Balancing the Grind with Domm Holland, Co-Founder & CEO of Fast

Domm Holland is an Australian entrepreneur, living in Silicon Valley. He is the co-founder and CEO of Fast, the world’s fastest online login and checkout experience.

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

I’m the CEO and Co-Founder of Fast, the world’s fastest online login and checkout experience.

Fast was founded just over a year ago. I came up with the idea when my grandmother-in-law, who was helping out while one of my kids was in hospital, couldn’t order groceries online for the family because she couldn’t remember her password. I knew there had to be an easier way to access online accounts, without compromising trust or having to remember a myriad of passwords.

Since then, we’ve grown to a team of more than 25 people in our San Francisco headquarters, and plan on growing this to 80 by the end of the year.

I’m a self-taught engineer with previous experience in the logistics, transportation and technology sectors.

2. What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I’m definitely an early morning person – usually I wake up at 4:30 a.m., sometimes earlier if my toddler has already woken up. Then I’ll do some sort of physical training from 5:00 – 6:00 a.m. before getting started on work for the day.

I usually work from about 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and my days are mostly full with back-to-back meetings. I’ll get home just in time for a walk with my family before dinner and getting the kids ready for bed. After that, I’m often back on my laptop for a bit of work before bed.

One of the things that I love about my job, which a lot of other people despise, is context switching. I really enjoy engaging with lots of different things.

On any given day I’ll come out of an engineering meeting, into an interview with a journalist, then a new hire interview for a candidate and will finish the day on a completely different topic than what I started with.

My favourite part of the day – work wise – are internal meetings with the team.

3. Does your current role allow for flexible, remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

Our team works across 5 different time zones and we do often work remotely. While everyone’s working from home because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we do daily standup meetings to all stay connected.

I mostly prefer working from the office, as home isn’t the most ideal place to be on the phone constantly. I have the world’s most energetic 2-year-old, and a pretty active 4-year-old.

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

Great question. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

Nothing bothers me more than my daughter asking me why I’m on my phone and working so much. Work-life balance for me is being able to go for a walk with my family after work, have dinner together, get the kids bathed and ready for bed, and still have enough time to relax on the couch with my wife. It also means not having to work on the weekend.

5. What do you think are some of the best habits or routines that you’ve developed over the years to help you achieve success in your life?

Getting up early definitely helps. I’m a very disciplined and self-motivated person. My wife recently commented that I was lucky to love waking up early to exercise. The truth is I don’t like it at all, but it’s something that I have to do.

I think being disciplined and somewhat like a constant engine moving forward are my two best traits. I’m an Aussie that loves a good beer, yet I haven’t had one in 5 weeks because it hasn’t been the right time. It will come.

6. Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?

When I was 13, my step-dad gave me a book about how to code. I was absolutely obsessed. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t read and learned from that book.

7. What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?

I get up early. Otherwise it feels like there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

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

It’s often said that certain periods of your life define others. I’d certainly like to take time in my life playing golf, motorbike riding, and spending more time with my family, but now isn’t that time. I’d say that anyone doing a great job at building a similar scale business probably doesn’t have the best work-life balance either.

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

There are periods in life where you just need to grind. Embrace it.

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