Mastronardi: Founder Optimism and Perfectionism Can Blind Them During Hiring
Nick Mastronardi · Momentum Series: Amplifying Citizen Voices with Polco Co-Founder Nick Mastronardi · Dec 4, 2025 · at 17:52
Nick Mastronardi, co-founder and CEO of Polco, reflects on founder blind spots during the recruitment process and why he relies on team members to critically assess job candidates.
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“Like, I think to be a successful entrepreneur in the first place, at least for me, I feel like I'm an optimist. I want to make positive change, positive impact on the world. And I'm also a perfectionist, which like drives me to do well, but I think those two things also make me probably not the best scrutinizing critic of other incoming people. So I've got to recognize Those two things help me in one area, but may not help me in the other. So I have to surround myself with right people who as we can assess a, you know, a candidate great together.”
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“Like I think to be a successful entrepreneur in the first place, at least for me, I feel like I'm an optimist. I want to make positive change, positive impact on the world. And I'm also a perfectionist, which like drives me to do well. But I think those two th…”