Taylor chats with Adriaan Kolff, co-founder of MatcHR and Pantala about starting his company in Ukraine, meeting his wife at Burning Man, and advice from past failures as well as a few successes.

(0:43) How Adriaan met his wife at Burning Man

(5:55) Starting a business in Kiev

(8:37) Moving and building a business based on a spreadsheet

(10:26) Early misconceptions of starting a recruiting business

(12:24) Covid - a blessing in disguise

(15:50) Lessons from managing a business fully remotely in a war zone

(19:40) Learning from working at a big company (Unilever) to founding a startup

(22:26) Landing large clients such as TikTok, Booking.com, and Revolut

(28:13) What fuels Adriaan’s confidence and infectious positivity?

(29:31) How is AI going to change recruiting?

(31:10) How do you scale a people-intensive business?

(32:37) How to apply sales skills to the biggest bang for the buck

(34:58) How do you prioritize what to work on?

(35:47) Adriaan’s experience finding a partner

(39:30) Future of MatcHR

(40:27) Don’t over think it! Ask for favors and advice.