Riding together: Wave finds the perfect conditions for global growth

In today’s competitive world, business coaching is a billion-dollar industry. It enables people to level up their performance across a wide variety of metrics, and reach their full potential.

But high-quality, one-on-one coaching can be expensive. Not all companies are willing — or able — to afford this valuable service, reserving it for only their most elite employees. Wave.ai is working to change this.

Based on the belief that coaching can help everyone live their best life, Wave combines human talent and artificial intelligence (AI) to make company-wide coaching a cost-effective reality. And to do this, it hires talent from across the globe.

Here’s how Remote helps Wave onboard, manage, and pay its global workforce quickly and compliantly, allowing it to transform the careers and lives of professionals all over the world.

Wave.ai at a glance

• Headquarters: France

• Founded: 2020

• Remote employees in the following countries: Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the UK

• Industry: Technology and coaching

After launching and scaling Deliveroo France, Wave CEO and founder Adri Falcon ventured into professional coaching in 2017. With a focus on helping C-level executives develop their businesses and themselves, he quickly saw demand for his coaching increase.

As a result, Falcon started designing, engineering, and operating a new way of coaching. By combining human coaching with AI, Falcon made scalable, high-quality professional coaching accessible to everyone — giving birth to Wave.

Partnering with Remote

To build and scale such an innovative, revolutionary product, Falcon realized he would need top talent from across the globe. In March 2022, Raphaelle Leprince joined Wave, and as the company’s VP of People and Organization, it’s her responsibility to ensure this happens.

“Our vision is super exciting, but it's also challenging because no one else is doing what we do,” she explains. “So to crack this model, we need to be able to hire the best people to build our product and make our vision a reality.”

As a remote-first company, Wave had previously been working with another employer of record (EOR) provider to employ people outside of France. But the provider didn’t own their own entities, which was causing problems.

“Our previous EOR outsourced to third party providers, which created many difficulties,” says Leprince. “Each party would blame the other and it just became a nightmare situation.”

After some consideration, Wave opted to partner with Remote — and the company hasn’t looked back since.

“The fact that Remote owns its own entities is very important to us,” Leprince says. “We’re compliant in every country, the support is super fast, and the team is agile in finding solutions if any issues arise.”

Free rein to hire globally

With Remote on board, Leprince was able to focus on her global talent search — without having to worry about the administrative burdens of global employment.

“Remote gives us a playground that is so much wider than just France,” she says. “When people are applying, the only questions we ask are, ‘where do you plan to work, and are you legally authorized to work there?’

“That’s all we need to know, because we know Remote will take care of the rest.”

As a growth startup, Remote’s support also allows Wave to focus its time and resources elsewhere.

“We have people in Spain, the UK, Portugal, the Netherlands, Greece, and Belgium,” says Leprince. “Without Remote, it would take an additional three people in the HR team to manage compliance and everything else that goes with hiring in those countries.”

Remote takes care of everything which means we can be truly international. And I can focus my time on adding value to the business.

Equity and benefits — for everyone

In addition to giving Wave the freedom to hire anywhere, Remote enables the company to offer equitable benefits to all its employees across Europe. Leprince says that this kind of partnership was impossible with Wave’s previous provider.

“Now, there’s no difference between our people, whether they work directly with us or through Remote,” she says. “We are one team working towards our vision.”

Remote also supplies Wave with core tools for global hiring. In particular, Leprince uses Remote’s Employee Cost Calculator to quickly and easily calculate the total cost of employment (TCE) for each hire. As a result, she never has to worry that the most suitable candidate will be out of reach.

“The built-in Cost Calculator means we can instantly simulate employment cost for any location,” she says. “It gives me more time to focus on building the team, and making sure the culture is great.”

Strong support and expertise

From its inception, Wave has been set up for growth. It’s a small startup with big company ambitions — and a strong vision.

We have a mission to change the coaching landscape, and Remote is helping make that a reality.

For Leprince, Remote’s support is key to unlocking this. The platform’s self-serve approach is ideal for a small, agile, global team, allowing her to manage all the moving parts on her own.

“Remote is super streamlined and easy to navigate,” she says. “Onboarding is so simple and everything is in one place.”

When the answer isn’t at hand, Remote’s highly experienced experts are ready to help, too.

“There’s a whole team at Remote available for support to answer any questions,” she adds. “They are so responsive and always get back to me within 24 hours or less.”

Leprince sees this commitment to customer support as a core part of the relationship — and indicative of the shared company culture.

“We have the same values in regards to customer satisfaction levels,” she says. “It really makes it an efficient and valuable partnership.”

Maximizing momentum

Since the early days, Wave’s business model has evolved considerably. To keep up with these developments, the company’s headcount has increased by 50% — with Remote’s support.

We’ve been able to build a strong foundation for all Wave employees. Whether they’re employed directly or through Remote, we offer them the best experience.

For Leprince — a veteran of early-stage startups like Wave — the rate at which the company has scaled is astounding.

“What we’ve been able to achieve in such a short time is amazing,” she says. “We’ve added processes for hiring, onboarding, learning and development, performance management, compensation, and benefits.

“It’s the foundation needed to give all our people, whether they’re employed directly or through Remote, the very best experience.”

What’s next for Wave?

According to Leprince, Wave’s global ambitions are just the start.

“We’re on a mission to help 1 billion people get professionally coached by 2050,” she says. “We’re building that platform now, and we’re super excited about the future.”

Such a bold and serious vision will no doubt require a solid partnership — and Remote will continue to help Wave ride the crest. Disclaimer Prior to its acquisition by a larger health insurer, Wave used Remote to hire globally. Remote is very proud to have supported Wave's growth journey before the acquisition.

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