Episode 1: Staffing Your Startup for Scale: Paige Robinson of Will Reed
About this episode:
Paige Robinson is the Founder, CEO, and Head of Search for Will Reed, a go-to-market executive search firm partnering with early-stage founders to help them build human-first cultures that positively influence the way we live and work. Will Reed has deep-rooted connections with VCs, it’s part of their differentiation strategy.
We’ll be talking about the labor market and how it is changing quickly in today’s tumultuous times. Paige shares advice for founders looking for talent, and some of the new conversations candidates are having with potential employers in today’s job search process.
Paige Robinson is a visionary and philosopher who loves all conversations around growth, culture, faith, and world affairs. She began her career as a consultant at Alvarez & Marsal, helping clients solve complex business problems around HR strategy and technology. However, raised by a serial entrepreneur, Paige had the itch to start her own company, which over time led to her founding, Will Reed. A proud graduate of Texas A&M, Paige and her husband Travis reside in Dallas, Texas, and are doing their best to raise three good humans: Teddy, Reese, and James.
Startup Growth Stories is hosted by Don Muir, CEO and Co-Founder of Arc Technologies. In each weekly episode of this podcast, you’ll hear from first-time, bootstrapped, and unicorn founders around how they secured their first customers, convinced their first employees to join, and grew their business. Founders and industry insiders share their greatest successes (and failures) and the things they learned along the way. In the final minutes of each episode, guests get vulnerable - they share very personal stories about the impact of their work on their wellbeing, their relationships and their families.
In this episode you’ll hear:
- [00:41] Who is Paige Robinson, and what is Will Reed?
- [01:33] A day in the life at Will Reed – really listening to clients, enabling founders to become the best recruiters they can be to scale their teams effectively and efficiently
- [02:36] Paige’s journey and early background - founding an app in college that didn’t work out so well, leaving a big corporate job leading up to founding Will Reed
- [06:21] Will Reed sets itself apart by focusing on early-stage, startup recruiting
- [08:14] Understanding what creates a brand– helping founders with best practices
- [09:47] Will Reed’s brand-defining core values early on, functioning as a conduit for founders to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true
- [11:35] The labor market during and post-pandemic, the new questions candidates are asking earlier in the process
- [13:00] May 2022 saw a near full stop in recruitment - candidates were wary.
- [14:20] Management Teams are offering more transparency and getting ‘real’ earlier
- [16:22] Advice for founders – do your prep and homework before recruiting
- [19:12] Closing segment - how Paige’s mental health and life choices have affected her trajectory
Resources from this episode:
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