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As of this publication, I will be joining AngelList Talent as Head of Product. I'm elated to be back in HR Tech, and particularly helping startups hire. This is the perfect combination of my previous work experience and my interests in scaling startups.
I firmly believe that people make or break startups, especially at the beginning. Imagine founders who are looking for their first Head of Sales but have no previous experience hiring for this role...that is a daunting experience. Some will have great VC partners who can help out, others might have a community they can draw from...but many will have no idea where to start. These are expensive mistakes if hired incorrectly and I believe AngelList Talent is well suited to be the resource to help startups build their team from the beginning.
I was at OJO Labs from 2020 to 2022. I first joined as the Product Director for the "Nucleus" team. While the moniker might not mean much outside of OJO, the Nucleus team was at the core of the consumer experience. As a Director, I led 2 teams focused on building out technology that ensured our consumer-facing partners provided a "wow" experience at exponential scale. After being promoted to Senior Product Director a year in, I led a team focused on acquiring and integrating providers into OJO's guided marketplace in addition to my 2 consumer-facing teams.
Before that, I was at Indeed from 2013 to 2020 and held a handful of job titles in my time there. My last role was as a Senior Product Manager in the SMB Employer GM. I was responsible for the Indeed Questions product which most people know by the main product - Screener Questions - but in general the product exists to allow employers to tell Indeed the skills and experience they’re looking for in their next hire, and to allow jobseekers to tell Indeed what qualifications they have. With this, Indeed can deliver the most qualified candidates to employers, and help jobseekers apply to jobs they’re best suited for.
Before Indeed Questions, I was the PM of a tiger team charged with building out a competing job posting funnel to tackle the biggest problems in the applicant quality space. Before the tiger team, I was a PM on Indeed Assessments focused on the job seeker. My goals were around increasing completions and improving user experiences.
Before moving into Product, I was on Corporate Development for 2.5 years focusing on strategic investments and acquisitions for Indeed and Recruit, like acquiring Interviewed.com which became Indeed Assessments. Before Corporate Development, I was on International Strategy for 1.5 years focusing on where we should expand Indeed internationally and starting Company Spotlights to focus on our competitors.
I’m a big notification zero person. I strive for inbox zero and zero unread Slacks every day. Most of the time that means I’ve replied to emails, done the tasks asked, or answered any questions. If the task takes longer than 10-15 minutes, then I’ll add outstanding to-dos to my Things app which serves as the foundation of the things I work on in my own time. I’m also conscious of the mediums I use:
My work calendar is public to anybody in my org so feel free to schedule a meeting when you see some free time. I’d appreciate it if you add an objective so I know what the meeting is about and make it editable so that I can add a Zoom, room or move the time if necessary. If it’s a recurring meeting, I like to keep a running Google Doc agenda so that all parties can contribute and see what has been discussed and decided on before.
Lastly, I keep a strict no-meeting Wednesday. It’s my way of getting in long, uninterrupted work and it’s a big stress reliever for me when I see my to-do’s grow in Things. Please don’t be offended when I decline any meetings if they fall on a Wednesday, but I'm always happy to make time for the team if it's important.
My regular working hours are reliably 9-5, but normally I log on around 8 and log off around 6. I like to use the first 30 min of the day to get settled, answer any emails/pings that came in overnight, and review my day’s schedule. I know I work best in the morning so I block off focus time so that I can do strategic work for a 90 minute block. Lastly, I like to use the last 30 min of the day to answer any emails/pings that came in during the day that I didn’t get to, review my notes from the day, and get prepared for the next day’s agenda. And between those bookend hours, I’m usually in meetings with the exception of Wednesday.
Realistically, I also work at night and on the weekend. The way I segment what I work on when is by external dependencies. If the work is dependent on by others, or if it’s a meeting, then I’ll complete it during working hours since I might need to communicate with others about it and I have no expectation that they are working outside of the regular working day (nor should I!). If it’s work that requires long, uninterrupted stretches of focus or can be worked on in a silo, then I’ll do it at night or on the weekend. I try not to email others at night or on the weekend though, and instead will save those emails in my drafts folder to send out the next morning.
There are many ways to display thoughtfulness, and here are some examples. Thoughtfulness is adding an agenda to a calendar invite so I know what the objective of the meeting is. It's providing context when asking a question or request so that I can think about through aspects in full. It’s adding documentation or links evidence when making a point. It’s coming prepared with an opinion and why you have that opinion. I strive to do all of these in my interactions with other folks, and I appreciate these in turn. It allows us to work faster and be prepared to make decisions.
At the end of any meeting, email thread or Slack conversation, I want to reach a decision. That decision could be to not take any action, which is also a decision but I actively work to avoid situations where at the end we all look at each other and go…"well I guess we should set up another meeting to continue the discussion.” Part of this dovetails with thoughtfulness, and coming prepared into any discussion with your own set of opinions and why you think that should be the decision.
I don’t like overcomplicating things, and oftentimes the biggest obstacle is just starting. I often aim to get to the point where we can just start, and try to understand what it’ll take to get there first. From there, pieces often fall into place. Sometimes initiatives end up being harder or easier than expected but at least there’s initial data to make decisions on. We don’t need to figure out every single thing, but we should figure out enough to start.
I trend towards over communication and transparency, I think it’s better to inform people of decisions and thought processes to get there frequently, and let them make the decision if they want to engage or not. I mostly communicate in an asynchronous manner (think emails, sharing out Google Docs, etc) and then allow those that want to follow up do so by replying or meeting with me. And I’d love for others to do the same!
Thanks for reading!