Value begets value begets Vale.
Introducing Co-Founder and CTO of Vale Damien Thiesson.
Introducing: Damien Thiesson
Co-Founder & CTO at Vale
You might remember the time Nikolai from Russia vanished into the Matrix? While it was many years ago and on a completely different project, lessons learned from that experience speak for themselves: hire people you trust. Invest in solutions that align with a long-term plan, not just those that get you out of a problem.
What do lessons like this culminate in? They lead you to truly understand that value begets value. Nothing against Nikolai, I’m sure he’s a good enough bloke. But ‘good enough bloke’ doesn’t cut it when you’re all in. I’m all in. I want to work with others who are all in too.
It’s time to introduce you to Damien Thiesson…
Damo is unapologetically direct. “I’m no bullshit,” he says, laughing that his French bluntness can sometimes be “confronting” in Sydney.
If you ask Damien “Damo” Thiesson what he does, he’ll probably tell you something like: “I make things work better.” Which, in his case, has meant everything from billion-dollar warehouse systems to the future of probate law in Australia.
Before coming on board as co-founder of Vale, Damo was the Principal Engineer at THE ICONIC.
“[Damo sees] Vale as a mature legaltech leader within five years, with international expansion on the horizon.”
But how did he end up here, with us? In legaltech? Designing probate-sector specific software on the cusp of a decades-long growth spurt for the industry?
We found him through a recruiter. One with a reputation for nabbing “difficult to find people”.
Apparently this guy, with decades of experience and a demonstrated interest in both product and business optimisation, had made his way to the top of a 75 person engineering team and led some seriously impressive initiatives. Damo ended up the guy the CTO at THE ICONIC leaned on when it was time to redesign warehouse systems, overhaul logistics, future-proof core systems, or build the loyalty architecture that kept customers coming back.
Just to put things in perspective:
Small tweaks at scale can make monumental differences, and Damo was the guy overseeing the tweaking in a billion-dollar business. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like to have someone this invested in business optimisation not just on the team as an Engineer, but helping lead it.
The truth is that Vale is a response to a variety of needs expressed by wills and estates lawyers—needs that I discovered in my years as a probate lawyer. I thought a lot about what it takes for practitioners and firms to see the value in adopting better systems. Damo coming on board was an example of Vale putting its money where its mouth is. Not only is he a pleasure to work with and a truly impressive CTO. People like Damo are a testament to the importance of reaching for high-value, high-return assets—and in this case, that asset is a walking, talking, and extremely capable human.
When I first hear about Damo I asked myself:
What might someone capable of building lean, high-value, high-return systems for billion dollar multinationals be able to deliver for Vale, both as a product and a business?
I couldn’t wait to find out.
When we first sat down, I thought I was interviewing Damo for a senior engineering role. I can’t remember if it was our first or our second conversation, but it was pretty early on that he made it clear he was looking for more than just a job. It happened around the moment he told me: “Forget salary. Let’s talk equity.” For someone who generally holds his cards pretty close to his chest…
Here was a highly competent, experienced, and business-savvy guy looking for a product to help build, and a company to help steer. Lucky for us, he thought probate was worth the trouble. Which, if you think about it, is pretty cool. Of all the industries a French engineer could pick, he moved from a billion-dollar international fashion giant to optimising a comparatively small legal process in Sydney, Australia.
But that’s Damo. If it’s challenging, important, and full of promise… he’s in. I guess he saw what all of us at Vale see: that what we’re working on is one of those rare combinations of both a worthwhile cause and a huge opportunity.
When I asked Damo to reflect back on how he ended up working at Vale, he said: “It’s not often you meet someone you actually want to work with long-term.” (Which I’m taking as a compliment.)
Truth is, we clicked straight away. We trust each other’s calls, which means we can move fast without circling back a hundred times. He tells me when my ideas won’t scale; I tell him when his ideas won’t make sense to lawyers. It works.
Partnerships like this one are rare. As we sit here having another chocolat chaud, Damo says it’s one of the main reasons he signed on for the long haul.
It wasn’t always this satisfying. Damo’s tweenage jobs were much the same as many of ours. Not so glamorous. Cleaning toilets at a swimming pool, stocking frozen food shelves at 4am, or enduring a mind-numbingly boring stint at IBM surrounded by colleagues counting the days to retirement.
That’s why, for over a decade, he’s deliberately chosen only roles he’s excited to wake up for. “I haven’t had to go to a job I didn’t want to go to for 15 years,” he says.
Originally from Paris, Damo first came to Australia 13 years ago on a working holiday to learn English. He never left.
Back home he’d been working jobs where too many staff were just watching the clock. In Sydney, he found energy, balance, and people (like us) who value drive.
Now based in Coogee, Damo gets the best of both worlds: world-class beaches and jogging tracks, more gyms than Jims, and an office at Sydney Uni a quick bike ride away.
He happily works weekends for the same reasons I do. It’s not about masochism or workaholism or anything like that. It’s the opposite. Damo enjoys contributing to “my business running,” just like I do.
He sips his hot chocolate before counting out dot points for me to “write down these things, even if you don’t listen to anything else I say.” His motivations are:
“Make the business a success.”
“Wake up every day to create something genuinely useful.”
“Work alongside people I actually like.”
I ask what the future holds. Damo sees “Vale as a mature legaltech leader within five years, with international expansion on the horizon.”
Good answer, Damo.