Camille Van Vyve
23 Jun 2021
Meet Charles from easyvest
Charles de Brabandere, 35 years old, 2 children. Home: Brussels. Title: Chief Technology Officer.
In 2018, you become the first employee of easyvest, alongside the two founders. Is it an easy place to take?
It happened in a very natural way. It must be said that we had a common background with Matthieu and Corentin: graduates from the same university or even from the same faculty, all three with consultancy experience. From the start we were aligned with the way of working. After that, the number 3 has some good and some not so good: on the one hand, it's great to be able to touch everything and to be involved in all the discussions. On the other hand, there have been times when I had to take a stand in favor of one opinion or another. On some issues I was comfortable doing it, on others a little less.
Yet you swore to yourself never to work in banking and insurance ...
That is true ! When I first started exploring areas other than Deloitte, I thought to myself: “everything except banking and insurance”. But ultimately at easyvest, we are trying to get rid of everything that bothers me in this sector, the cumbersome process in the first place. We're kind of the Uber of banking and insurance, and that's what I like about it.
How do you see the current growth of easyvest, after three years in a "small committee"?
I was just waiting for this: things to move faster. I am therefore delighted that the fundraising was able to take place, that the team has grown and that the projects that have been left on the corner of the table are started. Personally, too, it's exciting: as the product team grows, I take on a new role in the company, which also includes internal strategy. Not only does that interest me, but it's also an added string to my bow.
How do you define your role as CTO today?
I am responsible for the development and IT architecture teams - John oversees the design, I oversee the technical features. We follow the Agile methodology, which means that we provide external and internal customers with new features every two weeks, in order to speed up feedback loops as much as possible. And besides that, I coordinate more strategic projects that have technical implications, for example the integration of our systems with those of external partners.
Your best memory at easyvest?
A weekend at the Belgian seacoast devoted to defining easyvest growth strategy and preparing for fundraising. The dynamics were great, I have fond memories of it. I hope there will be others ;-)
Note: This article was written when Easyvest was authorized and regulated by the FSMA as an agent in banking and investment services.