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 397 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Liz Graham, CEO, Operator, Board Member, and Startup Advisor.
This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite. Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation as it's a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference. And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only.
Ok - this is so cool and a first… well, technically two firsts. It’s the first time I’ve had a sibling of a previous guest and to top it off… they are twins. Liz’s sister is Sue Graham Johnston, another successful executive in the tech industry. She was one of my original guests as she appeared on Episode 24 when she was President of 128 Technology which was acquired by Juniper Networks. It was amazing to have the opportunity to interview Liz for a similar conversation.
Liz’s career started out in law and then expanded into operating roles at high growth companies like HubSpot, Wayfair, Notarize (now called Proof) and her most recent position was leading an early stage startup called Ada IQ, a consumer product development platform.
In addition to Liz’s professional career, she also shares some great advice around growing your career into executive leadership roles, how to be in the conversation for board seats, and more.
As you will also learn is that Liz is involved in lots of ecosystem initiatives like being a board member at MassChallenge. She is currently involved in the launch of Women Applying AI or WAAI, a nonprofit organization that offers women a collaborative environment to learn AI, expand networks, and be ready for an AI future with hands-on, practical, and supportive in-person and online programming. WAAI is officially launching on September 26th in Cambridge.
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.
