How To Boss It Like… Christian Faes, CEO of LendInvest

Countless leaders are changing the world.

From Eileen Burbidge to Simon Belsham and Debbie Wosskow, smart people get an incredible amount done, in an impossibly short space of time.

This morning we’re talking to Christian Faes, CEO and co-founder of LendInvest, the largest online platform for property lending and investing.

Since launching in 2013, LendInvest has been an unstoppable force, bridging the worlds of property and finance, pairing investors with property professionals looking to raise short-term finance.

Having helped property developers raise a whopping £559m through its platform to invest in buy-to-let, new builds and property improvements to date, today LendInvest is widely tipped to be one of Britain’s next billion dollar tech business.

A busy man, with big ideas, The Memo asked Faes how he gets it all done.

What time do you get up, and what part of your morning routine sets you up for the day?

I’m usually up by about 6.30am and will either go to the gym or head straight into the office. I try and get to the gym three or four days a week and alternate my days.

My preferred transport/guilty pleasure is Uber. My excuse is that it allows me to be on the phone or working while I’m on my way to work. Sometimes this early morning ‘working’ will include checking up on Twitter (which I love) and other industry gossip (which I also love).

What apps or methods do you use to be more productive?

Apps-wise, Google Business Apps is the main one. We run our business on this, and email is just a large part of my day – although I make a big effort not to let it dictate my day or agenda.

Other apps are Twitter, Mention, FT, WhatsApp. I’m also a little bit fascinated with Snapchat at the moment. It has such an awkward user experience for me – and I’m trying to understand why it is so darn popular.

What smartphone do you use?

I have the Space Grey Apple iPhone 6. However, I get sick of things quickly, and am eye’ing up the 6 Plus or a larger phone!

How many people, outside of family, do you meet in a day? And who are they?

I try and be as focussed as possible with my time.

My days are usually filled with a combination of internal meetings – catch ups with team members; and meetings with other people.

I try to avoid days of entirely back-to-back meetings, so that some other stuff can be done, but don’t always succeed. The people I meet with externally are a broad mixture from people we are trying to recruit, to investors or other institutions, to our advisors (lawyers, accountants, regulation consultants etc etc).

We are always looking to recruit the best people, so I try and keep a strong hand in this, and we are seemingly always looking for more investment (capital to lend) so these are my main focusses really.

When do you work until? Are you still sending emails in the night?

I try and leave the office around 8pm, but will usually be on emails until I’m in bed.

There isn’t a wind down routine that I have during the week – although, I do try and have an afternoon or so off emails on the weekends, if I can!

Come back next Thursday for our next #BossItLike interview, and get in touch if you know a business leader who’s also a productivity guru for us to talk to.