Beyond the Hire

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How do you know when you've outgrown your role or just need a new challenge?

In this episode of Before the Hire, Matthew Anders shares how he's continued to advance his career over eight years at Betts. Since joining as the company's first Los Angeles hire in 2018, he's adapted when his career plans changed, taken the initiative to create new opportunities for himself, and worked his way up to Director, now leading a team of recruiters across four cities.

Matthew shares why having the right manager has been so important to his career, how speaking up helped him shape his next steps, and a simple exercise to help you evaluate where you stand in your own career.

About Matthew: Matthew Anders is a Director of Recruiting at Betts, where he leads and mentors a growing team of recruiters. He began his career in sales at Oracle before joining Betts in 2018. Since then, he's earned President's Club repeatedly and progressed from individual contributor to team lead to Director, building a strong track record in recruiting and leadership.

Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersmatthew 

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How do you decide what comes next in your career?

Throughout nearly 20 years in tech, Erin Wilson has always been intentional about choosing opportunities based on the work he wants to do and the problems he wants to solve. That has taken him from agency recruiting to internal talent, through a decade as a founder, and most recently back into recruiting as Member of Talent Staff at Rox.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Erin shares how his experiences as both a candidate and recruiter have shaped the way he operates today and what he’s learned from building teams and companies.

About Erin: Erin Wilson is a recruiting leader and two time founder with nearly 20 years of experience focused on recruiting for startups in the tech industry. He currently serves as Member of Talent Staff at Rox.

Sometimes referred to as the “original talent engineer,” Erin has spent his career at the intersection of recruiting, technology, and company building.

Conceptual Recruiter: Discover the practical desk kit by Erin Wilson, designed to help recruiters sharpen their craft in the AI era. Lesson 1 is free, with the full Desk Kit and downloadable resources available for $47

Follow Erin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/techmatchmaker/ 

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Success in sales is rarely about one big breakthrough. It’s the result of small decisions and habits repeated consistently over time.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Irfan Jafar, Regional Sales Director at Omnissa, shares the mindset that has shaped his career from enterprise seller to sales leader. He explains why he focuses on competing with himself, how he has intentionally developed skills outside his comfort zone, and why discipline and preparation matter just as much when nobody is watching.

Irfan also shares how that mindset has influenced the way he approaches leadership, hiring, and career decisions, including what he looks for beyond a candidate's track record and why becoming a leader often starts long before you have the title.

About Irfan Jafar: Irfan Jafar is a technology sales leader, mentor, and lifelong student of performance who believes that discipline, continuous learning, accountability, and servant leadership are the foundation of exceptional careers. 

Over the past two decades, he has evolved from a top-performing enterprise seller into an award-winning sales leader, helping customers and teams navigate change, achieve transformational growth, and unlock their full potential. Guided by a passion for excellence, resilience, and intentional living, Irfan shares lessons on leadership, mindset, and personal growth that inspire others to perform at their highest level.

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Preparing for your first executive job search in years? Your experience may get you in the door, but how you present yourself throughout the interview process is what sets you apart.

In this episode of Before the Hire, Betts' SVP of Global Recruiting, Lauren Stempel, and Principal Recruiter, Meghan Healy, share practical advice for executives navigating a job search after years at the same organization.

They break down the interview fundamentals that matter most, from telling a clear story about your experience and impact to preparing thoughtfully for every stage of the interview process.

About Lauren Stempel: Lauren Stempel is SVP of Global Recruiting at Betts, where she leads the firm's Principal and Partner Recruiters and oversees the GTM, Strategic, and Talent Partner recruiting teams.

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About Meghan Healy: Meghan Healy is a Principal Recruiter and Team Lead at Betts, specializing in strategic searches for senior individual contributors and leadership roles.

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Behind every high performing sales team is a leader who invests as much in people as they do in performance.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Morgan Mackles, the Head of Sales at Alix, shares the leadership lessons he's learned across medical-genetics sales, enterprise organizations, PE, and high growth startups. He discusses what separates great sales leaders from the rest, including a hands-on understanding of the roles they manage, strong emotional intelligence, and a commitment to supporting and developing their teams.

He also shares how these leadership principles, along with building scalable and repeatable GTM processes, have shaped his approach to helping Alix grow more than 10x across revenue and customers within one year.

About Morgan Mackles: Morgan Mackles is the Head of Sales at Alix, an AI-powered estate settlement company that combines technology with expert human guidance to help families navigate probate, trust administration, asset distribution, and the many financial and administrative responsibilities that follow the loss of a loved one.

Morgan has extensive experience building and scaling go-to-market teams across AI, enterprise software, private equity, and financial services. Before joining Alix, he served as VP of Sales in private equity, where he helped scale the business from zero to approximately $300M in AUM. Before that, he held sales leadership roles at x.ai, which was acquired by Bizzabo, and Iron.io, which was acquired by Oracle. Today, he leads customer acquisition and the sales organization at Alix, with a focus on building a scalable, empathetic, and disciplined sales motion for families, advisors, attorneys, and financial institutions.

Follow Morgan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganmackles/

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One of the clearest signals of a top performer? They know they can’t always control outcomes, but they still take ownership and relentlessly pursue excellence. 

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Jay Madheswaran, the Founder & CEO of Eve, shares the principles that shaped his career and now guide how he builds and scales teams. From starting as a 20-year-old engineer at Facebook to leading Eve, an AI-native legal tech unicorn, through rapid growth to 200+ employees, Jay offers a clear perspective on what it takes to succeed in fast-moving, competitive environments.

About Jay Madheswaran: Jay Madheswaran is the Founder & CEO of Eve, an AI platform automating case management for plaintiff law firms. Prior to founding Eve in 2020, he was a software engineer at Facebook, the first engineer and Head of Product Engineering at Rubrik, and later an investor at Lightspeed Venture Partners, building over 15 years of experience in AI and machine learning.

Since launching Eve, he has scaled the company to over 200 employees and led it to a valuation exceeding $1 billion as of September 2025.

Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayanth1/

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In executive hiring today, what looks strong on paper doesn’t always translate to the right hire.

Instead of focusing primarily on tenure or credentials, hiring managers are looking for leaders whose experience aligns with a company’s stage of growth, team dynamics, and revenue goals. What makes someone the right fit often depends on the specific challenges a company is trying to solve.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Cassie Zaffanella, Executive Recruiter at Betts Recruiting, breaks down how executive candidates are evaluated and what separates “A” and “B” profiles. She shares how leaders can clearly communicate the ownership and growth impact they have driven in previous roles, along with the interview pitfalls that can derail even highly qualified candidates.

About Cassie Zaffanella: Cassie Zaffanella is an Executive Recruiter at Betts with over a decade of experience in the tech industry. She began her career in enterprise sales at Oracle before transitioning into recruiting, and joined Betts in 2018. Since then, she has helped build the firm’s executive recruiting practice and has consistently ranked as one of the company’s top recruiters.

Follow Cassie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-zaffanella-a4a65b66/

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Ask any experienced recruiter and they’ll tell you that preparation and authenticity consistently set candidates apart.

In this episode of Before the Hire, Juliet Goswell, Director of Recruiting at Betts Recruiting, shares an insider’s perspective on sourcing and interviewing go-to-market candidates. She breaks down which sourcing platforms Betts recruiters use to find talent and why the most effective candidate profiles are often simple rather than overproduced. 

She also discusses how candidates can make a strong first impression in interviews, the importance of clearly articulating what motivates their career decisions, common candidate red flags, and why being grounded, prepared, and authentic often matters more than an impressive resume.

About Juliet Goswell: Juliet Goswell is the Director of Recruiting at Betts, where she leads the New York office and oversees teams ranging from recruiting coordinators to GTM recruiters and account managers. She’s been in recruiting for about five years and took a nontraditional path into the field, starting with a background in modern dance before moving into ad tech and influencer partnerships. That people-driven work led her into recruiting at StudioID, where she managed a large freelance network and began building leadership experience, followed by agency recruiting at Creative People. Juliet joined Betts a few years ago as an individual contributor and has since stepped into leadership, now leading the New York office.

Follow Juliet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliet-goswell/

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Some founders start with a clear idea. Others start with a question.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Justin Liu, CEO and co founder of Charta Health, walks us through the unconventional path that led to building Charta, including spending over a year interviewing hundreds of operators across industries and validating what could truly become a venture scale business.

He also shares how those early decisions shape how he hires today, why Charta prioritizes an in person culture, and what surprised him most after stepping into the CEO role for the first time.

About Justin Liu: Justin Liu is the CEO and co-founder of Charta Health, an AI Chart Review Platform transforming how healthcare organizations audit patient charts and documentation at scale. Charta streamlines critical workflows across revenue cycle, clinical operations, and compliance functions, helping providers and payers operate more efficiently and deliver better patient care. Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Charta is on a mission to make every healthcare dollar accountable and every chart accurate, simplifying the complexities of non-clinical operations from the ground up.

Before founding Charta, Justin led Growth at Rockset (acquired by OpenAI) and worked on Google’s Cloud Security team. His background in scaling cutting-edge AI technology is central to Charta’s success in transforming healthcare infrastructure.

Follow Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jusliu/

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What does it take to build real community in venture capital, and how can it shape your entire career? 

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Niamh O’Donnell shares how she went from running her own company at sixteen to working inside Ireland’s most influential innovation ecosystem and ultimately landing in the Bay Area. She breaks down how thoughtful networking opens doors, why intention matters more than transaction, and why founders and future investors should embed themselves in the right circles early on. 

Niamh also offers a candid look at her work at Unusual Ventures, what makes standout founders and teams, and the traits that help people thrive in zero to one environments.

About Niamh O’Donnell: Niamh O’Donnell is the Director of Programs at Unusual, where she runs Unusual Academy and other initiatives to help early-stage founders access the right insights and connections at the right time. Her expertise stems from prior roles at 500 Global, where she led co-investor relations, Enterprise Ireland, where she helped Irish startups expand into the US, and Notre Dame’s IDEA Center, where she supported the commercialization of emerging startups. Before that, Niamh worked at the forefront of XR and generative AI at Ascend Learning and was an award-winning entrepreneur herself, lending her rare empathy to the pace and ambiguity of the zero-to-one stage. Niamh holds degrees from The University of Notre Dame, KEDGE Business School, and Dublin City University, and lives in San Francisco.

Follow Niamh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niamh-o-donnell/