The Startup Recruiting Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Brad Hargreaves of Common: Hiring an Expert When You're Not One May 22, 2017

Show notes

Before this interview, I might have said that Brad Hargreaves is an expert in starting companies--that is until he told me that his current startup, Common, is the first time he intentionally tried to start a big company. So how does an entrepreneur who "accidentally" stumbled into General Assembly, the hugely impactful education business, wind up winning in businesses where he isn't the category expert going in? He recruits help, obviously, but how can he figure out if the help knows more than he does or if it's right? That's what we discussed in this enlightening episode.

Matt Zeiler of Clarifai: How a Small Startup Competes Against Tech Giants in the Most Competitive Talent Pools May 15, 2017

Show notes

There aren't many areas of cutting edge tech more competitive than computer vision and artificial intelligence. Companies like Google, Snap, and Facebook among others are all vying for the kinds of engineers and PhDs that will change the way you and machines see the world, literally. Not only is the actual tech difficult, but recruiting for it against these companies with nearly unlimited warchests is even harder. Clarifai's founder Matt Zeiler shares with us how he convinces talent to join this burgeoning leader in the space.

Hagos Mehreteab of Codecademy: Engineering the Recruiting Process May 08, 2017

Show notes

Hagos Mehreteab has been a founder, a CTO, a recruiter, and now he combines all those skills into one as "Head of Organizational Engineering" at Codecademy. Basically, as it relates to the people side of the business, he turns all of the whack-a-mole type things that come up at a startup into measurable, repeatable processes. When you think of it that way, it makes sense that you'd put someone technical in that role. Even when it comes to people development and soft skills, if you're going to do something at scale, you're going to have to make it scalable, and that's what this former engineer has done at Appnexus and is now up to at Codecademy.

Matt Hoffman of DigitalOcean: Making Employee Evaluations Great Again May 01, 2017

Show notes

Employee evaluations can be useful tools for both employees and employers alike--but they can also be an administrative time suck. How do you make them work for everyone so that they help startups make sure they have the best people performing at their best--and making improvements when necessary? Matt Hoffman from DigitalOcean will share what he's learned and you can evaluate him in the comments.

Aria Finger of Do Something on Building a Company that Isn't for Everyone Apr 24, 2017

Show notes

Do Something has a reputation for having one of the best company cultures around--but when I say "best", I mean consistent and pervasive--not necessarily one that works everywhere. That's what struck me when I spoke to Aria Finger. I could imagine people listening to this podcast and applying for a job there right away, or saying that they could never work in this kind of environment. It isn't for everyone--and that's the point. One of the strongest filters of a recruiting and hiring process should be the company culture. Not everyone should get excited to work there--because then your culture probably isn't very strong. I talked to Aria about all the care and feeding that goes into this and how she maintains it as CEO.

Dennis Mortensen of x.ai: Taking the Pledge Apr 17, 2017

Show notes

Employees of x.ai take a pledge. It's a lot different from their options agreement, or their non-disclosure agreement. It's about what kind of people they want to be to each other as co-workers. In the case of x.ai, that means joining a particular kind of mission. While lots of companies say they have a mission, very few get their employees to state what it means to be on that mission--and that agreement is at the core of how x.ai onboards their employees. It's a powerful and inspiring statement and we discuss how it effects their recruiting process.

Doug Chambers of Fieldlens: Team Building for Founders that Aren't Software Devs Apr 10, 2017

Show notes

Doug Chambers knows just about everything you need to know about getting a building off the ground--but building a team around a tech startup was new ground. He had a construction background--hammers, nails and hard hats, not 1's and 0's. So when he first started out, there a lot of lessons to be learned. He discusses those in the podcast and the key attributes from his evaluation criteria that he holds all new hires accountable to.

Adam Price of Homer Logistics: Everything They Didn't Teach About Hiring When I Got My Aerospace Engineering Degree Apr 02, 2017

Show notes

Homer Logistics is the most efficient last mile delivery network in the world--built on advanced routing technology and data science, together with industry leading people processes built to minimize turnover. It wasn't an easy infrastructure to set up, and Adam Price has learned a lot of hiring lessons along the way. He talks about turning gut checks into more effective screens, the hours he spends reference checking, and the role redesign process he kicks into gear when someone doesn't work out.

Shan-lyn Ma of Zola: Needs, Wants, and Greats Apr 02, 2017

Show notes

Shan-lyn Ma is a thoughtful, product oriented CEO whose entire career path feels like a lead up to assembling a great team. While she may not have known she would build Zola early on, she certainly knew the value of recognizing talent in others, and being someone people wanted to work with. We also talked about how to balance the idea of keeping the bar high with the pressing needs of a startup.

Chad Dickerson of Etsy: Culture as Recruiting Mar 31, 2017

Show notes

Etsy has a strong reputation for their company culture, employee diversity and creativity. We discussed how this has become a recruiting asset for the company and what strategies have made Etsy one of NYC's most talented companies.