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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/

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What exactly is High Slope Talent and why are the best leaders focused on finding it?

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Dr. Heather Doshay breaks down the concept she’s become known for: identifying and developing people with high growth potential. Drawing from her experience as a venture-backed startup operator and leadership coach, Heather shares how to recognize people who not only rise quickly but elevate those around them.

She also explores what organizations can do to nurture these individuals, why traditional hiring frameworks often overlook them, and how using ‘slope’ as a lens helps build stronger, more scalable teams.

About Heather Doshay: Dr. Heather Doshay is the Founder of Waypoint Works, a coaching and embedded advisory partner helping startups scale intelligently. Previously a Partner & Head of Talent at SignalFire and the founding executive and VP of People at Webflow, she brings hard-earned operator insights to founders and their teams. She holds a doctorate in leadership, and her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Forbes.

Follow Heather on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doshay/

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Every great company starts with the people who build it. Few people know this better than Wendy Papakostandini, who has spent nearly a decade helping founders hire and scale at Anzu Partners. 

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Wendy shares practical insights for both founders and candidates, including how to assess a company’s stability and growth potential, what thoughtful questions can reveal during interviews, why low-ego operators thrive in early environments, and when it makes sense to bring in recruiting support.

She also takes us inside her work with the Volta Foundation and the Battery Talent Census, where she’s helping one of the fastest-growing sectors in tech prepare for a massive workforce expansion.

About Wendy Papakostandini: Wendy is Head of Talent and Principal at Anzu Partners, where she leads efforts to build high-performing teams for innovative hard-tech companies. In addition, she serves as Program Director of the Battery Talent Census at Volta Foundation and co-authors the Talent section of the Annual Battery Report, the industry’s most widely read workforce analysis. 

Follow Wendy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypapakostandini/

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Eighteen years at one company feels almost unheard of today, but that’s exactly Allison Lopour’s story at CollegeWise. She joined when it was just a five-person startup and has helped scale the team to 100+ employees, while keeping a people-first culture at the center through every stage.

In this episode of Beyond the Hire, Allison reflects on what has kept her growing alongside her company for nearly two decades, how she approaches employee loyalty without making empty promises, and why unconventional career paths often create the most authentic leaders.

About Allison Lopour:
Allison Lopour is Chief People Officer at Collegewise, where she's built people-first cultures in education technology. A first-generation college graduate, she started as  a college counselor and grew into strategic HR leadership, guiding distributed teams through unprecedented growth while transitioning to fully remote operations. Allison is passionate about creating environments where people can bring their authentic selves to work and thrive during periods of change.

Follow Allison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonlopour/ 

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How do you scale when you are ahead of the market, stepping into sales for the first time, and the only non-technical hire in the room? That was the opportunity Spencer Reich embraced when he left hedge funds to join an early AI startup before the whole world caught on.

In this conversation, he shares the lessons those experiences taught him about conviction, hiring, resilience, and how they now fuel his work with high-growth founders at The SER Group.

About Spencer Reich:

Spencer Reich is the Founder and CEO of The SER Group, a boutique advisory firm that helps high-growth companies scale smarter, from building go-to-market engines and hiring high-performing teams to leveraging AI for sharper decision-making. With over 20 years of experience at the intersection of finance, technology, and innovation, Spencer blends strategic insight with hands-on execution to help his clients grow faster and more efficiently.

Follow Spencer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-e-reich/