Jared Tubb tells us how a decade ago, his girlfriend at the time, Sarah, asked him if he’d ever consider moving to the US. His response to her without even thinking was, ‘No, not even for vacation!’ He laughs at his response now. Now he’s happily married to Sarah and thriving in San Francisco just like a local.
San Francisco’s air must be electrified with innovation. Not only is the global city famous for being the headquarters of huge tech companies like Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, and Dropbox, with the list going on and on, it seems to be the biggest breeding ground for new, innovative start-ups with an ever-growing flock of entrepreneurs very busy creating the next big thing. It is even said to be the most important city in the world for new technology start-ups. And this is where you will find Jared Tubb CA(SA), who is the senior manager of merger and acquisition integrations for finance at Airbnb.
Having grown up in East London, Jared describes himself as being a very much ̔small-town kind of guy̕. A decade ago, aspirations of himself living in the US probably would have been the last thing on his agenda. But moving to the US has turned out to be a big adventure for Jared.
Eight years ago, he headed to the US through a boutique consultancy firm with just a four-month contract in mind. Today, he is still living there with five years behind his back at Airbnb, where he has worked in various roles. Just last year he stepped into the challenging yet exhilarating role of being a senior manager responsible for integrating business and acquisitions for the gigantic tech company that gave the hospitality industry a whole new facet forever with about two million people utilising Airbnb per night. Among the seven million Airbnb listings worldwide, it includes over 4 900 castles and over 2 400 tree houses.
‘A hyper-growth company can be a challenging environment to work in. You are constantly forced to evaluate your priorities and focus your time on where you add the most value. You have to be flexible to operate in that space and continuously draw on your past experience when facing new and unfamiliar situations. For me that has been the single biggest challenge, but it is also the thing I have enjoyed most about my career at Airbnb,’ says Jared.
‘Qualifying as a CA(SA) was a major milestone in my life, and a key factor that allowed me to pursue work internationally. Professionally, it has provided more opportunities and career development than I originally thought possible. Personally, I am not the most extroverted individual, and I took for granted how much I appreciated my social network and community in East London. Rebuilding this in San Francisco has been difficult, but I am proud to say this is now my home away from home. Being away from family has also been extremely challenging, but it’s something that I have learnt to cope with in different ways. I’m probably closer to my family now than I have ever been, despite us living across three continents.’
Airbnb now has offices in 34 cities worldwide, with dynamic employees. Something that Jared values most about working at Airbnb are the amazing people that he gets to work with each day. Many of his closest friends are people that he has worked with over the last couple of years. ‘I am fortunate to work for a company whose values align closely with my own personal values. One of the things I appreciate most about Airbnb is that the product provides an opportunity for everyday people to become entrepreneurs and empower themselves and those around them through hosting. Very few products or companies do this at scale, and at a global level,’ he says.
Jared’s first role at Airbnb was working on the revenue and operations team, with a key responsibility being to grow and develop the team. He successfully grew his team to about 20 people across various locations.
At the beginning of 2019, Jared took on his new role of senior manager for integrating business and acquisitions. ‘The role appealed to me because I truly value learning through experience. My primary responsibility is to integrate finance processes and systems of the companies we acquire. This means I get to dig deep into how target company finance teams operate and find optimal ways to integrate them into our ecosystem. We’ve acquired multiple companies in the last 12 months, providing me with opportunities to learn about new industries, markets and management styles.’
A few notable acquisitions Jared supported in recent months were the acquisitions of an online marketplace for work and corporate events based in Denmark, as well as a hosting services platform based in France delivering online and offline host services and tools. One of Airbnb’s larger acquisitions in recent months was that of Hotel Tonight, an online booking platform focused on the hotel segment.
Jared has a heart for people and truly values relationships. An important goal for him too is developing his team. He believes if you hire smart people and you allow them to be themselves you will open a lot more opportunities than if you are micromanaging them. ‘Some of the things that I’ve enjoyed most is developing the careers of the people on my team, while at the same time taking in as much as you can from the people you work with. I have the benefit of working for a company that hires some of the smartest people in the world. If you’re willing to learn, people are generally willing to teach, and I have really enjoyed that over the last couple of years,’ he says.
How does he see his future?
‘I try not to be too rigid about my plans for the future, but rather have goals and a direction in mind. Allowing opportunity to present itself is really important to me. So, having a direction that you move towards is key, but allowing for some flexibility to the path of getting there is probably the single most important thing. I’d say I’d like to work in an environment that allows me to challenge myself, to learn new things but also to appreciate my life overall.’
Benefits of his CA(SA) degree
When Jared left school to start studying, his interest veered toward the technology landscape. His initial university majors were Information Systems and Management. But two years into his degree, it suddenly struck him that this was probably not the best career fit for him with his core interests now centring on economics and his brain more closely linking to accounting. He completed his accounting degree through a satellite campus of Rhodes University based in East London and completed his articles at KPMG.
‘If I had a choice of doing a CA(SA) again, I would definitely do it. Having that designation behind your name sets a standard of trust for an employer. It is one of the things that will get you in the door for an interview and after that it’s up to you to sell yourself as a valuable asset to the company. Looking back, the principles and guidance I learnt at university, and through my articles, built a fantastic foundation of knowledge and experience which I have been able to draw on throughout my professional career.
‘The CA designation has been great, because it provides the financial skills necessary to partner across finance at all levels. You learn about different aspects of business and work closely with finance leaders. If you choose to pursue a career in accounting, it’s an obvious fit, but if you want to be a true business partner, you’ll need to take those skills and apply them more broadly. This is an area I push individuals to develop early in their career, namely the ability to think with the big picture in mind, not just the frame that is most familiar or obvious to them.’
Enjoying the San Francisco sun
Jared describes California as a fantastic place if you love the outdoors. Weekends are spent on the beach with his wife and dog. Being an avid triathlete, he spends about ten months of the year focused on swimming, biking and running. Besides his beautiful wife, Sarah, Jared is crazy about his cat, Izzy, and dog, Kaia. Their cat is all the way from South Africa and Kaia is a beautiful golden retriever/cocker spaniel mix that they’ve had since it was ten weeks old.
Tips for newly qualified CAs(SA)
- Be curious. It is one of the most critical attributes to success.
- Challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone. Making mistakes is perfectly fine as long as you are learning from them.
- Never underestimate the value of human connection. Build a professional network you trust and can draw on for advice, opportunities and partnership.
