Slava Kremerman is the co-founder and CEO of Zen Educate, a startup connecting schools with available substitute teachers via its platform.
Founded by Kremerman with Oren Cohen, the startup says it has tripled in size year-on-year since its 2017 launch. Substitute teachers looking for roles in the UK submit information to the Zen Educate app. They are then matched with a suitable role.
The London-based startup secured £29m in Series B funding in May this year. Kremerman has previously held leadership and senior positions at Nutmeg, Barclays and Aon.
Prior to founding Zen Educate, Kremerman co-founded Zen Locum, a platform simplifying that connects locums with pharmacies and opticians.
In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A, the Zen Educate boss discusses being a “big believer in stress-recovery cycles”, why pride shouldn’t get in the way of a founder CEO handing over the reins, and why there is never a perfect time to start a company.
1. Which role was the most important early hire you made?
Slava Kremerman: My most important hire would without a doubt be my co-founder. So many of the founders I speak to end up in a difficult situation due to the breakdown or misalignment of the co-founder relationship.
We were very upfront about what we wanted to achieve and how we would go about achieving it. We also had frank conversations about what would happen in the inevitable instances where we didn’t agree with each other – this way we felt prepared with how we would deal with success, but also failure.
2. What advice would you give to a first-time founder?
SK: There is never a perfect time to start a company, there will always be some milestone that you think will make the timing right, but in reality you’ll always rationalise away the timing not being right.
Just go for it! You want to tell your grandchildren one day about the person you were not the person you wanted to be. Take the leap!
3. When should a founder CEO pass the baton on to a new chief executive?
SK: When running a company, it cannot be about ego, this is how companies can fail. It is essential that a founder has the ability to step aside when they are no longer the person to take a business from current levels of scale to the level they want to get to.
I try to be mindful and ask myself every year whether I’m still the best person to help the company achieve our goals. When the answer is no, I’ll be the first to step aside, because the success of Zen Educate is too important to let personal pride and ego get in the way.
4. How do you prevent burnout?
SK: I’m a big believer in stress-recovery cycles. There’s a reason professional athletes don’t train 24/7 – you’ll never get any stronger or faster. Similarly, if you are stuck in a constant stress cycle at work, you’ll never be able to do your best work.
In a world that promotes the always-on founder, I’m a big believer in making sure I’m building in time for recovery – whether its time with family, sleeping well, and/or exercising. I understand that this is very much easier said than done, but it is important to remember that you cannot be an effective leader and manager if you are burnt out.
5. Excluding your sector, which nascent technology holds the most promise?
SK: Climate change is something that I am deeply concerned about. If I weren’t working in education, I’d be working on solving the climate crisis. A truly transformative technology that I am excited about is fusion, as it would be a clean, endless source of energy.
It would have a truly transformative impact, improving lives everywhere – and I like to think we’re not as far away from it as we might believe.
Founder in Five – a UKTN Q&A series with the entrepreneurs behind the UK’s innovative tech startups, scaleups and unicorns – is published every Friday.
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