Ep. #1137 - Empowering Shift Workers with Technology

Lauren Conaway 0:01
And we are back. Thank you for joining us for yet another episode of the Startup Hustle podcast. I’m your host Lauren Conaway, Founder and CEO of InnovateHer KC. And friends, I gotta tell you today’s episode of Startup Hustle is powered by fullscale.io. Hiring software developers is difficult. Full Scale can help you build a software team quickly and affordably. And they have the platform to help you manage that team. Visit fullscale.io to learn more. All right, friends, today we have with us a fabulous founder with a storied history, and I’m very, very excited to welcome you to the show. Silvija Martincevic, CEO of Deputy. Sylvia, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.

Silvija Martincevic 0:42
Thank you so much for having me, Lauren. It’s a true honor.

Lauren Conaway 0:46
We’re You’re so sweet. She, you know what she said, honor in pre-show prep as well. And I feel a little impostor syndrome like I don’t. That’s not even a word. But when you say that, I’m like, That’s so sweet. But no.

Silvija Martincevic 0:59
Wonderful business. And I wonder.

Lauren Conaway 1:02
We are very, very glad to have you here today. We have a lot of fun in pre-show prep, and I cannot wait to share it with our listeners. So let’s go ahead and just kick it off. I’m going to ask you the perennial question, Silvia, tell us about your journey.

Silvija Martincevic 1:17
Yes. So my journey, my latest journey, is I am 90 days in Lauren as the new CEO of Deputy. So very, very fresh. And I’ve been having the time of my life. Deputy is a global platform for managing hourly workers. We help businesses with scheduling, communication, engagement, and onboarding of hourly workers. And really, when you think about how our technology works, we serve as an all-in-one work app. And this is an incredibly, incredibly important company in an important space in the economy because we sit at the heart of the labor market and build technology for 80% of the world’s workers. You know, when you look at all of the technology that’s been built over the last 10 years for you and I, knowledge workers, we have Zoom, we have Slack, we have some LinkedIn. But when you ask yourself what kind of technology is out there for hourly workers, there hasn’t been a lot built. And so this is the last sort of corner of the economy that hasn’t been digitized. And so, Deputy Technology helps digitize hourly work. And it’s been a really, really incredible journey. And I’m so excited to build what the future of work looks like for that most vulnerable worker population.

Lauren Conaway 2:59
I love that so much. And I want to drill down a little bit on the challenges of the industry. But first things first, you mentioned that you had been with Deputy for 90 days, that is not a very long time. Can you tell us a little bit about your previous history? And what brought you to Deputy today?

Silvija Martincevic 3:20
Sure. You know, I started in the early 2000s in the investment management industry. And I, you know, I spent my whole career I’ve been working now in technology for over 20 years. And I always cared that I worked in technology and that I built companies that do well but then also do good. So this I would say, Lauren, theme technology for good has been a part of my career for all of my adult life. And where that comes from, I guess the origin story is I grew up in Croatia in late night 1980s and early 90s. During the Balkan Wars, all of my family have been shift workers their whole life. And I was incredibly fortunate to get a scholarship to come to America. So it was the first one in my family to get a college degree, and so throughout my adult life, I’ve been really passionate about building technology that helps underserved communities. And so for the first decade, I worked in the investment management industry and invested in women and minority-owned companies. And then, I spent seven years at Groupon. This was in the early 2010s when mobile technology just, you know, came out, and at Groupon, I helped build small businesses into the digital age most recently, prior to that At, I was at a firm, a firm is a FinTech company that builds honest financial products for the unbanked population, all across the globe. And so again, you know, I think that the one thread throughout my life has been helping underserved communities. And so my journey to Deputy, in a way, it’s a cheesy thing to say, but it was meant to be that I get to now obsess about how do we build technology for the most vulnerable workers. And, you know, that’s the community that raised me. Yeah, my dad is a, my dad was a truck driver for 40 years, and my mom was a shoe factory worker for 40 years.

Lauren Conaway 5:44
That’s absolutely incredible. And I have to ask, you know, how proud are they of you? Are they super proud? I feel like they should be

Silvija Martincevic 5:54
there like all my parents, when I go, Croatia, I was still 16 years old. When am I gonna come home? They feed me.

Lauren Conaway 6:05
I don’t tell you. So it’s really funny, like being a part of the startup and tech ecosystem. So my dad, either before he passed, he would have people ask, you know, what is your daughter? Do? What does Lauren do? And he would always respond, like, I think it’s something to do with co-working and office space, which has absolutely nothing to do with what I do, like very, very tangentially related. And it was one of those things where it was like, Alright, I can tell that he’s proud. He doesn’t really know why. But he’s proud. Is that kind of what you get from your parents as well?

Silvija Martincevic 6:37
Exactly.

Lauren Conaway 6:41
I get it; I get it. And again, I do. I do really quickly just want to acknowledge the fact that, like Groupon powered my 20s and my early 30s, it was like I was such an enthusiastic fan. And so not only are you were you bringing visibility to these small businesses that most of them probably haven’t really done much in the digital space. But that being said, you also empowered and broke college students to actually get out into the world and do fun things. And, you know, so thank you for that work. And of course, I’m familiar with, you know, affirm, I’m familiar with Kiva like you really the through line of your career really has been that that support piece, how do we elevate? How do we start discussions around access? And how do we talk about, you know, those underserved populations, so So I just want to thank you for that. And then I want to ask you, you’ve mentioned twice vulnerable workers. And so we’re talking about gig workers, shift workers, hourly workers, and in my head, I have my reasons why. But when you say that these are vulnerable workers, can you get more specific with that, like, talk to us about what you mean?

Silvija Martincevic 7:52
Sure. So you know, when we talk about hourly workers, who they are, they are diskless workers, they are your barista in your local coffee shop, they are a bartender in a restaurant, they are a nurse, they are a caregiver, in you know, an elderly care facility, all of these workers, because they are diskless workers, they’re not sitting at their desks, they have been forgotten in terms of, you know, being given access to technology that makes their work lives more engaging and more productive. And the reason for that, of course, is because most of the technological innovation for work has been focused on the 20% of workers that are knowledge workers. Right. And, and, and yeah, and I think it’s it’s a massive opportunity. You know, when you think about the world’s workforce, there are 2.7 billion hourly workers in the world.

Lauren Conaway 9:07
That’s so many. I didn’t actually know that. But I just want to kind of underscore what we’re talking about here. And I just want to say, you know, these hourly workers like they; these are the folks that don’t tend to be compensated as well. These are the folks that sometimes don’t get the same kinds of benefits. If they get benefits at all is like they’re their salaried counterparts. You know, these are not the people that when they start on their first day of work, you’re like, here’s your desk, here’s your computer. This is these are the tools that you can use to successfully do your job. And so the Deputy is answering that, and I’d love to hear about how the Deputy is, is serving those workers that have been historically ignored is ignored the right word.

Silvija Martincevic 9:56
Yes, or underserved,

Lauren Conaway 9:58
underserved, okay?

Silvija Martincevic 10:00
So, yes,

Lauren Conaway 10:00
so talk to us about how Deputy makes their lives easier.

Silvija Martincevic 10:05
Sure. So, you know, I’m actually going to use a story of an hourly worker that I met. You know, as I joined Deputy, I wanted to meet all of our customers. And that meant both meeting businesses but also meeting hourly workers that are using our app. And so I met this wonderful server at a restaurant in Australia, in Sydney. And it was just a restaurant, we, you know, we sat down at and, and we asked the server if she knows of Deputy and she’s like, Oh, my goodness, of course, I know, Deputy. And so I asked her, Well, you know, how does Deputy help you and what she said, it just warms my heart because what was obvious is that there was so much love for the technology that we, you know, that existed on her app that Deputy felt. And so what she said is that Deputy is a smart app for all of my work stuff. She said This is my quote, unquote, work Bible that tells me when I need to work. Where do I work? What information do I need to get from my co-workers or my manager? What tasks do I need to do that day when I join in? And then, you know, she was a Gen Z. She also said, I also know who’s going to be working with me today because there’s some colleagues I adore. And some colleagues, I tried to not be scheduled at the same time,

Lauren Conaway 11:45
because those are the team members where it’s like, you see, they’re coming into work, and you’re like, oh, man, here we go. All right, we’re gonna get through it. But it’s always good to have that preparation time,

Silvija Martincevic 11:56
like just knowing the right visibility and transparency. And she also talked about at the end of every shift; what she loves is giving feedback to her managers. So at the end of every shift that she has, she asks her how it was her shift provides some feedback, and she has the ability to do that. And so what she talked about, you know, when I asked her how many times she uses Deputy, and she said, Oh, Silvia, it’s my daily habit; I use it seven or eight times a day. And it’s one place for work. And I think it, you know, it spoke about the power of what we’re building, and it gives workers, as you said, you know, the underserved workers, the ability to understand to have a clear understanding and clear expectation of when do they work? Who are they working with? What do they need to know in order to be productive, and then it allows them to provide feedback to their managers? And so, you know, providing transparency, providing the ability to be more productive, and providing the ability to communicate, and all of those things, you know, regardless of whether you’re a desk worker or diskless worker, we all want that.

Lauren Conaway 13:20
Yeah. Well, and I think, you know, I mean, I used to be a shift worker; I used to, I used to work in the hospitality industry. And, like, as you’re talking, in particular, it’s that real-time feedback piece that I would love because you’re introducing some accountability to your management teams. But you know, I would have situations where, you know, I would be scheduled to work, and I would be the only person scheduled to work on a Sunday afternoon. And, you know, after church comes out, like, you’re going to be just right; you just know that your life is going to explode. So like feedback could be Hey, you know, you might want to schedule more folks for the Sunday afternoon shift, knowing that this is going to happen, or, I mean, is that the kind of feedback that that yes,

Silvija Martincevic 14:05
that’s exactly right. And, you know, we talked about hourly workers, but the technology also helps employers begin to look at, Oh, I over-scheduled or I under-scheduled; they also get to track their feedback and then notice, wow, my labor costs are going up because my, my employees are leaving after three or four months. So currently, I just spent last week in New York, Lauren, with a lot of our customers like Estee Lauder, Blanc, st. Coffee and Dunkin Donuts, and repeatedly with every single one of those customers, told us was we need more communication features within the app to better communicate with our employees. Yeah, like this engagement is everything. Sure, give me the workers, and of course, we know this given the fact that unemployment is at the lowest rates in the last 50 years; unemployment is currently at 3.4%. Yeah. And so, you know, employers are really looking for ways to engage and retain their employees.

Lauren Conaway 15:16
Well, and I think that that to me, at any rate, you know, I haven’t been a shift worker or get or a gig worker for quite some time. But I think that, from what I remember, one of the things that would have made my job and my life so much easier, as you said, it’s that communication piece. And not just because it helps you get stuff done, like I can work this shift, or I can’t, but there’s a feeling of agency. I feel as though like when you are able to be a part of a team and a part of a process, and you have ownership around your role, your responsibilities, but then you see how that relates to the whole, like, the conversations that you’re having with your management teams like having that two-way conversation, that dialogue rather than a monologue. I imagine that must be really, really refreshing in a space that doesn’t see that kind of communication as easily or as often as we might like. Is that what you’re hearing from your customers? Like the fact that, hey, I’m a shift worker, but my opinion and my thoughts are valued in this in this company? Right.

Silvija Martincevic 16:27
100%? You know, we, we asked hourly workers over the last month, what matters to them? And what we found, Lauren, just like you and I, who sit at our desks, wasn’t us knowledge workers. hourly workers want the same thing. Sure. Flexibility, they care about transparency, they care about being valued. They care about growth in their career; this matter to them that matter to us. And, you know, the number one thing as I continue to talk to workers all across the world, really, because we operate across 100 countries out, what we are hearing is that what hourly workers need the most is flexibility. Or in other words, what you said, which is an agency, they want to be able to sort of plan around the planet, their work, and their life outside of work in a seamless fashion.

Lauren Conaway 17:29
Yeah, well, and I think that we’re kind of in this period of social sea change right now, the way that we are viewing employment, or at least in the States, I don’t know how it is globally. But you know, I feel as if the pandemic brought about this greater focus if anything good can be said to have come from a global catastrophe. I would think that workers do feel more empowered now. Because they saw their value. Those frontline workers, yes, people who have been historically underrepresented, and they haven’t, all of a sudden, they became our conduits to the outside world; they were the reason that we could survive, they were the ones who are getting us our food, who are getting us our products which were, and these people are so long, they were just kind of this silent majority that we didn’t really think much about. And then all of a sudden, they’re put into sharp perspective, like we are very hyper-aware of these workers, right? And so the fact that there is a technology and that there are companies like Deputy that are working so hard to bring that, that kind of empowerment, that kind of security, that kind of psychological safety to an industry in an area where that has not historically been the case. It’s really beautiful to watch, you know, you shared one of your customer stories, but you know, talk to us about the feedback that you’re getting from? Well, actually, I want to hear about the feedback that you’re getting from the companies, you know, they’re getting that feedback from their employees in real-time. It’s easier for them to broadcast messages and fill shifts, but what are they saying about this? This whole new world order that we’re engaged in?

Silvija Martincevic 19:20
Yes. And, Lauren, you nail this; I think we all, as a result of COVID, have seen frontline workers power our lives when the rest of us were hidden in our houses. Yeah. And so I think because of that, what we have seen across the world, but especially here in the US, is that there is both more emphasis on how can we empower them to be more productive and more engaged, but also we have seen that governments in certain states have started to think about it. Are there regulation regulations that we can put in place to protect and empower both workers as well as employers so that, you know, the whole economy can thrive more? As I mentioned before, these workers are the majority of workers in any economy in the world. And so you know, a few things that our customers are, are, are worried about. Number one, they know that, you know, on average hourly workers are in their workplace for eight months, which means the bit that employers have turnover 100% every eight months, wow. So they are unbelievably worried about retaining existing employees, but also recruiting and onboarding really quickly, new employees. And so we just add the many demands of our customers have just launched a new hire product, which is a product that helps companies recruit new hourly workers, but also onboarding product that basically with one click of a button allows you to onboard you know, in a self-service kind of way, where an employee can onboard themselves onto the company through the deputy app. And so that’s been a huge focus. And then the other focus is what I mentioned, a lot of emphases on we need to communicate better with our employees, we need to give their feedback faster because they’re seeing that the more that they listen, and the more that their employees are engaged, it benefits to the company because you cannot have happy customers. If you don’t have happy employees, it starts with that.

Lauren Conaway 21:53
Absolutely. I absolutely, absolutely agree with that. Like everything that you’re saying, I’m seeing the skies open up, and shafts of sunlight are coming down. And I hear a choir of angels singing because you’re absolutely right. As we all know, happy teams make happy customers and happy customers make profitable happy companies. So this is very, to me, it seems very logical. You know, something else that feels very logical to me is finding help when you need it outside. And you know, one of the things that we talk about in Startup Hustle a lot is software development. You know, finding expert software developers doesn’t have to be difficult. I know you think it does, but it really doesn’t, especially when you visit full-scale.io, where you can build a software team quickly and affordably. Use the Full Scale platform to define your technical needs, and then see what available developers, testers, and leaders are ready to join your team. And it is literally that easy. It kind of freaks me out sometimes. But you can visit full-scale.io to learn more. Friends, we are here today with Sylvia Martin Chevak, CEO of Deputy. And we’re talking about we’re talking about shift workers, gig workers, and hourly workers and how we can help them be empowered in the workplace. That is not something that we have talked a lot about as a society. And now we have reached a point in time where yeah, we need to start taking it seriously. Because we have realized how vital these individuals are. And really kind of how shit upon these, sometimes these workers have been. And so you know, come out of that, come out into the sunlight. Friends, we are here to support you, and the Deputy is here to support you. Now I want to ask you, Silvia, you just recently rolled out a new product, a new hire product devoted to onboarding. And I think we all know that onboarding can be a really crucial part of the hiring process. Companies that have strong onboarding procedures also have higher retention than their counterparts, who do not do a lot of good work around onboarding. So So, talk to us about some of the new things that you have coming down the deputy pipeline, if you can talk about it. But you know, you’re, you’re really, you’re relatively new to the role. You know, Deputy, it sounds like they’re growing; what are some of the things that you’re working on, some of the things that you’ve recently released to enhance the product?

Silvija Martincevic 24:17
I can’t; I cannot reveal all of our secrets. But

Lauren Conaway 24:23
we will not. We’re not going to hold you to any of this, don’t you know? Let’s not violate any NDAs. But whatever you can share,

Silvija Martincevic 24:31
of course. Well, you know, I want to go back to what you said earlier, which is that we are it’s in such an interesting trajectory, and the future of work is being written right now. Not just knowledge workers but also hourly workers. And then when I look at some of the things that are happening on a macro basis, you know, we all are talking about AI currently, and we know that as time goes on, AI will disrupt a lot of workers as well, but mostly knowledge workers. And so, as the CEO of Deputy that supports hourly workers, I know that we need to build a platform that can continue to expand globally. Because as AI penetrates our economy, I actually think a lot more knowledge workers are going to become gig workers and are going to become hourly workers. And so, number one, I want to build for scale. We are a company already; we operate across 100 countries. But I want us to continue to build our team and continue to build our technology that can help the world’s 2.7 billion hourly workers. The second thing that I know, the trends are leading us to which is, you know, how do workers get paid, you know, this notion of like, once a month or twice a month, overtime, that’s going to go away, we know that, as Gen Z and Millennial workers become the majority of the hourly workers, they will want to be paid right away. And so that is something with thinking about, like, how do we build technology that can, you know so that it can be the one place for time and money instantly when you need it. And then the last thing I’m gonna mention is that we know that hourly workers work many different gigs at any one point. And today, every time that you go from being a barista in one place to being a waiter in another place, you have to spend hours and hours and hours uploading your background checks and, right you know, rewriting all of your personal information

Lauren Conaway 26:48
It always seems so redundant. Like you have to do everything time and time again, I’m like, Why? Why have we not figured this out? There has to be a more efficient way to do this.

Silvija Martincevic 26:59
So we are working on it.

Lauren Conaway 27:02
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I’m giving you folks; I’m giving her a huge round of applause right now. Know what that is? Absolutely. That’s incredible. And I, you know, I’m just going to redirect the audience’s attention really, really quickly because I saw something really interesting happen around shiftwork and gig work. And, you know, we’re talking about the fact that here in the States, we’ve started kind of changing attitudes around this work. And one of the things that I found, I actually found it hysterically funny, but what would happen, you know, for the longest time, I’m going to use a McDonald’s worker, as an example, you know, we would have somebody who would come in, they would start working at McDonald’s, and people would be like, you know, you can’t make $15 Now, or you can’t make more hourly rate if you don’t like it, go find another job. And then what happened, particularly with the rise of the great resignation, and the pandemic, but you know, we started to see that these workers they did they left, they were like, Alright, I’m gonna go find a job where I can, you know, make more money, and I, that was knowledge, jobs. And then all of a sudden, all of these people who were like, go find another job were like, wait, no, not like that. And it just made me giggle. Because it was like, you know, the thing that you’ve been scared about this whole time, like it’s happening, you know, they call your bluff. And I always found that so interesting. Because historically, we just didn’t see a lot of empowerment or respect for these particular roles. Now, one of the things that I’m kind of trained to notice, they, you know, because of what I do through innovate her Casey, we serve women and gender minorities, as our as kind of you things for that lens. And I think one of the things that I’m really excited about from what I’m hearing with Deputy is that it can be a great equalizer. You know, if you are a gig worker, a shift worker, you’re still dealing with things like unconscious bias, you’re still dealing with things like lack of access. And so talk to us a little bit about how Deputy can help workers equitably. In justice-oriented ways, and equality-oriented ways, how they can better find work better relate to their teams. Talk to us about that.

Silvija Martincevic 29:26
I love that question, Lauren. Because I think it’s at the epicenter of how the Deputy sees these workplaces. Yeah, people, that’s what’s good for workers; it’s good for the businesses. That’s the philosophy, right? If you empower your workers, that will be good for your bottom line.

Lauren Conaway 29:44
Right.

Silvija Martincevic 29:47
And so, you know, what, what’s been wonderful, Deputy, given the fact that we operate all across, you know, the world we have seen in different countries. Different worker protections. And, of course, a deputy was started in Australia, which is one of the highest highly regulated labor markets on the planet. And so, you know, we built this product for hourly workers in one of the most highly regulated markets. And we’ve been doing that for the last 14 years. So what we’ve really built for employers is any configuration that they may need to comply with local laws and regulations to comply with fair pay regulations. Again, because we were built in a market that really values that worker segment. And so we’ve seen what we’ve seen in America. As I mentioned, I alluded to that earlier; a few states and cities have now started to enact Fair Work Week regulations. And it is a big deal because you cannot comply with the regulation unless you have technology. So we do for businesses provide that compliance technology so that they can comply with any variety of the regulation. But also what we are seeing is that some of the employers themselves are saying, you know, what, I don’t want my managers to be scheduling all of my workers because we all know we’re human. We have biases; we want to smart scheduling. So this is a feature that we built recently using AI. That eliminates bias that may flinch bias. And again,

Lauren Conaway 31:37
we require of Angel singing as you’re speaking but continue.

Silvija Martincevic 31:42
As we all know, right? I mean, you talked about it; you worked in hospitality; I did, too. And you need to be a friend with the hostess at the tables that you know we are

Lauren Conaway 31:54
working back-end deals, you’re like, I will do all of your side work for a month if I can not have that section right there like that is 100%. That’s what was happening.

Silvija Martincevic 32:05
And again, we’re all human. And so technology can be the great equalizer, as you said. And so we’re seeing that our customers are starting to use smart scheduling to eliminate that bias from their workplace.

Lauren Conaway 32:18
Yeah, I love that. So there are so many things that I’m excited about; I kind of wish that I still did hourly work so that I can, like, why do I need to figure out a way to do that? Now? So one of the things that I’m really curious about, you know, not every company, not every Founder who is listening to this episode, is going to be able to use a deputy. It might not make sense for them; they might have, like all knowledge workers on their staff, you know, what have you. And that’s, that’s fine. You know, of course, the first thing that we’re going to recommend to our listeners is if you are looking to empower your gig worker shift workers, use Deputy give it a Shot, you can find the link in the show notes; I promise, it’s going to be right there to click. But what if you’re a founder who doesn’t necessarily operate in this space? What are some tips and tricks we always like to give actionable insight? But what are some ways that using Deputy as a kind of model? What are some ways that our founders at home can empower their teams? That’s a big question. I know, and so I didn’t kind of spring it on you. So if you need me to vamp for a little bit, I’m more than happy to do so.

Silvija Martincevic 33:32
Know what, Lauren? It’s a beautiful question. Because it gets to the essence of who founders, who CEOs, who they are, and who we are, we are at the most basic level leaders of people, and servant leaders of people, and best teammates, you know, I say I say to my teammates, a deputy, that I am their Deputy. And, so, you know, I think what we said earlier, building the right culture and taking care of your people, taking care of your team is the most important foundation for any business success. Read founders that are listening, you know, I would I would ask them, how are they? Regardless if it’s hourly workers or knowledge workers? How are they ensuring that their teams feel belonging? How are they ensuring that there’s trust within their workplace? How are they ensuring that whatever strategies, you know, they think they came up with, how do they bring their teams along? As we all know, as CEOs and founders like? We are better when our ideas get filtered and bounced around with our toes,

Lauren Conaway 34:57
the more connectives you have at that Table, the more, the better your end result is going to be because you have countered for all experiences, and we talk about that a lot around. Well, I love that so much, Sylvia. And I think, you know, the fact is the through line of Deputy because what deputy VA does, it uses technology to fulfill a function, and that function is that psychological safety piece, that communication piece, that equitable engagement piece, like that’s what Deputy does. Those are things that every Founder can take back to their teams, even if they’re not using the deputy technology. And so I love that you’re able to pull that out from what you do because that’s what you do. You know, you are a technology product. But really, you are a culture driver. That’s what the Deputy does. And that’s what it is. And I just love that so much. And I have loved our time here together today. But I am about to ask you the human question. Are you ready? I’m ready. So, friends, you can’t. You can’t really see this, but I’m looking at Silvia right now. And she has this really beautiful, really fun, vibrant piece of art. In the background. I can only see, like, probably what looks like about a quarter of it, but it’s really cool. And so I clearly know you value art. Looks like you’re a vibrant, artistic person. Talk to us about your favorite. I’m gonna say talk to us about your favorite artist. I was gonna say a piece of art. But talk to us about your favorite artist.

Silvija Martincevic 36:34
I actually have to say that my favorite artist is the artist that did this little piece down here.

Lauren Conaway 36:43
Okay, I did see that it was kind of hiding over your shoulder a little bit. I see it now.

Silvija Martincevic 36:49
It is my daughter Bella. Bella has been in a probably since she was 18 months. She loves to draw. She loves to paint. She loves to build anything when with her when her hands. She loves to do she’s incredibly creative and artistic. And I love when she draws our family but through interest in creative ways. So I’ll give you one of my favorite art arts that she did. She drew our family as flowers. Down daddy was a huge sunflower.

Lauren Conaway 37:30
What were you? What were you? I need to know. Coffee

Silvija Martincevic 37:33
cuz I am warm. I was popping. Oh,

Lauren Conaway 37:36
that is lovely. Well, and how creative. I mean really like family as flowers. And you mentioned that she likes to do things with her hands. She likes to build, and I’m like, up chip off the old block. That’s just like Mom’s Mom likes to build, maybe not with Legos, but definitely with ideas. So you can see where she gets that for sure. That is really cool. And now I’m picturing you as a puppy. And that’s how I’m gonna picture you from here on out. Well, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to speak with us today. Sylvia, it was a blast learning about you learning about the Deputy. Thank you so much for taking the time. We’re really, really grateful.

Silvija Martincevic 38:16
This was a lot of fun. Lauren, thank you so much for having me.

Lauren Conaway 38:19
Absolutely! And friends, something else that’s fun. I don’t know if you need to hire software engineers, testers, or leaders, but Full Scale can help. They have the people in the platform to help you build and manage a team of experts. When you visit fullscale.io. All you need to do is answer a few questions and then let the platform match you up with fully vetted, highly experienced software engineers, testers, and leaders. At Full Scale, they specialize in building long-term teams that work only for you. Learn more when you visit fullscale.io. And friends, I’m going to point it to Founder Fridays with Frank. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this yet. I’ve mentioned it a few times here on the show. But we don’t often the hosts of Startup Hustle. We don’t often get interviewed on the Startup Hustle podcast, and in this case, we did. We ran a series called Founder Fridays with Frank. Frank is a culture expert. And he sat down and talked to each of us Startup Hustle hosts about building culture at our organizations and how important that is. So I’m going to point you to that. Take a look at our catalog of episodes. We’ve got a bunch on there. We’ve been doing this for a while. But definitely check out Founder Fridays with Frank if you want to hear some really great insights from the other Startup Hustle hosts all about building culture at your organization. I’m very proud of my episode, but more so than that, I learned a ton from the Matts and from Andrew and their episodes, so give us a listen, friends. We are extremely grateful that you continue to come back week after week and listen to our stories and hear from the founders, making it work. We hope that you continue to do so, and we will catch you next time.