Edmond Mammy: why I joined Passionfruit

The feeling of being part of a bigger vision, a bigger mission, is the thrill that drives the decision of most entrepreneurs to take the plunge and early employees to essentially take a gamble on these founders. It's that collective goal, that we are all trying to change the world in a sense, whether we are the founder that creates the vision, the investor that believes in it or the early team that helps bring it together, a career in this space offers more than just a nice pay and fancy perks.

This is a career observation that fortunately came early for me whilst at university and once introduced, there was no ambiguity about what I wanted out of my career. I have been fortunate enough to explore various angles, such as venture capital and looking at startups from an investor's perspective with Creator Fund & Northstar Ventures, Founder trying to bring alive my own vision, and the numerous positions placed in and around startups.

Nonetheless, when shuffling through various applications and interviews, Passionfruit stood out. Passionfruit's mission made sense and can be summed up in a simple phrase “Making Work, Work for Everyone”. The world of work has been changing drastically and employers have been losing ground, especially amongst the Gen Z population, looking for a new alternative to run their professional lives. It's no secret and with countless friends who have chosen to begin side hustles, open businesses and adopt high income skills. In addition to the growing shift towards the route of freelancing that incentives with the packaging of greater pay and flexibility. 

The trend is not slowing down, but rather on full pace growth, with the supply of freelancers only looking to increase, and since the world was placed on pause and companies forced to rethink their workplace structure, with many for the first time working remotely, employees are reimaging work

Now, I understand that for the big companies, those with hundreds and thousands of employees, it’s a challenging transition, however, for a start-up, creating that new way of working climate is what allows you to get the new wave of talent through your doors and the requirement of flexibility and speed is what allows such tremendous growth. If you agree, then Passionfruit is what you need, a marketplace that connects you with vetted specialists in three simple steps, as quick as three days. Passionfruit's approach is not random placements based on algorithms, but connecting vetted people, done so in interview styled discovery and chemistry calls to make sure your startup hires the right one.. Or like Jose said ‘The Special One”.

To that, Passionfruit's ability to incitive Richard (a friend of mine) to join them from the comforts of Uber was another factor that intrigued me. However, it's the founders! A conversation with the founders Raffi and Issah are what got me out of my seat wanting to join. The founder's explanation of where they are now, where they want to be and the execution required is enough to get anyone pumped. It's clear cut, and I have said it before, but 10 minutes is all you need with these guys. Furthermore, this felt like the correct next step in my journey and when I was faced with the daunting choice of the stability of a big company or an early staged startup, Passionfruit's, team, mission and trajectory made it an easy decision. 

I am in an exciting environment, that's constantly evolving and can’t wait to see what it will look like even a year from now, so keep track as I’m sure you will see us shaking the trees soon.