This week on Startup Europe, editor Amy Lewin speaks to Tomas Okmanas, founder and co-CEO of Nord Security, a cybersecurity unicorn which he launched over a decade ago. It’s perhaps best known for its VPN service — NordVPN — and now has over 2,000 employees and 15m users worldwide.
Despite being based in Panama, chosen for its supportive legislative environment for security operations, Okmanas told Zdnet, the majority of its senior management are fellow Lithuanians and tend to work from the same office, Okmanas tells Sifted.
The core team has worked together for at least five years so, as Okmanas puts it: “Everyone knows what to expect. There’s no politics. We know everything about each other like families, kids, everything.”
Founded by Okmanas and childhood friend Eimantas Sabaliauskas, he explains how they have tried to create a warm and welcoming environment for employees. For example, colleagues recently shared a drink with the company’s chief product officer Mykolas Dumčius — and his parents — to celebrate his birthday.
In the episode, Okmanas reveals how his informal leadership style has helped steer Nord to such success.
He has no problem with flexible remote working
The CEO has no problem letting people schedule their work around other commitments. “If you need [...] the daytime to be with your kids, that’s fine because I know that everyone is still thinking about work 24/7, and really enjoys what they do.”
He has no time for toxicity
Nord’s culture has been sustained by a zero tolerance for toxicity: “We have had a great talent that was amazing for the company but was toxic […] Immediately we had to say goodbye.”
He doesn’t believe in formal 1:1s.
”If there’s a problem, just come to my home,” Okmanas says. You won’t catch him waxing lyrical while pumping his fist into the air: “We don’t do any of the motivational speeches, nothing. We just go for a walk or a run and talk.”
At the heart of this culture is Okmanas’s belief that leadership isn’t all about traditional management techniques. “I’m the worst example of that, and I’m not going to pretend I can teach others to do it,” he admits. Instead, he spends his time “being really close to people, listening to them when they’re having bad times and hard times…and supporting new ideas and pushing them.”
Ultimately, for Okmanas, the motivation to succeed comes from something more personal than professional ambition. As he and Sabaliauskas previously told Sifted: “It’s very motivating to push harder because we really see that we can make an impact on the economy of Lithuania.” They similarly founded Tesonet, a startup hub that Nord sits within, to “put Lithuania, and the Baltic States, on the map,” Okmanas shares on the podcast.
To hear more about how Okmanas leads Nord, his new startup Nexos.ai and his take on whether a trip to Davos is worth it for founders, listen to the latest episode of Startup Europe here or on your preferred streaming platform.
