How does a startup with a dozen people change a monolithic industry? It’s simple (but not easy)… Hire for DNA Fit And Brian King does it consistently. He’s CEO of Realto, the Kansas-based Private REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) marketplace. Brian & his team saw a gap in the market: there were limited options to buy and sell privately-held real estate. So they created one. Now, what used to be a manual paper-laden process is streamlined to days instead of months. And he’s onto something big…. Investors include KCRise & Firebrand Ventures. In this 20-minute conversation, Brian ..read more

The only thing better than talking culture & leadership with a progressive talent leader? Talking with two of them. Aparavi helps organizations that desperately need a solution to the mountains of data they need to manage. It’s the cloud based platform for finding & consolidating your company’s unstructured & distributed data. Speaking of distributed, Aparavi has a distributed team of 100. In this episode, Tania Williams (People & Culture Strategist) and Luis Zambrano (Chief of Staff) reveal how they put a Rockstar in every seat of the business. And how they assess candid ..read more

Jeff Grass knows how to get your hesitant employees back to the office. This serial entrepreneur is Co-Founder & CEO of Hungry Marketplace. Based in Arlington VA, Hungry is tackling the $100 Billion business food & events industry with a food-tech marketplace & logistics platform that provides unparalleled food & engagement solutions for businesses, powered by top local chefs. In short, Hungry partners with local chiefs to bring food to your office. So far, they operate in 9 markets with 250 employees. Clearly, Jeff’s onto something big. Hungry doubled revenues last year ..read more

(Hint: She didn’t click “Apply” on some job board) Morgan Smith is Work Reporter with CNBC and its industry-leading careers website “Make It” Previously, you’ve read her pieces in People Magazine, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Associated Press. Morgan discovered her passion for some meaty topics: the future of work, interviewing, hiring, job search. So, she proactively went after the job she wanted. CNBC wasn’t looking. But she didn’t let that hold her back. In this 20-minute conversation, she reveals step-by-step how she did it. Plus, she reveals the most common mistakes that job ..read more

Few things wag my tail like meeting with a CEO who puts talent at the top of their agenda. Here’s one. Matt Hulett is CEO of publicly-held PetMeds, America’s most trusted pet pharmacy with 11 million customers. Matt has driven more than $2 billion in value creation as a four-time public company CEO/President and a two-time private company CEO. He’s led multiple turnaround successes at companies you know, including Rosetta Stone, RealNetworks, and Expedia. And this week, he released his new book “Unlock: 5 Questions to Unleash Your Company’s Hidden Power” – It’s fantastic, regardless of your c ..read more

In business, few missions are more vital than protecting & improving the health of Americans. Sadly, 89M of us are pre-diabetic. Dan Zavorotny & his team are out to change that. He’s Chief Operating Officer & Co Founder of NutriSense, the fast-scaling VC-backed company that helps people prevent diabetes & heart disease. NutriSense’s innovative model pairs glucose monitors, predictive software, and a team of live dietitians. They combine to form a cohesive program to improve health. Clearly, Dan’s onto something big. The business has scaled from 2 employees to 80 in just 2 year ..read more

How’d you like to build a company with a 90% offer acceptance rate? With near-perfect employee retention? And with 50% of employees comprised of under-represented minorities? Sean Byrnes has done it (and the company doesn’t interview candidates… at all) Based in San Francisco, he’s Founder & CEO of Outlier, the VC-funded business intelligence company. His customers are large consumer-facing companies with an immense amount of data. Outlier watches all of your business data & lets you know when unexpected things are happening, anywhere in the myriad metrics and dimensions of your data ..read more

Seth Kniep has a remarkable entrepreneurship origin story. He found himself working at Apple, leading a 20-person team of tech support advisors. But he was miserable, working as a cog in the world’s most valuable company. Fascinated with an idea, he went about doubling one dime 20 times. He shared his vision with random strangers & asked them to double his dime. He turned it into $400, just by asking. Discouraged, $24,000 in debt, and living the death-by-paycheck cycle, Seth believed in a better future for himself & his family. He poured his heart into learning online eCommerce. In 201 ..read more

There are a gazillion ways to write your résumé (or LinkedIn profile). Because everyone has advice: “Do it this way.” “No, do it that way.” But what if you want to do it the best way? The right way? I wanted to find an expert… the guru… who has the answers and can tell you everything you’ve always wanted to know about résumés. I found him. Marc Cenedella is uniquely-qualified to answer these questions, because he’s spent decades on the topic. Based in New York, he’s Founder & CEO of Ladders, one of the nation’s leading online job boards. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s also Founder of Lee ..read more

“I now pronounce you successful entrepreneurs.” Nothing brings out the romantic in me like a New Year. The fresh possibilities, the clean start. And a super-cool online business. John Ruggiero & his wife are co-Founders & co-CEO’s of Manly Bands, one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer brands in wedding retail. The couple quit their jobs, drove cross-country, and setup shop in Utah. Following their own endless search for wedding rings, they decided to redefine the formerly-conservative category with unique & affordable ring designs for men. And in just 3 years, they bootstra ..read more