Interview with Dean Sadler, CEO at Recruitment Software Provider: Tribepad

Tribepad is a specialist recruitment software provider. We were founded in Sheffield, but we’re now a global company, with our software used by more than 25 million people and available in 16 languages worldwide.

Our products range from our award-winning talent acquisition suite to video interviewing, onboarding and contractor management systems. We work with medium and large organisations in the UK and globally including the BBC, Subway, Tesco and public sector organisations.

We’re deeply passionate about technology and the role it can play within the workplace. So, at the beginning of 2020, we launched Tribepad Ventures. This new £1m fund will champion new ways of thinking and encourage the next breed of work-tech entrepreneur. This is all part of our plans to place Yorkshire at the centre of tech excellence.

Tribepad Ventures aims to attract work-tech businesses at the incubator and accelerator stages of their life cycles. Those businesses will receive advice to help refine their ideas, scale the technology and build out business plans. They will also have access to seed capital, technical support, and business coaching.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
It’s all about reimagining the world of work. Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen huge changes in the way companies, large and small, operate. And it’s thrown up huge challenges in how businesses manage and hire people. For businesses looking to start out, or simply cope, they need better solutions and they need capital to get them going.

This is why we started Tribepad Ventures. Investment is hard to come by right now, but we don’t want to put a pause on accelerating new business models, especially in the tech space. We want to allow small entrepreneurial companies to get access to our technology, data, clients and capital so that they can continue to scale and grow.

We also think it’s a great way to give back into the startup space and make life a little bit easier by leveraging our connections, experience and knowledge.
 

What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

 
Ask yourself “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”. You spend twelve months creating something that could fail and lose a ton of money. Sure, but you’re still alive! During that process you’ve probably learnt a hell of a lot, especially what not to do which is the most important thing.

Positivity also goes a long way. If you don’t have a positive attitude and mindset, any plan you have will most likely fail. I’d recommend finding someone else who will go on that journey with you – such as a mentor or a co-founder – as doing it alone is lonely and often stressful. Share the experience with someone who is as equally excited as you are about what’s to come.
 

What can we hope to see from Tribepad in the future?

 
We are working on a number of exciting projects right now. For example, our Tribepad Flex platform for the temp and contingency space is really coming along. With the advent of IR35 rules in April of this year, businesses and freelancers will need to comply with more regulations, and with support from Tribepad Flex they can manage this with ease.

Tribepad Ventures is also off to a great start. We have already started working with a couple new businesses since launch, and we are excited to work with more eager entrepreneurs and help them kickstart their dreams.

We’re big believers in investing in our local community to generate jobs and build a tech culture that is rooted in Yorkshire. We hope other business owners take notice and do something similar, and make their businesses better corporate citizens – it’s something all communities need right now.