Martin Sokk
Founder of Lightyear
Martin Sokk
Founder of Lightyear
London, England
Overview
Work Experience
Co-Founder, CEO
2020 - Current
Building Lightyear, the investment platform you've been waiting for Stocks, funds and up to 4.50% interest on uninvested cash. Capital at risk.
VP Operations
2019 - 2020
Radix is a new layer for the internet, where data, money, and assets are part of the very fabric of the technology. It is scalable, easy to use, and can be built and deployed via API – no smart contracts required. https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2019/01/09/this-hermitic-engineer-is-plotting-the-death-of-blockchain/#39d38ca8378e
Head of Product
2012 - 2017
Joined as the first product person for TransferWise. Responsible for building TransferWise’s product offering and performance and making sure that customers get the most bang for their buck, that they have a great experience, and that their money arrives quickly and safely. Responsible for: - Market Expansion — finding and expanding into new potential markets, developing a product, and working with the partners. - Payment Operations and Liquidity — building TransferWise’s core money movement engine with a focus on automation and efficiency; also in charge of liquidity processes and operational toolsets for money operators - Compliance product — building Fraud, AML, KYC, and Verification products and processes During that time, TransferWise’s reached to profitability, company market reach expanded from two currency routes to more than 800, and payment volume increased from 2M GBP per month to 2000M GBP per month. Organisation grow from 10 people to over 700 people in nine different countries.
Head of People
2016 - 2017
I was responsible for people operations, talent acquisition, on-boarding, and building the right culture for our business.
Head of Operations
2015 - 2015
I was responsible for money operations, liquidity management, and partner relations. During that time, I redefined operational standards and cross-team workings, managed day-to-day operations, and managed to hire and on-board a new head for the department.
Head of E-business
2012 - 2012
Head of e-business development and maintenance in Eesti Energia Group. Led the strategic development, business development, IT development, and daily administration of Eesti Energia websites and self-services. Managed a team of 30 people whose main goal was to prepare e-channel systems and the company for the electricity market opening in Baltic countries. - Increased the electricity contract sales for self-service from 4% to 60% - Increased usage of electronic invoices from 40% to 70%
Development Manager
2009 - 2012
Estonia’s move from a monopolistic electricity market to an open model forced Eesti Energia, a retailer, to learn how to operate in competitive markets. My goal was to build up the technical and organisational capabilities for online sales and customer self-service. We started from scratch and defined basic business and IT requirements, defined strategy for the energy sales, built up products to service customers, and defined the basic factors of the electricity market opening in Estonia. When Estonia changed its currency in 2011, I had an opportunity to convert one of the biggest legacy systems in Estonia from EEK currency to EUR currency. - 250% growth in the number of self-service users Developed 19 products to self-service that were previously only available in the office
Development Manager, Electronic Channels
2009 - 2009
Development Specialist, Electronic Channels Estonia
2007 - 2009
Education
Latest Articles
Marathon results are boring, so I made my own. aka Barcelona Marathon 2019 results over-engineered
Oman ultramarathon aka 42hours of running and thinking how do I determine when does one give up?
Where Do Startup People In Estonia Come From?
Talks about Startup, Estonia and Estonian startup ecosystem