When two successful finance and tech experts decide to create a startup, we could definitely expect something huge to happen. Let's take a closer look at "Hive5" co-founders, two very ambitious innovators, Andrius Rupšys and Ričardas Vandzinskas.
From an early age, Andrius was passionate about computers. Thus, he always wanted to move headfirst into the world of tech. In 1998, although being only a teenager, he created his first business. Andrius assembled personal computers, sold them and made his first salary. Eventually, Andrius Rupšys created one of Lithuania's most innovative and growing IT companies, "Ruptela". The company has grown from a single idea in Andrius' head to a profitable company with more than 250 employees. The company provides solutions for fleet management and GPS tracking.
Within almost 15 years of managing "Ruptela", the company has achieved awards, such as "The most attractive employer in Lithuania" (2017). Also won "I love my company" contest in the medium-sized companies category; and was announced as a winner of the "Employees – key to success" awards (2016). Additionally, Andrius Rupšys was personally awarded the "CEO of the year" in Lithuania (2015).
However, the stories behind these significant company achievements have many stressful days, hard work and even some failures. But the most extensive experience that Andrius has been through is strategically dealing with failures, remembering the learned lessons and adapting to situations you can't change.
Andrius believes that while hard skills, such as knowledge of technologies, finances and business strategy, are essential when building the investment platform, soft skills, such as honesty and transparency, are increasingly necessary as it expands. Moreover, Andrius believes that the most rewarding part about being a CEO is getting employers and investors excited about what they do. Eventually, he could call it a big success to meet Ričardas, who was responsible for attacking new investors and managing "Ruptela's" finances. Now he is a co-founder and CEO of "Hive5".
Ričardas has more than 15 years of progressive experience in multinational finance and investments management, corporate governance, M&A transactions and Big 4 public accounting. Significant career achievements prove his strong knowledge of business finance and leadership. Accordingly, he has made an important impact on companies to reach profitable results.
Ričardas' extensive background also includes organisational roles such as the Supervisory Board Member and an Independent Audit Committee Member. Moreover, since 2017 he has been volunteering as the Students' career mentor at the "Kaunas University of Technology" to encourage the next generation in leadership, personal development and self-motivation.
Rather than simply reporting on financial performance, he was always responsible for translating business strategy into mathematical calculations. He enjoys evaluating plans, understanding risks, and creating action steps; in other words, connecting the dots between processes and sales. More than anyone else in the team, he knows the correct answer to the question: "What could be the risks in this business strategy?".
Throughout his career, Ričardas has been interested in understanding what makes a successful story for the company: "The great companies I've been involved with have had incredibly passionate employees. Accordingly, I am happy we have found those motivated and passionate people who joined "Hive5" too. I strongly believe all together we could achieve any goal. Thus, we aim to become a leading multinational crowdlending partner by providing our often-underserved customers with fast and simple financing solutions. While traditional institutional lending organisations are becoming slowly adaptable in the fast and innovative world of financing, our investment platform is more reflective of consumer, business needs and investors' goals", says Ričardas Vandzinskas.
By building this business together, Andrius and Ričardas know "extraordinary and successful" isn't about who they are, but instead, it's what they choose to do.
