Launching our San Francisco office

A month after we officially opened our West Coast office in San Francisco, I finally found a few minutes to take a breath and reflect on the sheer size of this project! Our continued success in Life Sciences from our East Coast hub in New York has really helped to guide our strategy for growing out San Francisco, but it isn’t until you physically get here that you realize the enormity of this project! Its big!

As we suspected, getting the right launch team together has proven to be vital and after a few bumps in the road, a blend of industry experience and hungry Berkeley Alumni looks to be the winning ticket!! Perhaps as important has been the nurturing of the culture of the San Francisco business. We want to make sure that when you walk into any of the Meet offices globally that you feel at home, there is familiarity – the types of people we hire have a lot in common and are perfectly matched to our core values. But we are in California after all, the people here are pretty laid back and yet thrive on the outdoor space, the weather is unique, I’m wondering where everyone has gone at 5pm everyday?!?! - San Francisco doesn’t play by any rules that I know of! It’s a learning curve of course, but we are getting there – it’s exciting!

Developing our networks is the final part of the jigsaw – leveraging our successes across the US that our New York office has achieved, but also forging relationships with the masses of businesses that adorn the Bay Area fills the day. The approach to recruitment here is vastly different to what I am so used to. Cutting your teeth in London and the wider European regions will definitely give you a couple of aces in the pack, but beware of complacency! Relationships are key, and they are not born over night!

Our launch goals we agreed from London haven’t changed – further hires are being actively sourced by our internal recruitment team and once in place we will be set to finish the year with all bases covered, where we hoped to be, ready for the next phase and a massive 2017!!