Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Halligan: CEOs overrate interviewing abilities and underrate blind reference checks

Brian Halligan · How to be a CEO when AI breaks all the old playbooks | Sequoia CEO Coach Brian Halligan · Feb 15, 2026 · at 6:58

Former HubSpot CEO and Sequoia coach Brian Halligan discusses common pitfalls in executive hiring.

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“I think CEOs and everyone dramatically overrates their ability to interview and overrates their gut feeling and underrates a really high quality blind reference.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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