James Colgan joins Lepaya’s Advisory Board contributing deep expertise in product excellence

James Colgan, a seasoned international product executive, has joined Lepaya's Advisory Board, bringing a wealth of expertise in building high-performing organizations, transformation and business impact, product strategy and execution, and global leadership. With a background that includes impactful roles at industry giants like Microsoft, hyper-growth companies such as Slack, and scale-up unicorns like Spendesk, James will significantly contribute to Lepaya's growth.

Leveraging his experience in guiding companies through the startup to scale-up transition, James is committed to supporting Lepaya in increasing team productivity, effectiveness, and overall well-being. The aim of this strategic decision is to accelerate growth while delivering enhanced value to Lepaya's customers.

Continue reading to learn James's perspective on why he has joined Lepaya's mission.

Why are you joining Lepaya’s mission?

There are three reasons why I joined the company, and the first is edTech. Across the world, in every industry and at every level, there is a shortage of skills. While artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a tool for knowledge workers, it does not diminish the importance of the human aspects of a role and the need to uplevel them.

The second reason is leadership under transition. Lepaya’s focus on the leader's journey is particularly interesting to me. In uncertain times, leadership is crucial to bring clarity to teams experiencing ambiguity, and this is essential for the success of every company on the planet.

Lastly, artificial intelligence. Lepaya’s smart application of artificial intelligence to augment human training is an incredible differentiator. I am eager to learn more about how Lepaya applies this new technology to ed tech applications.

What makes you believe in Lepaya’s product, vision, and mission?

First and foremost, it's the team. René and Peter, as co-CEOs, have built a formidable team with well-rounded skills and experience, coupled with hard work across the organization. It's Peter and René's leadership that will enable the company to capitalize on the opportunities ahead of us.

What will be your role at Lepaya’s Advisory Board?

There are three main contributions I look forward to making. First of all, Lepaya itself is a company in transition from a start-up to a scale-up. This is an extremely challenging maneuver, requiring clean tactical execution and medium to long-term strategic formulation. Having done this before, I hope to provide experience that the team can learn from.

Secondly, it's the formulation of the product strategy. Lepaya has a strong vision and a good execution rhythm. I look forward to working closely with Peter and the team to help create a product strategy that connects that vision and the product execution.

Last but not least, it's to help Peter and the team up-level research and development in general. Drawing from my experience at Microsoft, Slack, and Spendesk, I look forward to working with Lepaya’s team to help them be more productive, more effective, and happier as an engine of growth and delivery of value to customers.