Sumit Maniyar, the CEO of gold finance startup Rupeek, is a solo founder. He is hands-on and expects his senior executives to have the latest business numbers at their fingertips at all times.

Employees say it’s a fair ask at a company which is operationally heavy and pipeline-driven.

But even with a team aligned on the broader picture, it can be daunting for a single founder to manage a hyper-growth business. Maniyar realised this, and four years after Rupeek was established, he began investing heavily in building the leadership group.

So while he had set up a large 20% employee stock-option pool (usually, it’s 10%) shortly after the fintech’s launch in 2015, the plans for the leadership team picked up only in 2019. This was after Rupeek closed its Series C round at a valuation of Rs 2,180 crore. Bertelsmann, GGV, Sequoia, Accel and Tanglin participated in this funding round.

Since then, it has hired senior talent from Amazon, Ola, Flipkart and Mckinsey in just a few quarters. That said, Maniyar’s founder mentality continues to shape its operational culture.