At e27, we are kickstarting a new articles series to know startup professionals and their lives beyond working hours.
Samar Sen heads up the Talos business in APAC, delivering institutional-grade digital asset trading systems to customers on the buy-side and sell-side. Over his 20-year career, Sen has worked in various product, strategy and technology leadership roles at capital markets firms across the industry.
Before joining Talos, he served as the Global Head of Digital Products for Securities Services at Deutsche Bank, where he co-led its digital asset strategy and product delivery.
In addition, he has held senior Asia-based roles at BNP Paribas, Barclays, and TradeHero after starting his career at Goldman Sachs in New York.
Sen holds a Degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University and an MBA from INSEAD.
In this candid interview, Sen talks about how his personal and professional life.
How would you explain what you do to a 5-year-old?
Many people are excited about “digital assets” because it’s believed they will change how money and banks work today and improve the whole system. My company Talos sells technology and helps big firms buy and sell these digital assets at “stores” worldwide, safely and at the lowest prices. I am in charge of its activities here in Asia.
What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?
Highlight: There are so many highlights to be grateful for, from representing Goldman Sachs in the early 2000s on the NYSE floor and improving the tech used by our market-makers to more recently pitching and convincing Deutsche Bank leadership in Frankfurt on the massive opportunities in Digital Assets.
But I think I’m most proud of helping Talos launch in the APAC region. We’ve come a long way, from one individual to double-digit staff in six months. And now, we’re delivering our world-class digital asset trading platform to the biggest institutional customers based all over Asia.
Challenge: Both of the times I graduated, in 2001 and 2008, happened to be right in the middle of a global recession, which was a massive buzzkill. I struggled to land the “dream job” after my studies, and I quit banking before to join promising startups that ultimately didn’t achieve their potential.
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To make ends meet, I’ve had to swallow my pride and return to smaller roles at big corporations again, with my tail between my legs! In retrospect, these experiences taught me important life skills such as patience and resilience, but obviously, I did not realise it at the time.
How do you envision the next five years of your career?
Giving my best to Talos! I genuinely feel like I have the best job in the world right now, and being able to work with Talos is a phenomenal opportunity. All my colleagues and I share a common goal, and that is to be the bridge that connects traditional institutions to digital asset markets. We acknowledge that it will be an arduous journey, and a lot of hard work and effort must be put into scaling the business exponentially.
For the next five years, I plan to serve this platform and our founders’ vision by leveraging all my skills and efforts in any capacity. So, when digital assets proliferate (and they will), our technology becomes a key piece of the new global infrastructure.
What are some of your favourite work tools?
- Asana: They’ve nailed the shared to-do-list concept.
- Miro: Closest online replication of a real-life creative brainstorm.
- Notability on iPad: I’m fully paperless and ultra-organised for my entire history of notes, whether it’s interview notes, meeting minutes, or idea mapping.
Bonus tip: Some of the smartest people at Talos swear by a tool called “Roam Research”. It’s like Evernote, but better!
What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?
Even though I am considered a senior leader at a technically demanding fintech firm, I also moonlight as a creative professional. I’m super passionate about playing and producing music, painting, photography, and filmmaking and what’s surprising about this multidisciplinary obsession is how often I get to borrow and re-use these creative skills in my daily startup work.
I find it rewarding, and it keeps my brain in balance. Polymath is pretty standard at Talos. Many of my colleagues have unique backstories, from former elite athletes (at the national level) to professional musicians (who have PhDs in Computer Science), etc. I’m inspired every day, and I love it!
Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?
My answer is ‘hybrid’, I believe there needs to be a balance between the two.
WFH is great for flexibility (gym/errands), deep work, and getting in the zone, but WFO is irreplaceable for creative brain-storming, spontaneous problem-solving, and building camaraderie and culture.
Talos is a modern and fully decentralised company where remote work is an employee choice. I’ve seen that most people tend to follow the hybrid model as well and have the maturity and autonomy to know what work environment makes sense that day for their productivity.
What would you tell your younger self?
Three things I would tell my younger self:
Regarding your career trajectory: Steve Jobs was spot-on when he said, “you can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them by looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”
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This couldn’t be more true for me. Sometimes you will want to change your current situation, and to achieve this, you will have to make risky decisions, lateral and sometimes backwards moves, and only when you look back in victory will it all make sense. Trust your gut and take some risks! The narrative arc will eventually fall into place.
Regarding success: Everyone’s definition and benchmark of success are different, and these are bound to change over time, especially as you live through new experiences and mature. At some point, you will realise that you simply cannot have it all and that balance is key.
Between career, love, family, friendships, and health, it’s almost impossible to excel in every aspect and give each the full 100 per cent attention at any given moment, so my question to you is, “What are you prepared to sacrifice at each life stage to achieve your goals at that moment in time?”
There’s no obvious answer to this question, and I’ve been in many situations where I’ve had to acknowledge what I gave up to get what I wanted and whether I needed to make some adjustments going forward to re-balance.
But it is crucial to know that comparisons to others are useless. Everyone is running a different race, from their own starting points, facing unique hurdles, and chasing different end goals. What matters most is that you are working towards your own definition and measurement of success and are also open to that changing at various times.
Regarding having fun and making life experiences: All those crazy adventures you’re thinking about doing, like climbing Machu Picchu, Carnivale in Rio, running with the bulls in Pamplona, do them!
You won’t have regrets later on about what you didn’t do, and you’ll have a bunch of stories that make you an interesting person in the room! Be grateful for all those magic moments, interesting connections, and endless summers; time moves fast. Enjoy the ride.
Can you describe yourself in three words?
Multicultural. Creative. Geek.
What are you most likely to be doing if not working?
Aside from my creative hobbies and watching sports (NFL + College American Football and Liverpool FC), I would be exploring restaurants with my wife Eleonora or playing with my cocker-spaniel Gia.
What are you currently listening to/reading/watching?
Listening to: Two albums got me through the COVID-19 pandemic: The first was The Strokes’ comeback album The New Abnormal, and the second was… wait for it… Taylor Swift’s Folklore (made with Aaron Dessner of The National)! Both are amazing. Both are still on repeat.
Reading: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Watching: Any/all Sci-Fi TV shows and movies
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