Recruit Rockstars Podcast

If you’re like me, you’re always out to pick up a new skill. So, you’ve likely heard of MasterClass, one of the fastest-growing VC-backed companies around. With over 100 high-quality online courses, MasterClass teaches you something new every day. The instructors are anything but ordinary. MasterClass includes: Annie Leibovitz’s course on photography Serena Williams’ course on tennis Carlos Santana’s course on guitar Steve Martin’s course on comedy writing And they add a new one each month. The quality is astounding. These aren’t some homemade YouTube videos. Masterclass treats each as a mini movie production. In just 5 years, they’ve gone from an idea to a team of 400 people. And they’ve raised over $200 million from top investors like Fidelity, NEA, IVP, Owl Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta. So, I caught up with Mark Williamson, Chief Operating Officer, to find out how he’s scaled the team. In this 20-minute conversation, Mark provides…well…a master class on recruiting.

In case you missed it, Venture Capital is booming everywhere… not just in Silicon Valley. New York is one of those places. And Primary VC is one of those firms. So I wanted to find out how they’re doing it. Gina Yocom is Director of Talent at Primary VC, where she’s focused on building & engaging the firm’s network. Gina is a connector at heart. She’s mastered how to built relationships & opportunities that accelerate growth of Primary’s 50 portfolio companies. No surprise. She’s seen this movie before. Previously, Gina was Partner on the Market Development team at Andreessen Horowitz. Primary VC focuses exclusively on seed-stage NY-based market-defining companies. And you’ve been a customer. They include Ticketfly, Slice, Latch, Deliveroo, Noom, and Chief. Their successful exits include Mirror (acquired by Lululemon) and Jet (acquired by Walmart.) Primary VC’s portfolio is a who’s who of New York growth companies. Here’s how Gina has built a network of who’s who in New York.

Think your company has embraced being remote or virtual? Meet John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle.io Based in Buffalo NY, John leads a team of 50 employees located in 28 states. Tackle.io has created a Cloud Marketplace Platform that enables software companies to sell via the cloud. The Platform makes it easy to list software on AWS, Azure, and GCP… with zero engineering resources. So, John’s team allows companies to focus on goto market & selling vs integration. Customers include Pagerduty, Github, and Snowflake. And clearly, John’s doing something right. He’s raised major funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and Sandusky Ventures. In this 20-minute conversation, he shares how he’s successfully scaled a distributed team.

How do you make your hiring decisions? If you’re like most people, you probably make a pro & con list, spend a ton of time obsessing about hires that didn’t work out, get caught in analysis paralysis, endlessly seek other people’s opinions, and wind up going with your gut. Hiring is far too important to do it this way. So I sought out a guru on decision-making. For 20 years, Annie Duke was one of the world’s top poker players. In 2004, she bested a field of 234 players to win her first World Series of Poker bracelet. The same year, she triumphed in the $2 million winner-take-all Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. And it’s no surprise. Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Now she’s written a fantastic book “How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices” It shows a better way to make quality decisions so you can think clearly, feel more confident, second-guess yourself less, and ultimately be more decisive & productive. In this 20-minute conversation, Annie reveals what she’s learned about people at the table.

Love the movie Ironman? Or your childhood tv show The Six Million Dollar Man? Well, I recently met an entrepreneur who’s building a futuristic technology by recruiting a genius team. And his story inspired me. Coincident with founding his previous company, Drew Perkins developed cataracts in his eyes. He underwent cataract surgery to implant advanced Intraocular Lenses (IOLs) in both eyes, essentially giving him bionic eyes. While his new bionic eyes gave him perfect vision near & far, they still had some deficiencies. So, he decided to start a company to solve the problem, not just for himself, but for millions of other people in the world. He founded Mojo Vision with exactly that goal: to give all people superpowers, even if they have impaired vision. His team is creating the Mojo Lens, the first true Smart Contact Lens. The Mojo Lens will help people struggling with low vision by projecting enhanced image overlays onto their retinas. It provides real-time contrast & lighting enhancements as well as zoom functionality and other low vision aids. It remains discreet for the wearer and allows a hands-free experience, while delivering enhanced functional vision to assist in mobility & reading. The Mojo Lens has a built-in display that also gives its wearer useful & timely information without forcing them to look down at a screen or losing focus on the people and the world around them. Mojo calls this eyes-up experience Invisible Computing, a platform that enables information to be instantaneous, unobtrusive and available hands-free. People can interact with each other more freely and genuinely. Ironman, indeed. To scale Mojo Vision, Drew raised $150M in venture capital from NEA, Liberty Global Ventures, Helios Capital, Khosla Ventures, HP Tech Ventures, 8VC, and others. No surprise. Drew is no amateur. Gainspeed, his previous startup, changed the game for cable operators & was acquired by Nokia. Drew co-founded Infinera, which developed the first optical system based on large-scale photonic integrated circuits, before its IPO in 2007. He was co-founder of telecommunications service provider OnFiber Communications, which brought high-bandwidth fiber-based data services to small & medium-sized businesses. OnFiber was acquired by Qwest Communications. Drew co-founded Lightera Networks, which developed the CoreDirector optical switching platform. Lightera was acquired by Ciena Corporation. Along the way, he’s built incredible teams to execute on his futuristic visions. In this 20-minute conversation, Drew explains how & why he does it.  

You don’t become a leader just because of your job title or your location on the org chart. (And even if you do have the Chief title, you shouldn’t rely on it to show your people the way.) This reality is more important than ever, because work happens in networks. So, I wanted to find the authority on this topic. Keith Ferrazzi is the bestselling author of Never Eat Alone, the authoritative guide on how to build your network His newest book is Leading Without Authority Keith was the youngest-ever partner & Chief Marketing Officer of Deloitte Now, he works with all sorts of companies to get them unstuck. In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals how to master the people part of your business.      

Start a company. Raise funding. Purchase an add-on company. Go public or sell it. These are no small feat. But fruitless, unless you also build a Rockstar team. That’s where Will Herman comes in. Along with Raj Bhargava, he’s co-author of the fabulous book “The Startup Playbook” Collectively, Will & Raj have: ...Started 12 software companies ...Raised over $500M from investors ...Acquired 35 companies ...Taken 3 companies public ...Sold 6 companies ...And made Billions for their investors Will knows that the people part of a Startup is everything. And in this 20-minute conversation, he shares how he successfully scales the team.  

Small experiments often lead to ginormous breakthroughs for your business. Including revenue increases. So, why do most of us get stuck in a rut? I wanted to find the answer. So, I tracked down an expert… Stefan Thomke is an authority on Innovation. He’s the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business at Harvard Business School. And he’s worked with countless firms on innovation in product, process, technology, customer experience, and org design. And he’s written an outstanding new book “Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments” Stefan has received countless awards for his work, including the Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching at HBS, and was a finalist for the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Award. In this 20-minute conversation, Stefan reveals how you can recruit & build a team of “Experimenters” who can take your business to new heights.

CEO’s often ask my favorite book. Right near the top of the list is “Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t” by Verne Harnish. Verne is Founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 14,000 members worldwide, and teaches the “Birthing of Giants” held at MIT. Verne’s company, Gazelles Inc, shows mid-market companies globally how to build & execute their strategic plan. So, what’s a Gazelle? It’s a business that has increased revenue by at least 20% per year for 4+ years, starting from a revenue bass of at least $1 million. It’s surprisingly rare. …And can’t be done without putting a Rockstar in every seat. In this 20-minute conversation, Verne reveals how to do that.

Great tech startup ideas can come from anywhere. This one came from the waiting room of a high-end car wash. Following a successful career in sales with med device maker Medtronic, Brent Oakley started Prime Car Wash, now with 5 locations. In the process, he discovered how setting the right mood creates an exceptional customer experience that keeps customers coming back. So, he co-founded Vibenomics, the marketing tech software company that provides location-based businesses with an easy & effective way to create whatever vibe they want to convey within their space. It’s an audio out-of-home advertising & experience platform. Vibenomics promotes products in-store, educates shoppers, and drives them to websites or apps for coupons. His investors include BIP Capital, High Alpha, Elevate Ventures, Allos Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners. In this 20-minute conversation, Brent reveals how he’s scaled his team comprised of 40 Rockstars.