The Gradience: Recent Episodes
Build Talent
If you’re a founder building a company you’re going to eventually have to start hiring executives to help you scale. The people you bring into your leadership team can make or break your startup.
In each episode we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert, as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.
It’s been a whole year of invaluable conversations with some of the brightest minds in the startup community. At The Gradience, a podcast by Build Talent, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with founders, talent partners, venture partners, visionaries and experts of all different backgrounds, and we’re incredibly grateful for their contributions.On behalf of Build Talent, thank you so much for listening, we really couldn’t have done it without your loyal viewership. Be sure to stick around for season 2, we’ve only just gotten started!
Subscribe here:👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: podcast@buildtalent.io About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.
The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:
- Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
- Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital
Start-ups cannot function and grow on the enthusiasm and hard work of just one person, it takes a team of committed professionals to create a healthy corporate culture and drive expansion. To keep your team's curiosity and competitive spirit alive, you need a work environment that fosters success and advancement.In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Andrei Papancea.They cover:👉 [ 00:11:05 ] When putting together your team, it’s important to ensure that they are people who want to do meaningful and intellectually engaging work and not people who just want a job👉 [ 00:14:00 ] Your startup's culture will determine if people will stay with you or end up leaving👉 [ 00:15:35 ] There are three reasons people leave companies or switch jobs:* They are not being paid well enough * Their job is not intellectually stimulating * They are not being respected
👉 [ 00:16:11 ] Complicating the onboarding process does not help anyone but makes things difficult👉 [ 00:19:40 ] Maintaining your work culture after scaling starts with hiring someone who aligns with your company's values.👉 [ 00:20:30 ] Don't hire people who are not culturally fit for your company, no matter how intelligent they might be or how many skills and references they may have.👉 [ 00:21:50 ] Hire people with the potential and hunger for growth, even if they are still novices in the role you're hiring for, because they will spend time researching and ensure they do things right.👉 [ 00:24:50 ] "We got to a stage where we needed more people with different skills. When it was just the four of us, myself, Vlad, Peter, and Doug, we made a Google sheet and listed out the various things we were working on, the responsibilities, and the things we should keep doing ourselves.👉 [ 00:26:50 ] Do not overhire in advance; only hire when you are ready and have enough resources.👉 [ 00:29:10 ] Be patient, stay true to your values, and trust your intuition.👉 [ 00:31:41 ] "When people provide advice, you don't always have to take it. Filter through as much advice as possible and then make your own decision."If you’re interested in gaining insights into building a team that trusts you and is committed to your company's success from someone who's done just that, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.Subscribe here:👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: podcast@buildtalent.io And connect with Andrei here:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreipapancea 👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ndrppnc?lang=en About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.
The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:
- Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
- Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital
Building a startup from scratch involves testing the feasibility of your ideas, checking whether they work, raising funds, scaling and getting proof of concept.All these require your utmost concentration, and you can focus on what matters when there is no internal turmoil in the company.As a result, you must hire and work with people who are not only skilled and talented but also share your values. These people are those you respect and those with the same cultural alignment.In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Jose Guardado is joined by Aamir Virani, Advisor, Explorer, and President of VSHAD Holdings.They cover:👉 [ 00:05:19 ] How working as an employee in other companies before starting your own allows you to learn👉 [ 00:09:31 ] Mutual respect is one of the things to be on the lookout for when co-founding a company with someone👉 [ 00:16:30 ] Test-run your ideas and your products to ensure they work before looking for a big-time investor. Have a proof of concept👉 [ 00:19:07 ] When bringing someone new into your team, ensure that there's a responsibility the person is accountable for and that there's cultural alignment👉 [ 00:26:36 ] As a new startup, you don't have to hire too fast, especially if it's for a task that isn't pressing or doesn't require much expertise, because you might not have enough funding to do that👉 [ 00:30:37 ] As a founder, you must ensure that your teams are comfortable and in a place that allows them to succeed, even after the startup is acquired👉 [ 00:33:23 ] Acquisition and merger of a startup can serve as an opportunity to learn for the founder of that startup👉 [ 00:38:59 ] There are different ways you can work in government service. You can apply and join. An example is the US Digital ServiceIf you are a startup company interested in learning all about the challenges you might encounter through your journey, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.Subscribe here:👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: podcast@buildtalent.io And connect with Aamir here:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avirani 👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/avirani👉 VSHAD Holdings: https://vshadholdings.com
About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.
The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:
- Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
- Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital
Hiring smart and empathetic people is a great way to boost your business and surround yourself with effective colleagues.Employees shouldn't be motivated by money to work and should be excited about the prospect of working for the company, as the company's growth should be their aim. A company needs to hire these sorts of people and include them in its hierarchy. It is important to have the ability to identify good people with a balance high IQ and EQ who will work for the company. These are the types of people to build a company's ideology around.In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Tim Tully, Partner at Menlo Ventures.They cover:👉 [ 00:11:28 ] To be good at hiring the right people, you need to have an understanding of management and identifying emotional intelligence👉 [ 00:13:01 ] Be on the lookout for smart people with a balanced IQ and EQ👉 [ 00:14:00 ] When growing your company, train some employees that would have the ability to recognize good talent and high-value individuals, this way, your ideology is maintained in the future 👉 [ 00:16:30 ] Your employees need to be emotionally intelligent, if you hire the right people that share your values they will find the right people for you.👉 [ 00:20:17 ] Ego tends to bring about failures, so models should be developed to combat these challenges. The best way to tackle this is to have a head of the team that is responsible for the team's success or failure 👉 [ 00:23:50 ] Money shouldn't be a motivator to work, you need to provide your engineers with reasons why they should work for you and what they tend to benefit from working for a company, this will help them find faster routes to problems 👉 [ 00:31:49 ] New startups shouldn't overhire. They would have problems with funding as it's difficult raising funds. Hire only essential persons your company needs 👉 [ 00:33:40 ] When hiring employees, its preferable to hire engineers with 10x potential as they would provide better results for the company than a regular engineer If you’re interested in scaling your company with quality hires, want to learn how to identify employees with high IQ and EQ that will be beneficial to your company, or want to build a high-performing team, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.Subscribe here:👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: podcast@buildtalent.io And connect with Tim here:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothytully 👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/timt👉 Menlo Ventures: https://www.menlovc.com
About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.
The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:
- Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
- Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital
To celebrate this milestone, we will look back on some of the best moments of our podcast conversations, which feature:
- Adrien Treuille Co-Founder & CEO of Streamlit
- Evan Walden Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- Derek Lo Founder & CEO of Medallion
- Tammy Han Head of Talent of Emergence Capital
- Brent Goldman Engineering Leader and Angel Investor
- Dan Chen Visiting Fellow of Sequoia Capital
- Jose Guardado and Brian Bocchino of Build Talent
- Jordan Fisher Founder & CEO of Standard AI
- Gia Scinto Partner of Launch Search Partners
- Riley Ennis Co-Founder & Chief Profuct Officer of Freenome
- Kevin Novak Managing Partner & Founder of Rackhouse Venture Capital
- Matt Birnbaum Talent Partner of Pear VC
- Chandan Lodha Co-Founder of CoinTracker
- Jay Fulcher Operating Partner of Cheyenne Ventures
- Amanda Daering CEO of Newance
- Jeff M Winter VP of Talent Aquisition at Chime
- Jennifer Smith CEO & Co-Founder of Scribe
- Martin Siniawski Co-Founder & CEO of Podcast App
- Paula Judge VP Talent of Accel
- Robin Choy CEO of HireSweet
If you’re interested in getting team-building tips from successful founders, learning how to create an organic culture for your team, and building a top cross-functional team, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.Subscribe here:👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: podcast@buildtalent.io About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:
- Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
- Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
- The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital
Joining us this week to explore this topic is Robin Choy, Co-founder & CEO at HireSweet and Host at A-Players Podcast - Build teams of top performers. Hiresweet's talent acquisition team searches and assesses top tech talent so companies don't have to. Every Monday, they showcase a selection of ~800 software engineers (and growing) open to opportunities.
Paula Judge, VP Talent at Accel, joins us this week to explore this topic. Accel is a leading venture capital firm that invests in people and their companies from the earliest days through all phases of private company growth. Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, CrowdStrike, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, FreshWorks, Jet, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, UiPath, and Vox Media are among the companies the firm has backed over the past 35 years.
Joining us this week to explore this topic is Martin Siniawski, Co-Founder & CEO at Podcast App, a team of podcast fanatics with more than 20 years of combined experience in the audio space. It is a minimalist podcast player enhanced with cutting-edge technology that leverages machine learning to build customized podcast playlists for users based on their interests and tastes.
As a founder, your company's overall success in the market is adversely impacted if you do not release products fast enough. Joining us this week to explore this topic is Jennifer Smith, Co-Founder of Scribe, a company with a mission to unleash know-how across teams, organizations, and communities. Scribe was founded in 2019 to provide an easier, more effective way to share what you know.
Joining us this week to explore this topic is Jeff Winter, VP of Talent Acquisition at Chime, a financial technology company founded on the premise that basic banking services should be helpful, easy, and free. Chime partners with regional banks to design members' first financial products. This creates a more competitive market with better, lower-cost options for everyday Americans who are not served well by traditional banks. We help drive innovation, inclusion, and access across the industry.
Joining us this week to explore this topic is Amanda Daering, CEO of Newance, a company that builds technology and ops teams for startups and VCs. Its mission is to be the best spot in the world for brilliant people to find and succeed at solving interesting problems. Its Talent Advisors are paired with a hands-on subject matter Experts-in-Residence with years of experience in engineering, UX, and product. This unique approach helps our team to focus on what matters most - finding and engaging the right candidates at the right time.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Jay Fulcher, Operating Partner at Cheyenne Ventures. He is a three times CEO, author, board member, advisor, and entrepreneur. Previously CEO at TriNet Zenefits, where he led an impressive turnaround. Before that, he was CEO at Ooyala, an online video company that brought in the personalized Cloud TV era. Before that, he was CEO of Agile Software, an enterprise software company pioneering product lifecycle management. He is also the author of the five-time bestseller: "People Operations: Automate HR, Design a Great Employee Experience, and Unleash Your Workforce".
Since it enables limitless dissemination at very little cost, the internet has upended almost every major sector predicated on distribution routes. At least half of the founders' time should be spent on recruitment to develop the best possible workforce. Joining us this week to explore this topic is Chandan Lodha, Co-founder of CoinTracker, a company with the mission to increase the world's financial freedom and prosperity.
Creating blueprints or playbooks for founders is one of VCs' numerous responsibilities regarding talent. Operationalizing assists you learn how to support several companies simultaneously. Therefore, rather than spending five to ten hours with a founder, you spend thirty to sixty minutes with a playbook or blueprint. Finding and hiring the most qualified candidates for a position does not adhere to a "one size fits all" model. Early-stage businesses need VCs that can rapidly examine their existing conditions and key obstacles and then use this knowledge to develop a strategy that matches their specific needs.
Joining us this week to explore this topic is Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital, an early-stage VC fund that backs data founders, regardless of sector or geography. Before that, he was an angel investor at Jigsaw Venture; an early-stage venture fund focused on founders and firms that sit at the intersection of AI and ML and the real world. Before that, he was at Renegade Partners, a VC firm that helps founders navigate the pivotal phase of their development. And before this, he was head of data science at Uber during their early days.
Many founders speak to specific actions that enabled the growth of their companies in their respective industries. Some tips might apply in all sectors, while others are specific to certain industries. Here, Riley Ennis of Freenome shares actionable steps that have worked for him in healthcare.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Gia Scinto, Partner at Launch Search Partners and Growth Advisor/Expert at Y Combinator.
If you’re interested in the strategies for a successful recruitment process, the fundamentals of onboarding diverse talents, or generally building portfolios that could plug into the recruitment space, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast
While being a solo founder is all well and good, having a team of co-founders with your projected team culture, a wide range of skill sets, and experiences you do not possess is even much better. Adding to the team is a delicate process as your choices can push your startup in the direction you envisioned or cripple it.
In an industry where there are a thousand and one search firms, choosing the right executive search partner for your startup might be a challenge. Considering many of these search firms don’t even have the expertise or qualifications to hire top talents, recruiting might pose an even bigger challenge as a wrong partnership might result in the loss of time, energy, resources, and even potential finalists. Consequently, having the know-how for the right firm tops the list of to-dos when searching for executives.
The crypto industry is rapidly expanding as interest in the ethos and space increases. As such, the demand for crypto talent in crypto-inclined startups is also increasing and getting competitive. Founders are painfully aware of this and the fact that the early stage of a company is its most delicate. Therefore, to deliver on the company’s goals, an early team has to function appropriately and synergize. In achieving this, professionals with the right skillset need to be recruited
Any company’s greatest asset is the employees. They represent the company as ambassadors, determine the public’s perception of the business, are handlers of intangible assets, and are the biggest contributors to an organization’s worth. As such, recruiters and hiring managers need to bring people into the fold, develop a strong recruitment strategy and raise the bar during the process. Candidates should be carefully selected to ensure that additions to the team are people of high quality who are skilled, self-aware, have a growth mindset, and share the organizational culture, among others.
As an early-stage founder, going through the recruitment process on your own might prove to be a bigger challenge than envisioned. How do you select competent executives who also understand and integrate your company culture? How do you recruit top talents in a highly competitive and demanding market? This is where search firms and recruiters come in.
Building a business as a solo founder can be quite challenging due to its peculiarities and hassles. But hiring a dream team can significantly take the burden off a founder if done right.
In a way, the “job opportunity is the product, and the customer is the candidate who's buying it.” You have a “buyer persona” before recruitment begins, and your candidate is your customer throughout your hiring process. How then do you scope for and sell to your ideal candidate? Corresponding organizational culture and values.
New entrepreneurs face many challenges at the start of their founding careers. Some of these challenges range from getting adequate resources, budgeting, market demand, and a fool-proof work process, to mention a few. But one of the first major challenges faced by startups is employee hiring and management. A company and its values are made up of its workers; “Your vibe attracts your tribe.” As such, it is imperative to have one’s recruitment process figured out as it can make or mar the organization, its culture, and work output. The burning question now is, “How?”