The Gradience

It’s been a whole year of invaluable conversations with some of the brightest minds in the startup community. At The Gradience, a podcast by Build Talent, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with founders, talent partners, venture partners, visionaries and experts of all different backgrounds, and we’re incredibly grateful for their contributions.
On behalf of Build Talent, thank you so much for listening, we really couldn’t have done it without your loyal viewership. Be sure to stick around for season 2, we’ve only just gotten started!
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected]
About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Start-ups cannot function and grow on the enthusiasm and hard work of just one person, it takes a team of committed professionals to create a healthy corporate culture and drive expansion. 
To keep your team's curiosity and competitive spirit alive, you need a work environment that fosters success and advancement.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Andrei Papancea.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:11:05 ] When putting together your team, it’s important to ensure that they are people who want to do meaningful and intellectually engaging work and not people who just want a job
👉 [ 00:14:00 ] Your startup's culture will determine if people will stay with you or end up leaving
👉 [ 00:15:35 ] There are three reasons people leave companies or switch jobs:

• They are not being paid well enough
• Their job is not intellectually stimulating
• They are not being respected

👉 [ 00:16:11 ] Complicating the onboarding process does not help anyone but makes things difficult
👉 [ 00:19:40 ] Maintaining your work culture after scaling starts with hiring someone who aligns with your company's values.
👉 [ 00:20:30 ] Don't hire people who are not culturally fit for your company, no matter how intelligent they might be or how many skills and references they may have.
👉 [ 00:21:50 ] Hire people with the potential and hunger for growth, even if they are still novices in the role you're hiring for, because they will spend time researching and ensure they do things right.
👉 [ 00:24:50 ] "We got to a stage where we needed more people with different skills. When it was just the four of us, myself, Vlad, Peter, and Doug, we made a Google sheet and listed out the various things we were working on, the responsibilities, and the things we should keep doing ourselves.
👉 [ 00:26:50 ] Do not overhire in advance; only hire when you are ready and have enough resources.
👉 [ 00:29:10 ] Be patient, stay true to your values, and trust your intuition.
👉 [ 00:31:41 ] "When people provide advice, you don't always have to take it. Filter through as much advice as possible and then make your own decision."
If you’re interested in gaining insights into building a team that trusts you and is committed to your company's success from someone who's done just that,  tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Andrei here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreipapancea    👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ndrppnc?lang=en
About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Building a startup from scratch involves testing the feasibility of your ideas, checking whether they work, raising funds, scaling and getting proof of concept.
All these require your utmost concentration, and you can focus on what matters when there is no internal turmoil in the company.
As a result, you must hire and work with people who are not only skilled and talented but also share your values. These people are those you respect and those with the same cultural alignment.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Jose Guardado is joined by Aamir Virani, Advisor, Explorer, and President of VSHAD Holdings.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:05:19 ] How working as an employee in other companies before starting your own allows you to learn
👉 [ 00:09:31 ] Mutual respect is one of the things to be on the lookout for when co-founding a company with someone
👉 [ 00:16:30 ] Test-run your ideas and your products to ensure they work before looking for a big-time investor. Have a proof of concept
👉 [ 00:19:07 ] When bringing someone new into your team, ensure that there's a responsibility the person is accountable for and that there's cultural alignment
👉 [ 00:26:36 ] As a new startup, you don't have to hire too fast, especially if it's for a task that isn't pressing or doesn't require much expertise, because you might not have enough funding to do that
👉 [ 00:30:37 ] As a founder, you must ensure that your teams are comfortable and in a place that allows them to succeed, even after the startup is acquired 👉 [ 00:33:23 ] Acquisition and merger of a startup can serve as an opportunity to learn for the founder of that startup
👉 [ 00:38:59 ] There are different ways you can work in government service. You can apply and join. An example is the US Digital Service
If you are a startup company interested in learning all about the challenges you might encounter through your journey, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.

Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Aamir here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avirani     👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/avirani👉 VSHAD Holdings: https://vshadholdings.com


About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Hiring smart and empathetic people is a great way to boost your business and surround yourself with effective colleagues.
Employees shouldn't be motivated by money to work and should be excited about the prospect of working for the company, as the company's growth should be their aim. A company needs to hire these sorts of people and include them in its hierarchy. 
It is important to have the ability to identify good people with a balance high IQ and  EQ who will work for the company. These are the types of people to build a company's ideology around.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Tim Tully, Partner at Menlo Ventures.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:11:28 ] To be good at hiring the right people, you need to have an understanding of management and identifying emotional intelligence
👉 [ 00:13:01 ] Be on the lookout for smart people with a balanced IQ and EQ
👉 [ 00:14:00 ] When growing your company, train some employees that would have the ability to recognize good talent and high-value individuals, this way, your ideology is maintained in the future 
👉 [ 00:16:30 ] Your employees need to be emotionally intelligent, if you hire the right people that share your values they will find the right people for you. 👉 [ 00:20:17 ] Ego tends to bring about failures, so models should be developed to combat these challenges. The best way to tackle this is to have a head of the team that is responsible for the team's success or failure 
👉 [ 00:23:50 ] Money shouldn't be a motivator to work, you need to provide your engineers with reasons why they should work for you and what they tend to benefit from working for a company, this will help them find faster routes to problems 
👉 [ 00:31:49 ] New startups shouldn't overhire. They would have problems with funding as it's difficult raising funds. Hire only essential persons your company needs 
👉 [ 00:33:40 ] When hiring employees, its preferable to hire engineers with 10x potential as they would provide better results for the company than a regular engineer 
If you’re interested in scaling your company with quality hires, want to learn how to identify employees with high IQ and EQ that will be beneficial to your company, or want to build a high-performing team, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Tim here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothytully     👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/timt👉 Menlo Ventures: https://www.menlovc.com
About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

To celebrate this milestone, we will look back on some of the best moments of our podcast conversations, which feature:

• Adrien Treuille Co-Founder & CEO of Streamlit
• Evan Walden Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• Derek Lo Founder & CEO of Medallion
• Tammy Han Head of Talent of Emergence Capital
• Brent Goldman Engineering Leader and Angel Investor
• Dan Chen Visiting Fellow of Sequoia Capital
• Jose Guardado and Brian Bocchino of Build Talent
• Jordan Fisher Founder & CEO of Standard AI
• Gia Scinto Partner of Launch Search Partners
• Riley Ennis Co-Founder & Chief Profuct Officer of Freenome
• Kevin Novak Managing Partner & Founder of Rackhouse Venture Capital
• Matt Birnbaum Talent Partner of Pear VC
• Chandan Lodha Co-Founder of CoinTracker
• Jay Fulcher Operating Partner of Cheyenne Ventures
• Amanda Daering CEO of Newance
• Jeff M Winter VP of Talent Aquisition at Chime
• Jennifer Smith CEO & Co-Founder of Scribe
• Martin Siniawski Co-Founder & CEO of Podcast App
• Paula Judge VP Talent of Accel
• Robin Choy CEO of HireSweet
  
  

If you’re interested in getting team-building tips from successful founders, learning how to create an organic culture for your team, and building a top cross-functional team, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 

About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Your biggest step and where you should spend the most time is discovery. This involves you "setting up the scene". 
Ask yourself; who am I looking for, where will I find them, what's interesting for them, what will they do in their first few weeks and a few months? 
Answering these increases clarity, and with clarity comes the conviction necessary to make great hires.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Robin Choy, Co-founder & CEO at HireSweet and Host at A-Players Podcast - Build teams of top performers.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:07:04 ] Most companies believe sourcing candidates is the epitome of their problems. And for most young graduates wanting to create a company, the most challenging factor is insourcing
👉 [ 00:11:04 ] HireSweet marketplace is a talent marketplace similar to hire.com. It's the next evolution of the hiring agency because it allows you to manage a higher volume of candidates and clients while offering a white-glove experience
👉 [ 00:13:04 ] HireSweet CRM is a product you can use however you want. It is not limited to software engineering alone and is open to anyone looking to hire accountants, designers, sales, marketing, etc.
👉 [ 00:14:01 ] The early stages of discovery are the most crucial to getting outstanding talents. Discovery entails the following: 

• Highlighting what you are looking for 
• Setting up the job description
• Setting up Your scorecard
• Spending time to understand your target audience in your target markets

👉 [ 00:15:03 ] Very few recruiters think about what's in the role for the candidates. It would be best if you put your wording right in the description for the role explaining in detail what's interesting for them
👉 [ 00:15:36 ] Your biggest step and where you should spend the most time is discovery. This involves you "setting up the scene". Here are a few questions to guide you: 

• What am I looking for? 
• Where will I find them?
• What's interesting for them? 
• What will they do in their first few weeks and a few months? 

👉 [ 00:17:00] Mostly, it's not about innovation but just doing things right. If you have the following: 

• A good interviewing process
• You're responsive to candidates
• You have a good candidate experience
• You are being transparent

 👉 [ 00:18:00 ] Recently, people have been moving away from that "very shiny innovations" such as AI chatbots, video interviewing, etcetera. To a more humane and personal interview process
👉 [ 00:20:12] The first touch point with a candidate can be through a job post online via Email, LinkedIn, or a third party (hiring agency). You must have these all lined up clearly and keep iterating to improve them. Next, you track all your data and improve the initial stage
👉 [ 00:21:04 ] The main recruiting material is job descriptions. Using recorded videos for interviews is a growing trend. There will be a lot of innovation in the next few years in using recorded video for interviews
If you’re interested in getting team building tips from a successful founder, want a peek into being a founder in an unexplored niche, want to learn how to create an organic culture for your team, interested in knowing what it's like to be a founder in an unfamiliar industry, want to build a cross-functional team and a team with the right atmosphere, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Robin here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbchoy/👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/robin_choy👉 Website:  https://www.hiresweet.com/👉 Podcast: https://anchor.fm/aplayers
About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Great interviews are built on your capacity to learn a lot about a prospect and the applicant's ability to show you who they are, what they have done, and how they are the greatest match for the position.
Interviews are about making your time with the candidate effective, getting the knowledge and information you need, and giving the candidate the information they need to make a decision.
However, providing the information the candidate needs is essential to hiring the right person for the right job at the right time.
A long hiring process is unnecessary for an early-stage startup. However, a well-structured hiring and interview process is vital.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, guest host, Brian Bocchino, is joined by Paula Judge, VP of Talent at Accel.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:02:01 ] Connecting with people and building relationships are very important to being successful at a job
👉 [ 00:02:51 ] The fundamental part of developing the skillset skill to build relationships and connecting with people is predicated on answering the following questions: 

• What motivates them?
• What makes somebody tick? 
• What are their desires?
• How do you connect with what's meaningful to them?

👉 [ 00:05:05 ] "You learn the craft of recruiting by doing it". You need to have a lot of searches, people, clients and challenging situations
👉 [ 00:11:26 ] In recruiting, the goal is to get the right person on board so they can begin earnestly and impact the company
👉 [ 00:21:57 ] Interviewing is a skill. It's a craft that you can learn and be better at it with each interview session
👉 [ 00:22:40 ] Great interviews are predicated on your ability to get substantial knowledge about a candidate and the candidate having the experience of truly being able to show you who they are, what they accomplished, and how they are the best fit for the role
👉 [ 00:25:01 ] Interviews are about making your time with the candidate effective and getting the knowledge and information you need, and also giving the candidates the information they need to make a decision
👉 [ 00:25:10 ] Giving the knowledge and information that the candidate need is essential to hiring the right person for the right job and at the right time
👉 [ 00:026:30 ] For an early-stage company doesn't need a lengthy recruiting process. However, you need a well-structured recruiting process as well as the interview process
👉 [ 00:027:00 ] Never hire somebody without really understanding the business problem you are planning to solve
👉 [ 00:027:30 ] Start with the fundamentals of the problem and then begin to scope a role around the problem
👉 [ 00:32:16 ] If your company's at a point where it's ready to grow, being a talent magnet, a strong manager, and understanding how to build in levels and career growth and career progression, is the most important thing
If you’re interested in getting team-building tips from a successful founder, want a peek into being a founder in an unexplored niche, want to learn how to create an organic culture for your team, interested in knowing what it's like to be a founder in an unfamiliar industry, want to build a cross-functional team and a team with the right atmosphere, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Paula here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulajudge/ 👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulajudge2 👉 Website: https://www.accel.com/
About the Show
“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

At the start of your company's journey, you must be resourceful. You will have to wear many hats. And when your company grows, you will need to hire additional people to fill the roles.
You will need to scale down your recruitment ambitions for an early-stage business. It will be challenging for your company to recruit a senior-level employee from a bigger organization.
As your business expands, innovation must become a vital component. One of the most critical factors to consider before hiring is identifying the essential skills you seek in recruits.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Martin Siniawski, Co-Founder & CEO at Podcast App.
They cover:
👉 [ 00:04:44 ] - By training, Martin is a software engineer. He started his first company in college. He started as CTO at Steema and eventually became CEO and started Podcast App six years ago
👉 [ 00:09:35 ] - At the beginning of your journey as a company, you have to be resourceful. You will need to wear many hats. And as the company scales, you can recruit more hands to fill in the roles 
👉 [ 00:09:45 ] - For an early startup, you will need to cut down on the ambition of who to target recruiting-wise. It's going to be hard to poach someone from a larger company who is senior in their role to your company
👉 [ 00:11:57 ] - As your company grows, creativity must be an integral part of it
👉 [ 00:13:17 ] - One of the key things to consider before you start recruiting is to be clear on the important skills you seek in the talents
👉 [ 00:15:03 ] - The benefit of hiring highly experienced people at the company's early stages is that they bring a lot of value to the team. Their ability to do a lot of things within the company motivates the team to aim higher and do more
👉 [ 00:16:07 ] - There's a big difference between what the company needs and what it can afford. It will cost the company more if you want someone extremely senior and experienced
👉 [ 00:17:04 ] - "The more experienced your team, the better". 
👉 [ 00:19:38 ] - As a founder, having experienced people that know their domains, fill your roles, and carry out their roles superficially without much supervision can get a lot of work off
👉 [ 00:22:55 ] - Recruiting a leader in an area is a great way to improve your recruiting bandwidth
👉 [ 00:24:44 ] - Hiring leaders in your company is “solving business problems with talents”
If you’re interested in getting team-building tips from a successful founder, want a peek into being a founder in an unexplored niche, want to learn how to create an organic culture for your team, interested in knowing what it's like to be a founder in an unfamiliar industry, want to build a cross-functional team and a team with the right atmosphere, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Martin here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msinia/      👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/msinia
👉 Website: https://podcast.app
About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

Most early-stage startup hiring processes take up fifty percent of the founder's time if you want to be more efficient, having a procedure already established and a team taking care of recruiting can drastically minimize the time you spend on it.
People with previous experience working in early-stage organizations are an attractive candidate pool for early-stage employment opportunities. You might also think of people interested in contributing to creating something new but haven't previously had the chance.
When recruiting for an early-stage company, the most crucial thing to remember is that you are not attempting to persuade people to join your company alone, but you offer a conducive environment where their talent and skills can flourish, and their careers grow. 
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Jennifer Smith, Co-Founder of Scribe. 
They cover:
👉 [ 00:08:07 ] As a founder, not shipping things fast enough by spending too much time thinking about the product and not letting your customers' feedback shape the process affects the overall performance in the market
👉 [ 00:08:34 ] If you hear a lot of feedback from people concerning your business, that means they care about your product. The more feedback, the better
👉 [ 00:08:46 ] As a founder, you need to have a vision for the problem you are trying to solve and how the world will improve afterward 👉 [ 00:08:59 ] Hire great people and point them in the direction of your vision
👉 [ 00:09:07 ] Always listen to your customers and respond to the feedback you receive from them
👉 [ 00:11:00 ] To get the best candidate for the roles within your startup, "it is important to talk to many people". And from the pool of candidates, you will be able to identify the right people to fit those roles
👉 [ 00:14:48 ] For your early engineering hires, candidates that are both incredibly technical and creative simultaneously
👉 [ 00:22:07 ] The most important thing to realize when doing early-stage recruiting is "you are not trying to convince people to come to do an early-stage company".
👉 [ 00:22:26 ] Your ideal early-stage hires should be people who have experience working in early-stage companies. Also, you may consider candidates who want to be a part of building something but haven't had the opportunity
👉 [ 00:28:03 ] Founders spend fifty percent of their time recruiting. To be more efficient, having a process in place and a team that takes care of hiring will greatly reduce the time you spend 
👉 [ 00:29:25 ] Access "culture fits" straight from the beginning. 
If you’re interested in getting team building tips from a successful founder, want a peek into being a founder in an unexplored niche, want to learn how to create an organic culture for your team, interested in knowing what it's like to be a founder in an unfamiliar industry, want to build a cross-functional team and a team with the right atmosphere, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Jennifer here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jenniferreneesmith/  👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/scribeceo
About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital

In recruiting, "never ask somebody to do the job that you wouldn't do yourself".
When hiring recruiters, you should look for people who have a good attitude and can pick themselves up and keep going. The right attitude is the first thing every good recruiter brings to work. Ensure you build a team's architecture before recruiting a team
The best time to hire your first talent operator is when you get a good round of funding, you're going to grow, and you need to put a lot more structure into your recruiting infrastructure.
During Series A or B funding is when you should do your first big round of hiring. If you only have one recruiter or outsource sourcing, it may be hard to grow your business in the future.
In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Jeff Winter, VP of Talent Acquisition at Chime
They cover:
👉 [ 00:10:30 ] Build a team's architecture before recruiting a team
👉 [ 00:14:50 ]There are many recruiters out there. Recruiters that distinguish themselves are those who have answers to the following:

• Do you ethically carry out your recruitment activities?
•  Are you closing the right deals, or are you closing and having a ton of fallouts?

👉 [ 00:15:33 ] Fallout in recruiting is when you make the hire, but then that candidate quits within 90 days
👉 [ 00:17:00 ] When hiring recruiters, look for candidates with positive attitudes and the ability to pick themselves up and keep driving forward
👉 [ 00:18:34 ] The first attribute every successful recruiter comes to work with is the right attitude
👉 [ 00:33:30 ] The ideal time to bring in your first talent operator is when you secure a good round of funding, and you're going to experience some growth and need to put a lot more rigor into the infrastructure of recruiting
👉 [ 00:34:14 ] Your first big round of recruiting should be during Series A or B funding
👉 [ 00:35:05 ] If you use a single recruiter or outsource sourcing, it may not be easy to scale in the future
👉 [ 00:35:17 ] The difficulties of scale when using third-party leverage for sourcing and recruiting are:

• It's harder to control the quality of candidates
• Higher cost
• A lack of communication or calibration between what the business needs and what the team is focusing on

👉 [ 00:36:11 ] Building an in-house recruiting team creates professional development opportunities for people
👉 [ 00:36:28 ] Having an internal recruitment team allows you to build out:

• Employment brand
• Talent operations 
• Candidate experience

👉 [ 00:47:10 ] As a founder, before you hire your first talent leader, ensure your potential candidate has a level of tenure, knowledge, and good networking ability

If you’re interested in getting team-building tips from a successful founder, want a peek into being a founder in an unexplored niche, want to learn how to create an organic culture for your team, interested in knowing what it's like to be a founder in an unfamiliar industry, want to build a cross-functional team and a team with the right atmosphere, tune in to this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.
Subscribe here:
👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW 👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV 👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n👉 Email: [email protected] 
And connect with Jeff here:
👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffwintersearch/  👉 Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GravityWinter 
About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up. 

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe

Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital