Siddharth Mandan’s Post

Episode 11 of #HireWeGo! is here – and it’s all about fixing what’s broken in how we hire and retain talent. Joveo’s Ashlie Collins is joined by Leandro Cartelli, Founder of Lana Talent, who’s spent 15+ years building hiring strategies from Accenture to top startups. His verdict? Too many companies treat TA like a transaction instead of a strategy. They unpack the ripple effects: poor candidate experience, ghosting, and nearly 40% early turnover. Leandro also shares how simple fixes like expectation-setting and culture conversations can COMPLETELY change the game! Check out the full video! #TalentAcquisition #CandidateExperience #RecruiterRealTalk #Retention #AIInTA

Scrappy isn’t shameful. It’s where every startup begins. But the longer you scale on gut feel? 🗨️ "Just-in-time" becomes "too late." 🗨️ Culture by osmosis becomes culture drift. 🗨️ Reactive hiring becomes silent churn. Maturity doesn’t mean red tape. 𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. Clarity on what good looks like. Clarity on who does what. Clarity that lets you move faster, not slower.

Everyone talks about finding great developers, but the harder challenge is keeping them as you grow. 💡 When your startup goes from 20 to 200 people 🚀 , the tight-knit culture that attracted your first hires starts to feel distant. The autonomy they loved gets replaced with processes they never asked for 🚨 The companies that handle this transition well don't try to preserve the exact same culture. Instead, they evolve it intentionally. They find ways to maintain the core values while adapting the structure. This means creating new pathways for growth that don't just lead to management. Building feedback loops so people still feel heard. Maintaining transparency even when the all-hands meetings get too big for everyone to speak. The mistake is thinking you can scale people the same way you scale technology. People need different things at different stages, and your approach has to adapt with them 🌀 What's the biggest culture challenge you've seen during rapid growth phases? How did successful companies navigate those transitions? 🚀 #TechTalent #ScalingTeams #TechCulture #TalentRetention #StartupHR #Retentionstrategy #Discussion #Cullturechanges #techdiscussion

“We only hire for culture fit.” We hear this line from founders all the time. And we get it—when your team is small, you want people who feel right. People you’d enjoy working late nights with. But here’s the trap: “Culture fit” often becomes code for sameness. You end up hiring people who look, think, and act like the founding team. Great for bonding. Terrible for growth. One founder we worked with realized this the hard way. Their 20-person startup was full of hustlers who could sell anything. But when it came to process, compliance, or scaling operations? Nobody wanted that job. The culture had unintentionally filtered out the very skills they needed to grow. At MQTO, we see this every day: - Culture fit keeps the team comfortable. - Culture add builds the team’s future. Here’s what we advise founders to ask in interviews: - “What strengths do you bring that our team is missing?” - “How would you challenge the way we currently work?” It’s not about hiring people who “fit in.” It’s about hiring people who push you forward. The best cultures aren’t echo chambers. They’re balanced ecosystems. At MQTO, we help early-stage startups shift from “fit” to “add.” So you don’t just hire people who blend in—you hire the people who help you scale. Curious where your hiring strategy stands? Drop us a message. We’d love to hear how you’re thinking about culture in your team. #StartupCulture #HiringStrategy #FoundersJourney #TeamBuilding #Leadership #HRforStartups #ScaleWithCulture

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐀 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐩 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧? As summer winds down, those sunlit poolside reflections often spark a proactive job hunt when September arrives. Given how many candidate conversations are involved with scale-up hiring, what are the most frequent reasons given to me to join a tech scale up? 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭: You own a single feature, process, or go-to-market element from start to finish and you see the impact of your effort and work unfold in front of you. 𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐔𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞: Tech scale up businesses often grant stock options, so a small stake can become a windfall if the company IPOs or is acquired. 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: Scale up organisations let standout individuals move into leadership or multi-team assignments much sooner than they could in larger firms. 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Scale-ups typically build greenfield features or pivot quickly in response to market (and customer) feedback. In terms of the tech, they can give you hands on experience with the cutting edge tools and technologies. 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜, 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: Small teams rally around a shared vision and operate with an entrepreneurial mindset. There’s way less red tape and more of a “get it done” approach. 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: You work closely with founding teams and early VC investors. These relationships that you build and develop have the potential to pay dividends for the rest of your career. 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲: Decision making is fast, hierarchies are flat, and you’re empowered to propose and implement bold ideas without months of approvals. #ScaleUpHiring #TechScaleUp #TalentAcquisition #CareerGrowth #SaaSTalent #TalentStrategy #HiringPlaybook #ExecutiveSearch

Hiring fast is glamorized. Fixing the fallout isn't. There's been more startups tank from bad hires than slow ones. The real bottleneck? Getting people productive once they’re in. 👉 A great hire with bad onboarding becomes a regret. 👉 An okay hire with great onboarding becomes a future leader.

🎙️ Small Talk – New Episode Live! Startups and scaleups — hiring fast doesn't always mean hiring right. In this episode, Caroline shares the most common recruitment pitfalls she sees in high-growth environments — and what to do instead. From rushing the process and neglecting candidate experience, to the importance of onboarding, DEI, and post-hire feedback — it's packed with practical advice. ✅ Plus: why investing in an ATS like Teamtailor can be a game changer. If you're building a team from the ground up, this is essential listening. 🎧 Tune in now. #ScaleupGrowth #HiringStrategy

Are you scaling a business? Don’t Skip the People & Performance Function. As companies grow from scrappy startups to structured scale-ups, one thing becomes clear: culture doesn’t scale on autopilot. That’s where a dedicated People & Performance function becomes a game-changer. We recently set up this function for a mid-sized tech business scaling across ANZ, and here’s what made the biggest impact Key Initiatives: 👉 Performance Frameworks: Clear OKRs and role expectations aligned to business goals 👉 Leader Enablement: Training programs to build confident, consistent leadership 👉 Feedback Culture: Embedded 360 reviews and real-time feedback loops 👉 Talent Development: Career pathways, internal mobility, and skills mapping 👉 People Analytics: Dashboards tracking engagement, retention, and productivity You can't ignore this ROI 👏+22% increase in employee engagement within 6 months 👏 30% faster onboarding and time-to-productivity 👏 Improved revenue per employee through aligned performance metrics Scaling isn’t just about headcount—it’s about building a system where people thrive and drive results. If you’re at that inflection point, investing in People & Performance isn’t a luxury—it’s your growth engine. Let’s connect if you’re building this out or want to swap notes. #PeopleAndCulture #ScalingUp #PerformanceManagement #HRStrategy #TechLeadership #ANZStartups

If you are scaling a business, you know that repeatable processes become the engine for growth. This is also true for the People & Performance function. Culture doesn't scale on autopilot; a dedicated People & Performance function becomes a game-changer. At this stage of growth, you might not need this to be a full-time function; that is where we come in. Giving you the right skills at the right time. We have recently done this for a mid-sized tech business scaling across ANZ and the results are in! https://lnkd.in/gbuhb4s4

Talent Retention in the Era of the Talent War The news of ElevenLabs’ $100M employee tender really caught my attention this week. In just three years, they’ve gone from idea to >$200M ARR, doubled their valuation to $6.6B, and now they’re letting their team share in the value they’ve built. In Mati Staniszewski words, “Continuous liquidity opportunities will help our whole team align on that goal.” Working closely with fast-growing startups, I see this reality every day, top talent has options. Retention isn’t just about salary bumps anymore. It’s about trust, ownership, and showing people that the journey they’re on with you will be worth it. The “talent war” isn’t just a phrase it’s happening in every conversation about hiring. Companies are getting creative like employee tenders to keep their best people inspired and invested. For anyone scaling a company, this is a good example. Your culture and how you treat people matter as much as your product. Building something big means investing back in the people building it with you. Curious how others are tackling this what’s worked for you when it comes to keeping great people on the ride? #TalentRetention #StartupCulture #TalentWar #Leadership #ElevenLabs #HRStrategy