Defining Talent: Startup Superheroes Podcast Episode 1: Hiring as Matchmaking:
How Ashley Connell (Founder + CEO @ Prowess Project) Helps Startups Tap into Dynamic Employee Populations with Flexibility and Compatibility Matching
Ashley Connel’s /“energy drink”/ personality is infectious as we dig into her work supporting the dynamic women with “patchwork quilt” types of careers who are prioritizing flexibility. Her company Prowess Project has success with an approach more similar to matchmakers than traditional recruiters, and Ashley walks us through how to think about the intrapersonal qualities we might work best alongside, especially in a high-stakes hire like an /Online/ Business Manager (OBM, similar to a VA but with more holistic business skills). Ashley unloads a list of gems for anyone looking to hire and/or retain dynamic teammates at (/time stamp).
Ever wonder how professional sports teams are formed and how their values and culture get built out? This episode’s your chance as we chat with Jackson Stearns about his role as GM of the Oakland Spiders, an ultimate frisbee team that’s part of the AUDL (American Ultimate Disc League). Joy, community, and grit are core tenants of the organization, and Jackson walks us through the practicalities of how he’s gone about building this organization to have these values at the center of both team staff as well as players themselves. We also talk about hard decisions where there have been tradeoffs where we had to prove our commitment to our values as guardrails. Startups are akin to sports teams from the people side of things, accomplishing big goals together while each having a role as part of an evolving cast of teammates. The Spider’s tryout process sheds light on interviewing from a new lens too!
This episode is esp. great if you’re thinking about what values matter to your organization, how to consistently emphasize them across the business, and are interested in digging into how to build a team that’s greater than just the sum of its individual parts.
Topics:
- Team Building
- Sports
- Teamwork
- Community
- Joy
- Grit
- Values
- Oakland
- Oakland Spiders
- Ultimate Frisbee
Hustle Hunters: www.hustlehunters.com
Oakland Spiders: www.oaklandspiders.com
Toby Egbuna, co-founder and CEO of Chezie, learned that certain soft skills were more important in making his first non-founder hire than even exact coding language match. In this episode, we learn about Toby’s journey from founding a recruiting product to the ERG solution it is today, and how he’s evolved his thinking about the people side of growing his team.
Listen here if you’re making critical early stage hires and the stakes are high - so you can figure out what “getting it right” looks like early.
Topics:
- Recruiting
- ERG’s
- Culture
- Startup
- Learning
www.hustlehunters.com
Learn more about Chezie's ERG Solution at www.chezie.co
