Recruit Rockstars Podcast

Before Disrupt & TechCrunch, there was Technori, the original startup showcase. Its Co-Founder is Scott Kitun. Based in Chicago, Technori helps promising upstart companies secure visibility & funding. If that wasn’t enough, Scott is creator & host of a nationally-syndicated crowdfunding radio show, in partnership with Republic. He’s also Co-Founder of Songfinch, the platform to buy custom songs from professional artists. I was thrilled to finally interview Scott, because he knows where the bodies are buried. By studying (quite literally) thousands of startups, Scott knows first-hand the mistakes that most entrepreneurs make when scaling their company. And he puts it plainly: “The people part of startups is the only thing that matters.” I couldn’t agree more. In this 20-minute conversation, Scott reveals how to master it. And avoid the mistakes that tank so many entrepreneurs.

Digital publishers in every field are trying to figure out how to best monetize their website. Kurt Donnell, CEO of Freestar, shows them the way. Combining industry-leading tech, data, and scale, Freestar works with the leading online publishers to help them better personalize & increase their ad revenue. And they’re onto something big… Freestar’s been ranked as an Inc. 5000 company for 3 years in a row. That makes it one of that nation’s fastest-growing companies. And it’s backed by Abry Partners, one of the nation’s leading Private Equity firms focused on media & communications. Prior to joining, Kurt served as General Counsel for YogaWorks and SheKnows Media. In this 20-minute conversation, Kurt shares how he’s scaled the team to130 employees and how he’s kept the culture intact during this unusual time.

He’s not just some tech CEO. Jason Schubert is CEO of inBrain.ai, ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US according to the Inc5000. inBrain.ai is a people-based insights & survey monetization platform that connects and rewards people to surveys designed for them. It facilitates research for market research firms and brands by connecting them to consumers on monetizable mobile applications. Based in Atlanta, Jason led the company’s recent successful acquisition by Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data platform for insights, activation and measurement. With a reach that encompasses 60M consumers & business professionals globally. In this 20-minute conversation, Jason reveals how he’s scaled the team & put a Rockstar in every seat.

Brian Nickerson’s story captivated me. He began his career playing on the Los Angeles Dodgers. 6 knee surgeries and 1 Harvard Business School degree later, he found himself as an unlikely entrepreneur. And started MagicLinks. Based in LA, MagicLinks is the social commerce provider for social media influencers. They connect moments of inspiration to action. Example: viewers can buy the sweater they see the influencer wearing. Think of it as a marketplace that connects brands & influencers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Clearly, he’s onto something big. MagicLinks is ranked amongst the Inc5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies. Brian has some atypical leadership approaches that I found fascinating, (including how he begins every staff meeting.) In this 20-minute conversation, Brian reveals how he’s putting a Rockstar in every seat of the company.        

This episode rocks, because it combines 3 of the hottest themes in the venture world: Fintech + Outdoor power sports + Talent Adam Redlich is VP Talent Acquisition of Octane, the specialty fintech company that makes your ‘passion purchases’ seamless. They’ve started with the $21B powersports equipment industry (motorcycles & ATV’s for example) Instead of processing a loan in days or weeks, their team of 400 people do it nearly instantaneously. Clearly they’re onto something big… Octane has raised over $190M in venture capital from IA Ventures, Valar Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Upper90, Parkwood, Progressive Insurance, Alive Capital Partners, Third Prime, Citi Ventures, Dreamt Ventures Prior, Adam was an early key member of Google’s talent team during the company’s largest period of growth (1K to 40K employees) And he led People Operations at some of the hottest early-stage companies including Elysium Health & Zest Finance. In this 20-minute conversation, Adam reveals the 3 things you must do to put a Rockstar in every seat of your company  

Josh Watts is Co-Founder of one of the nation’s fastest growing companies. Recently ranked as an Inc5000 company, MedTrust Medical Transport is a private EMS company providing emergent & non-emergent medical transport services Based in gorgeous Charleston, Josh has scaled a 400-person team. In this 20-minute conversations, he reveals how he’s done it.  

Supply Chain is the topic of the day. Covid has turned it upside down & inside out. Fortunately, a wave of novel companies have come to the rescue & straighten things out. Including Relay Payments, the fintech company reinventing payments for the logistics category. (Think of it as the “Venmo for Logistics”) Badly needed in this industry that’s due for an overhaul. I just met with Amy Zimmerman, Relay’s Chief People Officer. With over 100 people, they’re onto something big. Investors include Ribbit Capital, Spark Capital, and Addition. Previously, Amy led talent for Kabbage, one of the nation’s fastest growing companies that quickly provides online loans to small businesses. Amy scaled Kabbage from 50 people to over 500, prior to its successful acquisition by American Express. In this 20-minute conversation, Amy reveals how she’s scaled the teams at 2 hypergrowth Fintech companies. And how you can do the same.

Andrew Amann wasn’t always CEO & Founder of one of the nation’s fasting-growing companies. He started as a Nuclear Sub Engineer. And taught himself business. ...And hiring. ...And how to lead a team. When he was ready, he set out on his own course… a fascinating one. Now, Andrew is CEO of NineTwoThree Digital Ventures, an Inc5000-ranked company with 1,344% growth over the past 3 years. Based in Boston, NineTwoThree is an outsourced innovation studio that helps big companies grow digital ventures. Andrew & his team have birthed 8 startups & 45 apps. Each of them needs a team. So, Andrew has become awfully good at spotting & landing talent. In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals how it’s done.  

If you lead a SaaS company, you likely know Dan Martell, as the Founder & CEO of SaaS Academy. But even if you’re in a different industry, Dan has a ton to teach about how to scale your business. Fast. Because he’s built & exited 5 companies. Most noteworthy, Dan was Founder & CEO of Clarity.fm which connects business leaders with experts in any field (I’m a customer). It was successfully acquired by Startups.co Now, Dan is Founder & CEO of SaaS Academy. He coaches & teaches over 1,000 Founders to become high-performance leaders (…although much of what he teaches is relevant to any business.) Dan began his career as a software developer. But his passion (and gift) is leadership, strategy, culture, and communications. Plus as a native of British Columbia, Canada, he’s just nice as heck. In this 20-minute conversation, Dan reveals how he’s scaled his companies and how he teaches other leaders to do the same.

Joseph Ansanelli makes leadership look deceptively easy. Perhaps it’s because he’s done it more times than most. Or because he brings the humility to know that it’s a lifelong journey. Based in SF Bay Area, he’s CEO & Co-Founder of Gladly, the company he incubated during his time at Greylock Partners. Joseph is fond of saying “People first. Strategy second.” He believes that one of the keys to effective leadership is ensuring that teams have the right tools to succeed. With his team of 150 employees, Gladly empowers customer service agents with a SaaS platform that turns them into heroes. And he’s onto something big… His investors include New Enterprise Associates, GGV Capital, SV Angel, Future Fund, and Glynn Capital Management. Prior, he was Co-Founder & CEO of Connectify which was acquired by Kana, one of the first digital customer service platforms which he helped take public. He was also Co-Founder & CEO of Vontu, the leader in data loss prevention, which was acquired by Symantec. During college, he & a few friends created Trio Development, which was acquired by Apple and their product became Claris Organizer. Joseph serves on the Boards of Directors of Sumo Logic and Trifacta. He also hosts one of my favorite podcasts Radically Personal In this 20-minute conversation, Joseph reveals where he developed his passion for hiring & leading teams. And how he does it every day at Gladly.