Jan 2, 2019 · 20m · a16z
a16z Podcast | Hiring is Hard -- Here’s How to Do it Right
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In this episode of the a16z Podcast, talent experts Caroline Horn and Matt Oberhardt discuss strategies for executive recruiting in startups, detailing structured hiring processes, candidate evaluation techniques, search firm partnerships, and continuous pipeline management.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 1.4 The host pushing back 2.0
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:48 Declaring Candidate Databases Irrelevant
Matt forcefully rejects the traditional recruiter value proposition of holding proprietary candidate databases, calling them completely irrelevant in the age of LinkedIn.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 11:28 Challenging the Founder's Network FallacyThe host actively pushes back against the need for external recruiters by adopting the perspective of specialized tech founders who claim to know everyone in their field.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:48 Reframing Executive Search Value Post-LinkedInMatt educates the host on how ubiquitous access to profiles via LinkedIn shifted the value of search firms from discovery to relationship warmth and response rates.
The host holds their own ▶ 11:28 Demonstrating Tech Founder Industry RealitiesThe host demonstrates deep understanding of founder psychology by introducing a realistic scenario where specialized domain experts doubt the utility of generalist recruiters.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building an Effective Executive Hiring Process | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | The host guides the conversation with standard interview questions about startup hiring processes. The guests educate the host on common process breakdowns, such as uncoordinated interview panels and slow feedback loops. | |
| Candidate Attraction, CEO Alignment, and Ownership | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | The host asks probing questions about candidate attraction and benchmark awareness, introducing colorful terms like a 'Quakerly approach'. The guests explain the necessity of CEO-led candidate contact and non-consensus decision making. | |
| Resolving Misalignment via Game Planning and References | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | The host presses the guests with a hypothetical counterargument from machine learning founders who believe their niche network makes recruiters unnecessary. Matt reframes the situation, explaining that leadership intangibles matter more than domain knowledge and that candidate databases are now secondary to active network relationships. | |
| Transitioning Executives from Big Companies to Startups | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | The host and guests collaboratively examine the friction of big-company executives moving to early-stage startups. The host adds helpful context on balancing high-level strategy with hands-on execution. | |
| Onboarding, Performance Evaluation, and Continuous Recruitment | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | The host sets up a playful trap by asking if a founder's job is done after hiring an executive. The guests clarify that recruiting never stops, and Caroline gently reframes the host's 'Always Be Recruiting' tagline to 'Always Be Networking'. |
Statements from this episode (14)
Matt Oberhardt: LinkedIn cannot fix a flawed internal hiring process
“LinkedIn is still no substitute for having a really strong internal process to manage candidates and really create a great employer brand out in the marketplace. You know, if you've sourced, let's say, 15 or 20 candidates for a position on your own, and you've…”
Oberhardt: Unfocused interview teams and broken feedback loops ruin hiring
“So I'd say like the two biggest areas of weakness that we often see in the process is, you know, first off the, there's an interview team that doesn't necessarily really know what they're interviewing for. And like the best entrepreneurs out there sit down wit…”
Oberhardt: Consult external domain experts before starting an executive search
“Bringing in individuals from the outside and Before the search even starts, not as candidates, but as individuals to help you learn further about how to interview and evaluate CFO candidates. So there's all that pre-work that helps honestly set the stage for a…”
Horn: Unclear role expectations quickly turn off top executive candidates
“One of the things that turns great candidates off very quickly is if they feel like the company they're talking to or the CEO they're talking to really doesn't know what they want in a particular role.”
Oberhardt: Founders must be the first point of contact in executive hiring
“For an executive search, CEO of founder being really the first point of contact with the company. So that the executive has an opportunity to start developing that personal rapport and relationship with the CEO right out of the gate. And if you're able to star…”
Oberhardt: Founders must own executive hiring decisions, not rely on consensus
“Towards the end too, is the founder has to own the decision. You know, you can't have a situation where, you know, you're trying to make a decision based on consensus.”
Horn: Subordinates should never have veto power over hiring their future manager
“There are certain cases where you want to give the candidate exposure to the team, for example, that they may be managing, but those people shouldn't have veto power over, you know, who their next boss is going to be.”
Oberhardt: Candidates performing well in interviews often fail game-planning sessions
“We've had a number of situations where candidates who've performed very well during the interview process have then gone into that game planning discussion and just fallen flat.”
Oberhardt: Startups should source network and search firms in parallel
“I think what happens sometimes is that you fall into a trap, you know, where you think you have to do things in a serial way rather than in parallel. And, you know, if you do things serial, it's like, Hey, I'll go through my network. And then if that doesn't w…”
Oberhardt: Proprietary candidate databases held by executive search firms are now irrelevant
“Access is ubiquitous now, so that's not the game anymore. You used to hire a search firm back in the day because they had a database. Yeah, the database, that's now irrelevant.”
Oberhardt: Test if big-company executives will do tasks from ten years ago
“We often ask the question, you know, when there's an executive who's making that type of transition or wants to make that transition, it's like, okay, think back to what you were doing seven or 10 years ago. Are you comfortable doing that on a day-to-day basis…”
Oberhardt: Executive failures stem from unclear expectations rather than lack of effort
“A lot of cases where we see, you know, failure happen is because an individual is coming in and they think they're doing the right thing, but The expectations haven't been set clearly on what the entrepreneur, the CEO thinks are the right things.”
Horn: Executive hiring success can be evaluated within three months
“It doesn't have to take, you know, a year to determine that someone isn't working out. If they're, you know, three months in, and they're not hitting some of those goals that they expected to, then it's pretty apparent.”
Oberhardt: Early executive missteps can permanently destroy founder trust
“A lot of times what happens is someone, you know, makes, if they have a misstep early on, you know, that those first couple months are so critical to establishing that trust and credibility in the relationship between the entrepreneur and the new hire at the e…”