion to begin
with. Alex was put in place as acting CEO while the board
searched for a permanent one. Four months into the search and
Alex’s tenure, they figured he was the best person for the job
and kept him.


First order of business for Alex was pivoting the company
structure to fit the different go-to-market strategy he believed
was necessary to truly scale the company.


Two and a half years later, the company is 250 people strong with
half of the team based in its HQ in Auckland, New Zealand and the
rest spread in offices in London, Toronto, San Francisco,
Melbourne, and a few other places. Alex has successfully hired 7
of his 9 direct reports in the last year.


Listen on to learn:


Why he so steadfastly believes that the more traditional,
Silicon Valley, playbook does not work outside

How Alex approached hiring instead

What are the things that have helped Alex the most to keep
people aligned throughout all the different offices



Make sure you grab a ticket to see Alex Fala live in Sydney on
December 6th. He will be joined by 20 other speakers who will
cover topics like the future of B2B marketing, building true
diverse cultures, strategies for global success from a local
start and many others. Grab a ticket now


 


 


 


Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move
their business forward: 


SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
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Join the waitlist: https://saastock-usa.com/


SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS
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