The Dating App Founder | 8M members | Bootstrapped startup with a team of 50+ | Co-founder & COO of Inner Circle | Follow for insights on business, leadership and relationships

I build and scale companies by raising standards, strengthening teams, and scaling execution.

I’m an entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience founding and scaling businesses. 
I’m the Co-Founder of Inner Circle, a dating app founded in 2012, which has grown to over 8 million users across 50 countries. 

As Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Marketing Officer, I sit at the intersection of leadership, hiring, execution, and growth.

Across that journey, I’ve helped build teams from 0 to more than 50 people across two continents. 
I’ve interviewed 1,000's of candidates and hired 100's of high performers, giving me a front-row seat to what separates teams that scale from those that stall. 

As companies grow, performance rarely breaks because of strategy. It breaks when clarity fades, standards slip, and execution becomes inconsistent. My perspective is practical and grounded in operating reality. High-performing companies are built by A-player teams, clear priorities, and leaders who combine ownership with humanity. 

My leadership principles are:

⟶ Disciplined execution beats complexity. 
⟶ Trust works when standards are explicit. 
⟶ Momentum comes from focus, not motion.

This account is for founders and leaders who want to build companies that perform consistently as they grow, without losing speed, accountability, or their human edge.

To collaborate with me as a creator please contact: enquiries@alecrickard.com

Michael Krayenhoff

Most founders don't have a talent problem.

They have an "overthinking" problem.

The way you frame a hard moment decides everything.
Not your skills. Not your network.

The story you tell yourself.

Every team eventually hits a wall.
A bad hire. A missed target. A product that didn't land.

What separates the ones who recover from the ones who don't?

They see the same situation differently.

Learning to code at 35 wasn't about code.
It was about proving to myself that hard things are learnable.
That discomfort isn't a stop sign. It's a starting line.

That shift changed how teams around me operate too.

When the leader treats hard problems as puzzles, not threats,
the team starts doing the same.

It's not about being positive all the time.
It's about training yourself to ask a better question.

Not "why is this happening to us?"
But "what does this make possible?"

That's the real competitive edge.
Not the strategy deck. Not the funding round.

The mind you bring into the room every morning.

Train it like a muscle.
Push it when it wants to stop.
Question the first story it tells you.

The obstacle doesn't change.
But what you do with it always depends on how you see it.

What's one moment where changing your thinking changed the outcome entirely?

Drop it below. I'd love to read it.

♻ If this was useful, repost so more founders see it
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on building teams, leadership, and careers

Global Employer Brand Leader | Recruiting & Employer Branding Director at Kaufland | A.C.C.E.S. Program Coordinator | President at the Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce

Hi, I'm Estera!

With 20+ years of experience and focus on Recruitment & Employer Branding, I'm on a mission to drive organizational growth through innovative strategies, strong team leadership, and a dedicated focus on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

As a professional who blends Human Resources and Marketing, I've been creating captivating Employer Branding campaigns that resonate with audiences and deliver outstanding ROI.

I'm also the proud coordinator of the A.C.C.E.S program, striving to improve the employment and integration of people with disabilities within our organization and the broader labor market.

Outside work, I'm passionate about 💐floral arrangements and have a love for 🏸 badminton.

My Journey:
🔹 Contributed to my company's exponential growth from 0 to 180+ stores & from 35 to 17,500+ team members;
🔹 Established the Training and afterwards the Employer Branding department;
🔹 Developed the A.C.C.E.S. program for hiring people with disabilities;
🔹 Pioneered Employer Branding activations at major national events;
🔹 Expanded Kaufland into Republic of Moldova;
🔹 Managed Recruitment & Employer Branding at Kaufland Romania and Moldova;
🔹 Developed the company's DEI strategy;
🔹 Appointed VP at the Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce.

My Achievements:
🔸 Global Employer Brand Leader of The Year 2022 by Kantar;
🔸 The Employer Branding Professional of the Year 2022, 2023 and 2024 in Romania by Evensys;
🔸 Best Human Resources Manager in 2016 by Capital Business Magazine.

🔸 Awards & recognitions for employer branding projects:
* Grand Job Experience for Innovation in HR Communication, Best Creative Idea & Best Digital Innovation, Employer Branding & Diversity, Digital Strategies – Gamification;
* A.C.C.E.S. Program for Best Diversity & Inclusion Employer Branding Campaign;
* Accessibility Hackathon for Tech PR & Communication of Innovation.

🔸 Kaufland Romania: 1st retail Top Employer certified company in Romania (2016) - now for 10 consecutive years in a row and „Elite Shining Star” (2021).

My Goals:
▪️ Transform the Romanian job market into a more inclusive space;
▪️ Help my company excel and maintain its market leader position;
▪️ Ensure a positive experience for all our team members;
▪️ Combine creativity with innovation to tackle new challenges;
😄 Never get bored.

Embracing my passion for Employer Branding and DEI, I'm dedicated to helping others navigate the complexities of these important areas.

If you're looking for guidance, support, or simply a conversation, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Estera Anghelescu, M.B.A.

“Soft skills” is one of the most misleading phrases in modern work.

There is nothing soft about them.

🤖 AI can automate tasks.
📊 AI can analyse data.
🔍 AI can spot patterns faster than any human ever will.

But here’s what it still can’t do.

🧠 It can’t read the room when tension rises.
👂 It can’t listen without waiting to speak.
🤝 It can’t navigate disagreement with nuance.
🔐 It can’t build trust when the stakes are high.

That work is human work.

And in an AI-heavy world, it’s becoming more valuable, not less.

💬 Communication
🧩 Judgement
❤️ Emotional intelligence
🤝 Collaboration

These are the skills that:
• help people learn faster.
• prevent small problems becoming big ones.
• keep teams effective under pressure.

Research consistently shows that most of the value in advanced skills is built on these human foundations.

Yet we still treat them like “nice-to-haves”.

The strongest teams I’ve seen don’t just talk about soft skills.
They design for them.

🌱 Leaders who do this:
• make it safe to disagree.
• reward curiosity over certainty.
• support experimentation without punishment.
• protect psychological safety, especially when things go wrong.

This isn’t about being “nice”.

It’s about performance.

🚀 In a world that’s increasingly automated, your ability to stay human is no longer optional.

It’s the advantage.

Most organisations say they value soft skills.
Very few actually build systems that develop them.

That gap is starting to show.

❤️ If this resonates. 
♻️ Share to inspire others to strengthen humanity at work. 
🔔 Follow me for reflections on leadership, growth, and human connection: Estera Anghelescu, M.B.A.

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Estera Anghelescu, M.B.A.

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