People Ops from the Top: Rob Smallcombe, Founder of EcoHedge

In this ‘People Ops from the Top’ we talk about; employee interview series, hackathons, employee interactions, and setting internal standards. 

Rob Smallcombe is one of the Founders of EcoHedge. What is EcoHedge? EcoHedge automates carbon accounting software for businesses, helping companies to baseline emissions and get to #NetZero faster.

I’m Rob Smallcombe and I’m one of the Founders of EcoHedge. Prior to founding EcoHedge I worked in a variety of customer-facing roles across software, cybersecurity & telecoms organisations, ranging from start-ups to multi-nationals. I quit my corporate job to go full-time with EcoHedge at the beginning of 2022, and it’s been a mixture of joy and terror in equal measures, but most importantly, an incredible journey.

EcoHedge is a UK-based, software company which helps small businesses to get to grips with their carbon reporting, in just a few clicks. We automate the capture, categorisation, and calculation of value chain emissions data, to save both time and money. This ensures busy business owners can take their first steps on their sustainability journey.

We’re excited to start running our own ‘EcoHedge Stories’ series. Having launched a ‘Brand Stories’ earlier this year for our customers and partners, we wanted to celebrate the uniqueness and talents of our own team. As such we’ve been recording interviews and will be sharing video clips with our different team members covering their passions and ambitions.

We recently had an internal hackathon for our designers and developers. It revolved around building frameworks for AI based autonomous agents. All our team were organised into small teams and each team had to produce an agent by the end of the day. We then evaluated their work and awarded prizes. It was great fun!

Our policy is that people work where they would like to work with suitable notice of where they will be the week ahead. This allows us to plan effectively as a team and gives us freedom as individuals. My top tips are that flexibility is not just about location but also about the hours that people work. We have some people who prefer getting up and starting earlier, whereas others might prefer later. Everyone is at liberty to decide their schedule, they just need to communicate it and then stick to it.

Something really important to me is to give people the appropriate tools to do their job effectively. I don’t just mean technology that makes us more productive, which is of course important, but also the tools to make our daily life better. For example gym memberships, investing in technology is worthless if you don’t invest in the well-being of the people using it.

Your company culture is not the values you list on a website or pitch deck, but the way you interact with each other on a daily basis and the standards you set as a team.

My favourite thing about my job is being able to see ideas go from concept to reality. There is something really compelling about people coming together in a team to create something out of nothing. It’s sometimes difficult for us all to not get lost in the moment but at team events and socials, when we do get those opportunities to step back and reflect together, those moments are the most special.

For more from Rob, follow him on LinkedIn.

Tally Workspace knows that startup culture is much more than just perks and amenities. It's a way of thinking, working, and living that sets startups apart from traditional corporate environments. PeopleOps is key to ensuring a great culture and productive teams.