Episode 404 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Sesser, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightHire.
Well this is a first…
It’s common to time my podcast interview around a milestone for a company like a funding announcement. But, this is the first time that in the span between my interview with the founder to the publishing date that the company announced its acquisition.
Last week, BrightHire announced that the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Zoom. It certainly is a combination that makes a lot of sense.
BrightHire is an interview intelligence platform. We saw its influence firsthand this past summer when VentureFizz hosted a series of AI job searching events. Talent acquisition leaders consistently mentioned BrightHire as the most-adopted application—a signal that immediately led me to reach out to Ben for this interview.
As Ben shares, when they started, "interview intelligence" was a brand new category in hiring, and they faced plenty of doubters. But fast-forward to today, and much like the success of companies like Gong for sales teams, BrightHire's value is now obvious. But isn't that the case for all great companies in hindsight?
BrightHire's investors include Flybridge, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors, Zoom Apps Fund, and others.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:48 State of Hiring in the AI Era
06:51 Ben's Background Story
19:40 Getting Started in the Tech Industry
25:26 Origin Story of BrightHire
33:06 Creating a New Category
35:31 The Value of Video in the Hiring Process
41:17 BrightHire Screen - New AI Screening Platform
45:51 Experience of Raising Capital
48:36 Biggest Lessons Learned
50:22 Common Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring
51:57 Lightening Round Questions
Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.
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Episode 404 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Sesser, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightHire.
Well this is a first…
It’s common to time my podcast interview around a milestone for a company like a funding announcement. But, this is the first time that in the span between my interview with the founder to the publishing date that the company announced its acquisition.
Last week, BrightHire announced that the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Zoom. It certainly is a combination that makes a lot of sense.
BrightHire is an interview intelligence platform. We saw its influence firsthand this past summer when VentureFizz hosted a series of AI job searching events. Talent acquisition leaders consistently mentioned BrightHire as the most-adopted application—a signal that immediately led me to reach out to Ben for this interview.
As Ben shares, when they started, "interview intelligence" was a brand new category in hiring, and they faced plenty of doubters. But fast-forward to today, and much like the success of companies like Gong for sales teams, BrightHire's value is now obvious. But isn't that the case for all great companies in hindsight?
BrightHire's investors include Flybridge, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors, Zoom Apps Fund, and others.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:48 State of Hiring in the AI Era
06:51 Ben's Background Story
19:40 Getting Started in the Tech Industry
25:26 Origin Story of BrightHire
33:06 Creating a New Category
35:31 The Value of Video in the Hiring Process
41:17 BrightHire Screen - New AI Screening Platform
45:51 Experience of Raising Capital
48:36 Biggest Lessons Learned
50:22 Common Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring
51:57 Lightening Round Questions
Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.
Episode 385 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, and now - Author.
Another repeat original guest! Julia was a guest for Episode 30 of The VentureFizz Podcast back in 2018 where we do a deep dive into her background plus cover lots of interesting topics like what it takes to become a great Product Manager and others.
In this interview, we catch up to discuss her new role as an author and the details about her new book called After The Idea - What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup:
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/julia-austin/after-the-idea/9781541705296
https://www.amazon.com/After-Idea-Really-Create-Startup/dp/1541705270
Julia is a seasoned operator who has served in leadership roles at several scaled technology companies like Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean. She has also advised hundreds of founders and startups.
In this new book, which I believe will become a new staple in the entrepreneurial startup circles, she helps entrepreneurs navigate the complexities and challenges of building a startup like important matters around product, people, operations, and more. What I also appreciate the most about this book is the fact that it is very comprehensive, yet easy to understand and implement.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like:
* A quick run through Julia’s background - check out Episode 30 for the deeper dive.
* How Julia became a member of the faculty at Harvard Business School and the impact of The Startup Operations course that she created.
* The inside look at what it’s like to write a book.
* How proper discovery can help avoid false positives.
* Why entrepreneurs don’t always need a co-founder.
* The importance of ABR - that being Always Be Recruiting - for founders.
* The difference between Founders & Joiners
* Comparing the Boston and NYC startup ecosystems.
* And so much more.
The VentureFizz Podcast
Episode 404 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Sesser, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightHire.
Well this is a first…
It’s common to time my podcast interview around a milestone for a company like a funding announcement. But, this is the first time that in the span between my interview with the founder to the publishing date that the company announced its acquisition.
Last week, BrightHire announced that the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Zoom. It certainly is a combination that makes a lot of sense.
BrightHire is an interview intelligence platform. We saw its influence firsthand this past summer when VentureFizz hosted a series of AI job searching events. Talent acquisition leaders consistently mentioned BrightHire as the most-adopted application—a signal that immediately led me to reach out to Ben for this interview.
As Ben shares, when they started, "interview intelligence" was a brand new category in hiring, and they faced plenty of doubters. But fast-forward to today, and much like the success of companies like Gong for sales teams, BrightHire's value is now obvious. But isn't that the case for all great companies in hindsight?
BrightHire's investors include Flybridge, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors, Zoom Apps Fund, and others.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:48 State of Hiring in the AI Era
06:51 Ben's Background Story
19:40 Getting Started in the Tech Industry
25:26 Origin Story of BrightHire
33:06 Creating a New Category
35:31 The Value of Video in the Hiring Process
41:17 BrightHire Screen - New AI Screening Platform
45:51 Experience of Raising Capital
48:36 Biggest Lessons Learned
50:22 Common Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring
51:57 Lightening Round Questions
Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.
