Balancing the Grind with Daniel Couvreur, Co-Founder of Tandem

Dan Couvreur leads product and in addition to being the co-founder of Tandem, a consumer fintech platform focused on couples.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I started my career in an investing role at a major bank and fell in love with startups after participating in the bank’s incubator program. I joined a fintech startup focused on reinventing the mortgage process as an early partnerships hire and loved every minute of it.

I knew I wanted to make the jump to being a founder and Tandem was the perfect concept to leave our full-time jobs and build given how closely we relate to the problem we’re solving. 

2) What does a day in your life like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I love that no two days are the same as a founder. A more interesting recent workday, I met up for coffee with a key partner we’re working with and then an engineering candidate we’re trying to close.

Once I got back to my desk, I checked our dashboards and KPIs and finished up the afternoon in Figma working on a few concepts. I’ll then take a break for dinner and finish the night off sending off emails and LinkedIn messages. 

3) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

To me, it means being present in the moment. If you have an extremely busy work day and are taking a break, compartmentalise the work you have left, and truly enjoy the break and not worry about X,Y, and Z.

You feel more refreshed, and the people you’re with appreciate their time with you because you’re not thinking about what you need to do next or continually responding to Slacks/emails. 

4) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

An intense focus on prioritisation based on impact. There’s a million things you can do in a given day as a founder, but it’s key to ensure you’re doing the items that actually make a big impact for the company — so at the end of the day there’s genuine progress, instead of barely moving the ball forward on 5-6 multiple things. 

5) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

Principles by Ray Dalio.

6) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?

Again, Ray Dalio.

7) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

Find what works best for you!

Before you go…

If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here