Most startups hire fast. But is that the right hiring strategy?

In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Relinde Boerman, lead recruiter at PolarSteps. This travel app startup scaled from 20 to nearly 100 employees while maintaining the culture that made it special.

We explore why PolarSteps ignores time-to-hire as a metric, how they assess culture fit beyond vague feelings, and what it takes to build a talent-dense team that doesn't compromise on values.

Relinde explains how clearly defined values become hiring criteria, why curiosity matters more than perfect clarity in a scaling environment, and how their "day at the office" interview process reveals what traditional interviews miss.

This episode is for female founders, startup leaders, and anyone building a team who wants to understand how to scale without sacrificing the culture that makes your company special.

What you'll learn in this episode

- Why time-to-hire is the wrong metric for culture-driven startups

- How to translate abstract company values into concrete hiring behaviors

- What "talent density" means and why it matters more than headcount

- Why hiring "overqualified" people for first-of-kind roles is a smart strategy

- How a full-day interview reveals what 3 rounds of traditional interviews can't

- What it takes to maintain culture while scaling from 20 to 100 employees

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:02 Relinde's Journey to Polarsteps

04:47 The Growth of Polarsteps

07:20 Maintaining Company Culture During Rapid Growth

10:23 The Importance of Values in Recruitment

12:54 Hiring for Culture Fit15:38 Assessing Cultural Drift

17:54 Defining Company Values

20:05 Embedding Values in the Hiring Process

22:15 Curiosity as a Cultural Element

25:12 Balancing Clarity and Ambiguity in a Fast-Paced Environment

27:58 The Role of Leadership in Culture

30:14 High Impact, Talent Density, and Values

33:10 Navigating Commercial Pressures in Hiring

35:43 Addressing Hiring Mistakes

38:15 The Day at the Office: A Unique Hiring Approach

40:59 Onboarding and Settling In

43:42 Fostering Belonging in a Hybrid Setup

46:51 Career Growth and Internal Mobility

49:23 Hiring a New CEO

52:19 Advice for Female Founders

55:15 Closing Thoughts and Resources

Connect with Relinde Boerman and PolarSteps

Relinde Boerman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/relindeboerman/

Polarsteps on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarsteps/

Polarsteps website: https://www.polarsteps.com/

Polarsteps careers: https://careers.polarsteps.com/

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