a16z Live

Recruiting and Retaining the Right Executive Talent

Feb 12, 2024

Hiring executives can be daunting for founders. In this podcast, a16z talent partner and executive search process experts discuss assessing talent, measuring success in talent assessment, referencing, personal growth vs. mistakes, vetting EQ, hiring veterans for startups, talent landscape in 2024, recruiting top talent in a tight market, and the value of tough feedback.

41:08

Creator website

Episode guests

Kelli Dragovich

Matt Oberhardt

Nolan Church

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Highlights

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Executives should be evaluated not only on functional capabilities but also on intangibles and soft skills.

The Mock process, which focuses on defining mission, outcomes, and competencies, enables effective evaluation of executive candidates.

Deep dives

The Executive Recruiting Process Demystified

Matt Oberhart, talent partner at A16Z, discusses the executive recruiting process. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on intangibles and soft skills in addition to functional capabilities when evaluating executives. The role of a talent partner is to be an advisor and counselor rather than a traditional recruiter. Matt also highlights the significance of cultural fit, retention strategies, and the importance of building relationships with executives.

Choosing the Right Entrepreneurial Fit

00:35

Advisors, counselors, and network builders

00:40

Assessing Traits for Development Areas

00:30

Introduction

4min

Balancing Time, Measuring Success, and the MOC Framework for Executive Hiring

4min

Assessing Fit and Personality in Hiring Executives

14min

Trust and Data-Driven Decision Making in Hiring Choices

11min

Recruiting and Retaining Executive Talent

6min

Rapid Fire Round: Talent Rules

2min

Hiring the right executives at the right time is the key to scaling your company. But to many founders, the executive search and hiring process can feel like a black box. a16z talent partner Matt Oberhardt dives deep into the executive search process with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church on the HR Heretics podcast.

[00:01:21] How a16z talent partners assess talent

[00:03:42] Balancing internal and external roles

[00:04:57] Measuring success in talent assessment

[00:06:07] The MOC

[00:10:29] Whiteboard sessions for assessing fit

[00:13:10] Referencing as a continuous cycle

[00:16:47] Putting negative references in context

[00:20:25] Assessing personal growth vs. mistakes

[00:21:50] Establishing trust with founders

[00:25:03] Vetting EQ

[00:26:53] Measuring success of what you can't control

[00:28:43] Why hire veterans for startups

[00:33:45] Talent landscape in 2024

[00:35:20] Recruiting top talent in a tight market

[00:38:42] Hiring the "operational glue"

[00:39:36] The value of tough feedback

You can read the key takeaways from this conversation, along with a transcript, here.

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a16z Live

Recruiting and Retaining the Right Executive Talent

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Executive Recruiting Process Demystified

Matt's Role and Time Allocation

Measuring Success and the Mock Process

Assessing Fit and Reference Strategies

Choosing the Right Entrepreneurial Fit

Advisors, counselors, and network builders

Assessing Traits for Development Areas

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts