Rick Chen, Senior Director, Head of Public Relations at Blind Rick never set out to work in public relations or communications. Instead, he took his teachers' feedback about disrupting class and combined it with a willingness to take on the tasks and jobs few others want to do. We explore how Rick became a PR executive from the very beginning when he taught himself how to write a press release for the first time to build trust with CEOs, executives, and other principals in his coaching. He also ...
Mar 20, 2024•39 min•Ep. 95
Disha Patel, Head of Shopping Product at Cash App Disha explains why finding a craft and refining it over time is essential. It's how she's evolved her career, first as an engineer and then as a management consultant and a product head. We dig into what practicing a craft looks like and how to know if you have the right network and role to thrive. Disha also shares how she earned her most challenging promotion. We break everything down, including who her manager was, what she did in her role bef...
Mar 13, 2024•28 min•Ep. 94
Heather Inocencio, Founder and CEO of The Product Consult Heather is a sought-after product management consultant with more than 30 years of product management experience at large public companies and high-growth consumer startups, including The RealReal and HauteLook. We got her to share the details about how the product management discipline has evolved and what it was like to be a product manager as the internet blew up to what it is today. Heather shares what many CEOs and startup founders g...
Mar 06, 2024•37 min•Ep. 93
Jack Kelly, Founder and CEO of Compliance Search Group In this episode, we flip the script and interview our co-host, Jack Kelly! Jack did not always know he wanted to be a recruiter. Instead, he stumbled upon it after visiting a recruiting agency and having a friend recommend he meet someone in the business. We look into the economics of recruiting and how many recruiters get their jobs. Then, we explore how Jack started recruiting for Wall Street banks, hedge funds and investment management fi...
Feb 28, 2024•31 min•Ep. 92
Jack Kelly and Rick Chen explore what happened with Google's well-publicized blunders with its Gemini AI model. Rick explains what likely happened behind the scenes that resulted in the image generator creating odd illustrations and distorting the reality of historical events. Next, Jack asks if Big Tech and the "Magnificent Seven" group of stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—might be in a stage of complacency as growth in their share prices continues. Rick shares ...
Feb 26, 2024•33 min•Ep. 20240226
Arvind Jain, Founder and CEO of Glean Arvind spent more than 10 years at Google, going from one of the company's first engineers when it was a startup to becoming a distinguished engineer. We find out just how he earned the promotions and what it took to land the title fewer than 1% of all engineers ever earn, including the tips and tricks many senior engineers try to take and why they might not work. We also explore why Arvind decided to leave Google and start different companies. Arvind shares...
Feb 21, 2024•34 min•Ep. 91
Justin Zhu, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Stand with Asian Americans Michelle Lee, Counsel at Stand with Asian Americans Asian Americans make up a large proportion of the U.S. professional workforce, but often, they are one of the least represented groups at every leadership level. Justin and Michelle describe how Stand with Asian Americans is fighting back and advocating for Asian Americans in the workforce and daily life. We also explore how Justin and Michelle transitioned to political...
Feb 14, 2024•51 min•Ep. 90
Bonnie Dilber, Manager, Business Recruiting at Zapier Bonnie leads the business recruiting team at Zapier, focusing on roles in the finance, sales, marketing, people, operations, support, legal and leadership teams. We dig into her untraditional background and why teachers might make the best recruiters and business leaders. Bonnie also shares her hot takes and best tips about how to get hired at some of the leading companies, even in a tough job market. She explains that sometimes it's best to ...
Feb 07, 2024•32 min•Ep. 89
Mark Dixon, Founder and CEO of IWG When Mark founded Regus, now known as IWG, he was the first to offer co-working space on a large scale. We explore how workplaces, offices, and even commercial real estate have changed since he started in the company in 1989. Mark explains how companies are increasingly choosing hybrid or flexible work schedules, which mix working from home and in-office time, resulting in a $2 trillion total addressable market opportunity. We look into how trends like remote w...
Jan 31, 2024•41 min•Ep. 88
Neil Dhar, Vice Chairman, Co-Head of Consulting at PwC We explore the secrets and advantages of longevity in the professional services industry, focusing on the advisory and consulting profession. Neil has spent more than 30 years at PwC and has held various leadership roles across the firm's different service lines—everything from M&A deals, risk assurance, advisory and consulting. We learn why he's stayed and how the "Big Four" firm keeps things fresh for its more than 364,000 professional...
Jan 26, 2024•44 min•Ep. 87
Katya Laviolette, Chief People Officer at 1Password Katya gives us a sneak peek into how recent mass layoffs in the tech, banking and finance industries have impacted the job market. She reveals that 1Password receives as many as 12,000 resumes every month and job postings for internships can add another 20,000. We ask Katya to break down how to polish your resume and improve your candidacy to stand out in the hiring process and land the job offer. Notably, we dig into whether it's necessary to ...
Jan 17, 2024•38 min•Ep. 86
Michelle Gonzalez, Corporate Vice President and Global Head of M12, Microsoft's Venture Capital Fund Michelle explains how to really network and why most people think it's so artificial, transactional, or even cringe-inducing. She tells us about the cold emails she would send to entrepreneurs, investors, professors and other notable figures and what it was like to have dinner with Sam Altman and the founders of Lyft before they became household names. Michelle then teaches us the importance of t...
Jan 11, 2024•37 min•Ep. 85
Gleb Yushin, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Sila Nanotechnologies Gleb has long been sought out for his background in materials sciences and physics background. Now, he's taken his expertise to clean energy and industries as diverse as connected devices and electric vehicles. We explore how Sila Nanotechnologies was born and how Gleb transitioned from his life in academia as a professor at Georgia Tech to the founder and CTO of a startup designing integral components for Mercedes-Ben...
Jan 03, 2024•48 min•Ep. 84
Jack Mardack, Co-Founder of Oyster Jack began his career as an "accidental" marketer before working in banking and finance. Then, he had enough and decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area to join the startup scene. There, he met like-minded, smart people who shared his interests in entrepreneurship and finding a way to create a human-centric sustainable business that aligned its business model with a positive impact. We explore why Jack and his co-founders decided to tackle global employme...
Dec 27, 2023•50 min•Ep. 83
Amanda Richardson, CEO of CoderPad Amanda says her career has been a windy journey. She admits that, at times, she didn't have a clear career path and has primarily created opportunities for herself. It's paid off, as she was hired to become the CEO of a high-performing startup she didn't start. We learn how she became CEO and how a frank conversation with a recruiter proved to be a significant catalyst. Amanda also explains what it's like to interview to become a CEO and even how it feels to la...
Dec 20, 2023•50 min•Ep. 82
Amir Nathoo, Founder and CEO of Outschool We explore what it is like to be a startup founder from the perspective of Amir Nathoo, who knew he wanted to be a software entrepreneur at an early age. Interestingly, he explains how a blog post he published in 2015 about a personal experience led to where he is today, as a founder and CEO of a startup last publicly valued at $3 billion. Amir also shares his top advice about entrepreneurship and when he knew it was time to quit a high-paying software d...
Dec 13, 2023•47 min•Ep. 81
Max Tagher, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Mercury Max had never worked at a bank, financial services company or even a financial-technology startup before starting Mercury. Instead, he drew from his firsthand experience as a customer of Silicon Valley Bank, the once-popular bank with many startups, and noticed others like him were also dissatisfied. Max explains how he entered the field without having prior professional experience. We explore the challenges of co-founding a fintech ...
Dec 06, 2023•45 min•Ep. 80
Lia Garvin, Former Team Operations and Organizational Effectiveness Lead at Google Lia gives us an in-depth look into Google's program management and team operations. We explore how she became a program manager and what program managers do at Google and other Big Tech companies, including how they work with software engineers, product managers, designers and executives to map risks, ship regularly to meet deadlines, and help people perform at their best. Lia explains why imposter syndrome can be...
Nov 29, 2023•41 min•Ep. 79
Ingrid De Clercq, Chief People Officer at Deliverect Ingrid shares how four startup founders in Ghent, Belgium, developed the idea for Deliverect and what it was like conceptualizing and implementing a multinational company's vision, hiring process and performance philosophies from scratch. We also get a sneak peek into how a Belgian and European startup hires and retains talent from all over the world from one of the first employees of Deliverect, a software-as-a-service startup last publicly v...
Nov 22, 2023•39 min•Ep. 78
Jesse Tinsley, Former Recruiter at 23andMe Jesse Tinsley was a recruiter at 23andMe, Coinbase, Stellar Development Foundation, Protocol Labs and more. Now, he's the founder and CEO of a recruitment process outsourcing company, a largely unknown cog in the job recruitment process. We explore what RPO companies are and how you can work together with these recruiters to land your next job. While it might be bizarre to find out that the recruiter you're working with might not technically work at the...
Nov 15, 2023•40 min•Ep. 77
Jack Kelly and Rick Chen break down the advent of AI bots that apply for jobs while you sleep. We discuss Job GPT and other similar services that claim to guarantee job interviews with their indiscriminate job applications. Rick thinks through the potential repercussions professionals could face for using these tools and AI technology. Jack shares his insights from his reporting about how employers are using AI and moving too slowly when hiring. After all, maybe employers have brought this upon ...
Nov 09, 2023•31 min•Ep. 20231109
Marcelo Lebre, President and Chief Technology Officer at Remote Marcelo recalls how he transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship. He gives us the rundown of what it was like to build the product that would become Remote.com and when he knew it was time to go all-in on his startup idea. We explore everything from identifying the market potential of a startup idea to recruiting employees worldwide and the challenges of building a global business without any physical offices or locations. http...
Nov 08, 2023•32 min•Ep. 76
Shirley Baumer, Director of Product Management at Monday.com Shirley was the first product manager at Monday.com, back when it was a startup with fewer than 30 people. We explore how the company has changed in six and a half years, discussing everything from how the core work management product was conceptualized and built to the opening of new offices worldwide and a Nasdaq IPO. Shirley shares how her untraditional background helped her hit the ground running. She was a journalist before workin...
Nov 01, 2023•53 min•Ep. 75
Melanie Quandt, Former Recruiting Manager at Salesforce Melanie has spent more than 10 years as a recruiter placing software engineers, developers, scrum managers, and more at Salesforce. We get the inside scoop into what sets Salesforce apart and how they hire engineers and other experienced professionals. Melanie reveals the performance metrics and key performance indicators she was held to as a recruiter and what that means for job candidates. She also shares the "hack" to get in front of rec...
Oct 26, 2023•33 min•Ep. 74
Jake Leach, Chief Operating Officer at Dexcom Today, Jake is the COO at one of the top medical technology companies in the world. But, before he became responsible for all things product, research and development, and the like, Jake got his start in the industry as an intern. We explore Jake's career journey, including how he learned to apply his studies as an electrical engineer to the health sciences and what gave him the confidence to take a chance on a startup called Dexcom early in his care...
Oct 18, 2023•37 min•Ep. 73
Frank Calderoni, CEO of Velocity Global Frank has been an executive at some of the most high-profile tech companies in the world, including IBM, SanDisk, QLogic, Cisco, Red Hat, Anaplan and Velocity Global. We get the inside track into his career progression, starting from IBM and its legendary internship and leadership development programs. He shares why he decided to go into tech instead of working at one of the Big Four accounting firms and what it was like working all around the world. Frank...
Oct 11, 2023•42 min•Ep. 72
Erika Voss, Vice President, Engineering Platforms at Capital One Software Erika doesn't have the typical background of a technical executive at a large enterprise software company. She began her career as a corrections officer at a maximum-security prison. We explore how she transitioned from becoming a public servant, which she admits she would have been happy spending her entire life doing, to breaking into the tech industry with an untraditional, non-technical background. Erika explains how s...
Oct 04, 2023•55 min•Ep. 71
Donna Helphrey, Vice President, Talent at Go1 Like many recruiters, Donna didn't have her heart set on helping others find their dream job. Instead, she grew into the profession and became a current executive at a multibillion-dollar "unicorn" startup. We look back at her start as a recruiter, from working at a staffing agency to hiring 1,800 people worldwide in a single year at Groupon. As we explore Donna's career, we dig into how to stand out as a job candidate at a foreign-based company and ...
Sep 27, 2023•52 min•Ep. 70
Josh Owen, Chief Technology Officer at Flourish Before he became a two-time CTO in the tech industry, Josh worked at some of the largest banks. He explains what he learned from his time on the business side of software engineering at Citi and Goldman Sachs, including the day-to-day work of developers and technologists on Wall Street. We also explore how the smallest seeming things can be one of the most impactful things you can do for a business and your career. (You won't guess what the softwar...
Sep 20, 2023•46 min•Ep. 69
Andrew Duncan, CEO and Managing Partner at Infosys Consulting Andrew hasn't always worked in management consulting, and it's likely one of the reasons he's been so effective as an advisor to companies worldwide and a c-suite executive himself. We dive into his background to learn how engineers, technologists and other experienced subject-matter experts can break into management consulting and why they might want to consider it a career. He also explains the "pyramid" career ladder within the con...
Sep 13, 2023•54 min•Ep. 68
