Episode 10: Saad Siddiqui, General Partner at Telstra Ventures

Our guest today is Saad Siddiqui, who’s General Partner at Telstra Ventures, a San Francisco-based strategic growth firm. He invests in HR tech companies such as Certn and Forage, which gives him some unique insights into talent acquisition, how technology impacts onboarding and training, and the future of work itself. He also previously served as an executive at Informatica and Cisco.

Here are some key points from the discussion:

First, the rise of remote and hybrid work is giving companies a lot more flexibility. It’s now potentially easier to recruit on a national and international basis, as well as find the right talent. But even though there are more opportunities to find the right candidates, a company needs its hiring, onboarding, training, and workplace arranged so that new employees can integrate into the company as smoothly as possible.

Second, a lot of workers miss the ability to collaborate in-person within an office. That’s a key reason why many technology professionals prefer hybrid work, where they go back to their offices a few days per week. Many companies are working on how to bring the collaboration, camaraderie, and spontaneity of the office to a virtual environment, in a way that’s not just giving a thumbs-up on Slack. Keep an eye on what tech companies are doing to make remote work more personable.

Third, startups are also trying to figure out how to help businesses manage rising employee costs such as healthcare. With inflation and other factors leading to rising prices, keep an eye on how emerging companies are trying to make company spending more efficient.

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