Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world's leading companies tell us about the many "firsts" of their startup journeys. We explore the ups and downs that founders face as they build, and what they've learned along the way.

In this episode, we spoke with Brendan Foody, Co-founder and CEO of Mercor. Mercor is an AI-powered recruiting platform that scaled from $1 million to $100 million in revenue run rate in just 11 months, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley.

Brendan shares his journey from selling donuts in eighth grade to building automated hiring solutions, the decision to drop out of college, and how he positioned himself perfectly for the AI talent revolution.

For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Mercor templates, please visit: https://ntn.so/cbc8mp

To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: https://ntn.so/271hmw

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

03:39 Mercor by the Numbers

05:36 Obsession Over Discipline

08:39 Fundraising as Input

10:59 Scaling Self & Culture

13:40 Automating Manual Processes

17:40 Finding the Right Market

21:08 Staying Long-Term Oriented

22:58 The Tool Stack

25:22 Advice Block