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Recruit Rockstars Podcast

Recruit Rockstars is the only podcast on the people part of PE & VC portfolio companies.
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Now displaying: June, 2018
Jun 29, 2018

If you’re not worried about your top-performing employees leaving you, I’ve got bad news: 42 million employees will leave their jobs in 2018.

While we’re at a record-low unemployment rate, we’re also at a record-high employee disengagement rate. Many are miserable.

And it’s not Money. That’s only #5 on the list.

So I wanted to find out specifically why they leave, and what we leaders can do about it.

Fortunately, I found Danny Nelms. 

He’s President of Work Institute, which just released its “2018 Retention Report” - the only one of its kind, a study of national workplace turnover & retention.

Using a scientifically valid methodology & data from over 234,000 exit interviews, this report uncovers the root causes of turnover to reveal the real reasons employees leave their jobs for better opportunities.

Remember: recruiting actually starts with retention. 

In this 20-minute conversation, Danny shares the real reasons that your best people will leave. The answers will surprise you.

Jun 26, 2018

If you’re not using SmartSheet, you likely soon will.

They have 75,000 customers. It’s probably the simplest way to let your team collaborate online.

Based in Seattle (where it’s been named one of the “Best Places to Work”) CEO Mark Mader has built a Rockstar team of 900, to take this SaaS business from Main Street to Wall Street.

Their goal is to graduate people from Google Docs & Office Docs to a much smarter way of working together

Along the 12-year journey, SmartSheet raised $100M in venture capital and then went public this April to raise an additional $160M.

But this 20-minute conversation isn’t about how to raise VC or how to go public.

It’s about how to build an organization that can change a category, thrill investors, and crush the competition.

Jun 21, 2018

If you’re tired of the hassle with scheduling meetings, this episode is for you.

My guest is Maran Nelson. She’s Co-Founder & CEO of Clara Labs, based in Silicon Valley.

Clara is the human-in-the-loop assistant that schedules your meetings. Using a blend of technology, AI, and humans, Clara coordinates where/when your candidates and employees will meet. 

And it can be applied to scheduling all sorts of meetings.

Maran has raised funding from Sequoia Capital, Upside Ventures, First Round Capital, and other VC’s.

After studying Neuroscience at U of Texas at Austin, she co-founded Clara with a childhood friend to solve one of business’ most frustrating problems.

In this 20-minute conversation, she reveals how she’s recruited & built a team of “people” people.

Jun 19, 2018

It’s one thing to come up with a super-cool new product idea.

It’s entirely another to raise millions in venture capital funding, handpick a bunch of top-performers, build them into a cohesive team, and execute.

And ship!

That’s precisely what David Rabie has done. 

He’s Founder & CEO of Tovala. This early-stage company moved from Silicon Valley to Chicago, to get its hands on great talent.

Tovala is a smart oven that is paired with a meal delivery service. The simplest way to get healthy food into your kitchen and your body. 

After years working at Veggie Grill and Groovy Spoon Frozen Yogurt, David was inspired to reimagine the way that people prepare their dinner.

And his team is doing it.

In this 20-minute episode, he tells us how.

Jun 14, 2018

Unless this is your first time listening to the show, you know that today’s topic is my obsession.

Building an “A” team isn’t a thing. It’s the Only thing that matters in today’s hypercompetitive market.

And I found the perfect guest.

Whitney Johnson has been recognized as one of the 50 leading business thinkers in the world. She’s an expert on disruptive innovation & personal disruption; specifically, a framework which she codifies in the critically acclaimed book “Disrupt Yourself.”

Her new book “Build an ‘A’ Team: Play To Their Strengths & Lead Them Up The Learning Curve” is a fascinating guidebook for how to build your organization, reduce turnover, and make your recruiting far easier.

Whitney developed her proprietary framework & diagnostics after having co-founded the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard Business School’s legendary Clayton Christensen.

In this 20-minute conversation, Whitney reveals how it’s done step-by-step. Have a pen ready to jot notes.

Jun 12, 2018

After spending 10 years working in paid search, Jordan Meyer decided it was time to strike out on his own. 

He had no idea that Granular would become one of Milwaukee’s fastest-growing companies in just 4 years.

Jordan is CEO & Founder of Granular.

You may think that all PPC firms are alike.

What’s fascinating about Granular is their people model. All of its PPC managers are experienced. No junior people. No interns. Clients work with a seasoned paid search pro. 

I wanted to find out how Jordan built it.

Here’s the 20-minute interview.

Jun 7, 2018

If your business has 10 to 100 employees, and you’re on a growth trajectory, some days it feels like you’re jumping one hurdle after another.

But the most successful business leaders do things differently at this stage, particularly when it comes to putting processes in place. This helps push down decision-making to the lowest possible level of the organization.

So, I wanted to find out how to do it properly.

Brad Farris is uniquely qualified. At Chicago-based Anchor Advisors, he’s worked with hundreds of businesses to do just that. 

By putting in the right systems early, he helps small businesses scale big.

So if that’s your aspiration for 2018, this 20-minute episode is for you.

Jun 6, 2018

If you hope to have even a prayer of recruiting Rockstars, you’d better be one yourself.

Because they won’t consider for working for someone they can’t learn from, grow from, and one day replace (once you’re promoted).

So to do that, you need to communicate to candidates that they’ll be working directly for a top-performer.

And that means building your personal brand (not your company’s brand or employer brand. I’m talking about YOUR brand).

So I tracked down an expert to show us how.

Jay Kuhns is VP of HR Strategy at Kinetix, a leading recruitment process and human resources consulting firm. He’s been at it for 20 years, and has built a reputation for teaching executives how to establish their brand as a Rockstar.

As a side benefit: when you build your personal brand, you make it far easier for us headhunters to find you & put you in front of our CEO, VC, and PE clients.

Jay gives it to you straight. No BS. No excuses. So be ready when you listen to this 20-minute episode.

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