Ep 41 - Hiring Web3 Talent with Jordan Fried, Erin Boose, Courtney Glover

There’s no denying that Web3 and the Metaverse are the next big frontier in digital innovation. As early-adopters and skeptics alike watch the immersive and transformative technologies change the ways we interact with the world around us, we are also watching new companies and career paths shift the job market as we know it.

Whether you’re looking to hire or get hired, our panelists have been there. Join us live as we sit down with some of the leaders pioneering the world of Web3 to discuss the challenges and nuances of team building in a new and ever-evolving digital world.

Here’s What We Discussed:

• [03:43] Jordan talks about the early days of cryptocurrency and wealth creation in established crypto companies
• [12:12] Courtney dives into how 90% of employees at Original Protocol took more than 50% of their annual salary in tokens
• [15:30] Rips for founders and investors when hiring for Web3 companies
• [21:53] Courtney on why it’s important to find talent who is web3 curious and the importance of leveraging your community for hiring
• [23:17] Erin’s advice with hiring is to pay attention to the volunteer projects on your candidate's resume and see if they align with what you’re hiring for
• [24:54] Jordan on what gets candidates most excited when pitching the job
• [30:21] Erin advises pitching the real-world application of Web3 and figuring out what interests the candidate
• [36:05] Erin on educating and reaching new audiences for web3 recruiting
• [41:20] Biggest hiring bottlenecks and what companies are looking to hire for

About Our Speakers

Courtney Glover, Head of People, Origin Protocol, Courtney is a self-proclaimed people person and has spent the better part of the last 10 years helping companies recognize that their greatest asset is their people. She is currently Head of People at Origin and has previous experience in Web3, Government Contracting, and Tech. As a recent transplant back home to Michigan, Courtney enjoys spending her non-work time with her husband and two kids in Michigan’s great outdoors.

Jordan Fried, Founder, NFT.com, Chairman & CEO, Immutable Holdings, Jordan Fried is a blockchain evangelist and crypto-capitalist. He’s currently the Chairman and CEO of Immutable Holdings, the publicly-traded blockchain holding company that owns and operates NFT.com, 1800Bitcoin.com, CBDC.com, Immutable Asset Management, HBAR.com, and more.

Previously, Jordan was a founding team member of Hedera Hashgraph where he served as Senior Vice President of Business Development from inception in 2017 until the end of 2020. Jordan also co-founded and served as CEO of Buffered VPN, the fastest growing personal VPN service until it was acquired in the first quarter of 2017.

Jordan is an angel investor in companies like Buffer.com, Clearview.ai, Hive.org, and other early-stage startups. Jordan has been featured in Wired Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Time.com, and Success.com.

Erin Boose, Global Talent Lead, CoinDesk, Erin is currently the Global Talent Lead at CoinDesk. Prior to CoinDesk, she spent time at Smartly.io, Forbes, and Autism Speaks amongst others in recruiting and people operations. Erin also participates in volunteer programs like Co-op, teaching first-generation college graduates the ins and outs of job hunting. When not working Erin loves travel, cooking, and the NY Mets.

About Our Host Anish Shah, Founder + CEO at Ruckus – Anish is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

Quotes

“How you go about acquiring new users, fundamentally, is still largely the same.” – Jordan Fried

“Where we have done poorly in hiring in the past is we've looked for people who we figured were just pure web3 believers, even though they may have lacked our desired fundamental skills.” – Jordan Fried

“The industry is still relatively small. There are a lot of people that are working on projects that are not being paid for their work. You have to look deeper into those  projects that you might see on resumes.” – Erin Boose

“You're not gonna find folks who likely came from another protocol company or came from Web3, but I do think there's a huge advantage if you have somebody who's web3 curious or at least understands web3. It's really difficult to convince a really talented developer to see the value in your NFT project,” – Courtney Glover

“When we are trying to talk rationally or unemotionally to candidates, we want them to appreciate what we see as still a very exciting growth sector.” – Jordan Fried

“Figure out what interests a candidate and what might drive their engagement.” – Erin Boose

“Have that curiosity, that willingness to learn and to jump in and get your hands dirty, whether you are the CMO or you are an individual contributor.” – Courtney Glover

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!