Diverse teams are better. My first post on Medium. Monoculture Sucks: The case for diversity in startup teams. See also: 17 qualities of the perfect early startup hire (including “different from you”) and how we approached our first key hires at RecruitLoop .
We just completed our first structured performance review in my role as RecruitLoop CEO. Our chairman ran the process, after interviewing all our team members. He also asked me to complete a self assessment. I crave feedback. My instinct is to always look for areas to improve in whatever I’m doing. Where some people find feedback threatening, I’m more concerned by its absence. The process was incredibly invaluable. I’ve decided to open-source parts of it to show how we ran it. And to be completely transparent about the areas I’m developing (with a shout out to Rand Fishkin). ...
This morning our founding team celebrated another rewarding and interesting year together. With a walk. This has become something of a tradition for RecruitLoop to close out the year. We’ve now shared two in Sydney, and had our first in San Francisco a few weeks ago. We walk outdoors, in nature, early morning for roughly 2 to 4 hours. Some people might call it a hike. The pace is enjoyable, not overly exerting. At the end point we share a meal and (some of us) a glass of champagne, to recognise and celebrate the year spent working incredibly hard together. ...
I’m delighted to confirm a story from Techcrunch this week. RecruitLoop has raised seed funding, from investors in Australia, Singapore, Europe and the Middle East. First, we’re incredibly excited by the milestone, and deeply appreciative to the investors who back our vision for RecruitLoop. It’s also not the only news we’ll be sharing in the coming weeks, when we can announce a few other big projects and milestones we’ve been hard at work on. ...
Summary: Why I moved from Sydney to San Francisco with my startup (RecruitLoop), and how we’re pursuing a ‘dual-base’ strategy. We decided in late January to relocate from Sydney to San Francisco. It had been bubbling for a while. But then things moved quickly. Within 4 weeks of pulling the trigger, we had a US company setup. Passports back in our hands with visas approved. Flights booked, bags packed, and most possessions sold. A removalist van left with the remaining few boxes at midday on a Sunday. 30 minutes later we were on our way to the airport. Literally. ...
An article first published in the Sydney Morning Herald, sharing some experiences of moving to the Bay Area. *** Debate is raging in the Australian start-up community. Can we build and support high-growth companies locally, or do you need to be in Silicon Valley? But this is a false choice, and I’m working to prove it. At the start of March I packed up my life and moved with my wife from Sydney to San Francisco. I’d launched a company, RecruitLoop, an online recruitment marketplace and video interview platform, 18 months ago with three other co-founders. We’re now chasing international growth. ...
What’s this about: Sharing a simple approach (and live example) to manage tasks and projects, using Trello. I’m a sucker for productivity hacks. It started with paper, back in the corporate world. Every week I’d take a fresh A4 sheet, and split it into 8 squares. Each square was a workstream, or project. I’d add all my tasks, then take great pleasure in crossing them off when complete. This sheet of paper would go with me everywhere, in the back of my notebook. ...
I’ve heard this sentiment expressed in different ways for startups. “Find your one thing” “Focus” “The OMTM” (one metric that matters). At SydStart today (Sydney’s biggest startup event), it was repeated in a way that somehow stuck with me: Find the one thing you can be the best at globally. Make sure everyone on your team fully believes it. Then pursue it at the expense of anything else. – Dominic O’Hanlon ...
Blackbox Connect. I’ve been back home a week and am still catching up. A 2-week injection of people, ideas and inspiration like an adrenalin shot to the heart. What is it? An intense ‘educational’ program held in a mansion in Atherton (near Palo Alto). A dozen startups from all corners of the globe. A-list speakers and workshops. A hot tub. And some really smart dogs. It’s not an incubator. More like an accelerator; focused purely on international startups. A pretty great concept, and one that exceeded all my expectations. I shared a few posts on specific sessions. Here’s just a quick run of highlights: ...
Robert Scoble swung for a night at Blackbox Mansion. RecruitLoop gets some airtime @ 12.30.. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)