Navigating Growth and Hiring Strategically

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The chapter explores the evolution of a business towards growth by embracing failure and securing a strong product market fit and business model. It emphasizes the crucial role of hiring key team members with diverse skills and experiences, highlighting the significance of design and assortment management. The discussion also touches on fundraising strategies, stressing the importance of having a long-term vision and choosing investors based on trust and contribution potential.

Max Rhodes is the cofounder and CEO of Faire. Faire helps retailers find and buy unique wholesale merchandise for their stores. They were in the Winter 2017 batch of YC.

Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC.

Max is on Twitter @MaxRhodesOK and Anu is @AnuHariharan.

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:32 - Max's intro

01:06 - Leaving Square and coming up with the idea for Faire

7:37 - Changes to SMBs in the past five years

9:37 - What is Faire?

11:57 - Max’s vision for Faire

15:12 - Finding product/market fit

18:12 - Switching to try before you buy

21:22 - What separates the great companies

22:32 - Scaling as a CEO

26:32 - Calming down

29:42 - Faire's first hires

33:42 - Faire's first executive hire

38:27 - Fundraising and fundraising advice

43:32 - Ryan McCarthy asks - Why did Max study history at Yale?

44:32 - Why does Max think Square Cash became a successful app?