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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: January, 2020
Jan 28, 2020

The smartest Private Equity investors have added whip-smart heads of Talent to their in-house teams.

Because investing is one thing… But attracting Rockstar teams to do something with that funding is another.

Here’s Exhibit A.

Based in Palo Alto (ground zero of the talent war), Kelly Carlson is Head of Talent with Symphony Technology Group. She leads the firm’s talent efforts & works with STG’s portfolio company CEOs & leadership teams to crush the number.

And she’s well-qualified to do it.

Kelly joined STG from TillmanCarlson, the retained executive search boutique where she recruited CEOs, CFOs, CTOs. (Say that 3 times fast!)

She mastered her craft during 8 years at Russell Reynolds Associates as one of the early members of the firm’s technology practice.

I had a chance to speak with Kelly about how to find the best candidates, how to land them, and... probably most important these days…how to keep them.

If you have 20 minutes, it’ll be well spent on this one.

Jan 21, 2020

…And you think that your business is complex?

Meet Luke Saunders, CEO & Founder of Farmer’s Fridge.

His ambitious venture combines custom hardware, software, food prep, distribution, and wirelessly-gathered data analytics. (You could say he’s bitten off alot.)

Based in Chicago, Farmer’s Fridge makes fresh meals in their kitchens & fills their Fridges with wholesome, delicious salads, bowls, and snacks.

Luke founded Farmer’s Fridge in 2013. And he’s dining with some heavy-hitters...

He’s raised $42 million from Danone Manifesto Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Cleveland Avenue, GreatPoint Ventures, Finistere Ventures, and PowerPlant Ventures.

In this 20-minute conversation, Luke reveals how he’s scaling the team, building the culture, and changing how we eat on the go.

Jan 18, 2020

I just had to good fortune to interview Emily Azevedo.

She’s Vice President of Talent of the prominent growth capital firm Mainsail Partners.

Based in San Francisco, Mainsail leads majority control investments in EBITDA-positive software & tech-enabled services.

Emily joined the firm & works with Mainsail’s portfolio companies on their talent needs, including executive leadership, recruiting, compensation, and assessment.

Prior, she mastered her craft at (my alma mater) Heidrick & Struggles, the preeminent executive search firm.

In this 20-min conversation, Emily reveals the keys to scaling the people part of your growth business. Including the key pitfalls to avoid.

Jan 16, 2020

Here’s the CEO of one of the fastest-growing food companies I’ve ever seen!

Mike Pytlinski is CEO of Nutridried, makers of Moon Cheese. I love this snack! (And it’s super healthy.) You’ve likely seen it at checkout in every Starbucks.

I tracked down Mike to understand how he’s scaling the business & the team. He was well-prepared for this hypergrowth.

Prior to Moon Cheese, Mike was VP Marketing at Palermo’s Pizza, where he tripled the business.

He developed his CPG & leadership chops at Kraft Foods, and holds an MBA from Kellogg School.

In this 20-minute conversation, Mike shares his insights on recruiting, building a culture, and how to manage hypergrowth (a very high-class problem)

Jan 14, 2020

Time is everything in recruiting. (You can’t fill the seat fast enough.)

Yet, most recruiters don’t charge on a time-based basis. They’re either contingency or retained.

Why is that, anyway?

I had to find out.

So I just interviewed Peggy Shell, CEO of Creative Alignments, based in Boulder.

She came up with the super-cool concept of “Time-based recruiting”

And growth companies seem to love it.

In this 20-min conversation, she explains how she went from math teacher to headhunter and why time-based recruiting might be just what your business needs.

Jan 11, 2020

I’m confident enough to admit that I’m a fanboy of Jason Fried.

He’s CEO & Co-Founder of Chicago-based Basecamp. They make the original & leading project management tool.

And I was humbled to interview him for Recruit Rockstars Podcast.

Because Jason is one of my favorite thinkers on the subjects of work, hiring, and culture (Warning: Some of his views are highly unorthodox. But they work.)

Jason co-founded Basecamp 20 years ago. He leads a team of 50 employees (in 30 cities!) Remarkably, half have been with the company for 5+ years. (How does that compare to your team’s tenure?)

And he’s bootstrapped the whole thing, with no Venture Capital other than a small investment by Jeff Bezos himself.

Basecamp now has 3 million customers, including me.

If that wasn’t enough, Jason has also co-author ed bestselling must-read books: Remote, Rework, and the new It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work.

If you’re a leader trying to get the most out of your people, you could do a whole lot worse than follow Jason’s example. In this 30-minute conversation, he reveals how most leaders get it entirely wrong.

Jan 8, 2020

For the milestone 300th episode of Recruit Rockstars Podcast, I wanted to bring you a milestone guest.

I mean … Milestone

With months of persistence, I finally persuaded Marcus Buckingham to join us.

You know Marcus, the bestselling author, is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on Talent. He’s a renowned thought leader on unlocking the strengths & increasing your team’s performance.

His books include “First, Break All the Rules” & “Now, Discover Your Strengths.”

I was captivated by his new book “Nine Lies About Work.” He takes an in-depth look at the lies that pervade your team & what truly brings them together to perform.

If you’re leading a team (successfully or otherwise), this 20-min conversation with Marcus will change the way you go about it.

Jan 6, 2020

Imagine running a company.

With employees who handle dangerous chemicals.

And being required to keep track of 15 million (!) different files to describe how to handle each chemical.

Sounds like an opportunity for SaaS to streamline things?

Glenn Trout is CEO of VelocityEHS, the leading SaaS platform serving the employee health & safety category. (He’s a fellow alum from Kellogg.)

EHS regulatory reporting requirements are rigorous. Glenn realized that tracking all this info with paper binders or home-grown Excel & Access databases wouldn’t work.

He now leads the biggest provider of on-demand EHS compliance solutions.

VelocityEHS is backed by CVC Growth Fund, the private equity firm with $1 billion in equity commitments.

In this 20-minute conversation, Glenn reveals how he’s created a magnetic culture & scaled the team.

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