May 11, 2022Here’s how we structured our seed-stage hiring process — a lightweight yet thorough process for quickly assessing talent.There are no shortcuts to hiring good people. That said, if you are thoughtful in crafting your hiring process, you can save yourself time and potentially save yourself from making unnecessary hiring mistakes. At Slang.ai, we agonized over our hiring process at first. We wanted candidates to feel like it…2 min read2 min read
May 10, 2022What I learned about taking advice as a first-time CEO. How to receive what’s valuable and ignore what’s not.Everyone has an opinion. Especially if you’re running a start-up. Taking advice is essential as a first-time founder. There are SO many things you don’t know — the only way you can make progress at the speed the job requires is to get a lot of great advice. Unfortunately, advice…2 min read2 min read
May 8, 2022Curious about therapy but haven’t tried it yet? Here’s something that might convince you to start.Do you think your relationships are as good as they could be? If the answer is no, or maybe, then you should try therapy. I’ve been going to therapy for over two years and have noticed a real improvement in my relationships. I had a specific realization on this point…2 min read2 min read
May 6, 2022Everyone hates call center bots. Here are the top three reasons why. And why there’s hope.Are you one of those people that yells “representative!” into the phone the second you hear a robotic voice? You’re not alone. Frankly, most call experiences out there suck. I’ve spent the past 2+ years building modern, user-friendly voice experiences. From this work, here’s what I’ve learned about why the…2 min read2 min read
May 5, 2022This insight helped me feel confident in setting the right company culture at 10 employees and beyondHealthy company culture is essential. IMO, you have to think about culture as early as possible when company building. I realized after hitting ten employees at Slang . ai that my initial mental model for culture was wrong! I’ll explain 🧵 I used to think that culture = family. If…2 min read2 min read
May 4, 2022I’m inspired by leaders that have this one skill, which allows them to earn respect from their teams, make sound decisions, and complete ambitious projects repeatablyLeadership requires many skills. Some come naturally. Others are learned/earned. But there is one specific skill that effective leaders I admire all have: strong intuition for what is possible. I’ve observed that leaders who can easily predict what is possible to achieve are highly effective. …2 min read2 min read
May 2, 2022Three Ways Working as a Data Scientist at Spotify Made Me a Better FounderWorking in big tech is a standard route for aspiring founders looking to get valuable experience before launching their own thing. Product management and software engineering are the most commonly considered paths; however, data science is quickly emerging as a third path. …2 min read2 min read
May 2, 2022B2B SaaS CEOs Without a Marketing Background — You Gotta Read This BookBefore starting Slang.ai, my experience was highly technical. I’d only worked with numbers — either spreadsheets or code — so needless to say, marketing was like a completely foreign language to me. Many resources are theoretical and don’t give advice that’s tactical enough to apply to your start-up. …2 min read2 min read
Apr 30, 2022One Interview Question Every Founder Should Ask When Hiring Their First 10 Employees, To Build a Healthy Culture that ScalesHiring is hard. Culture is even harder. The good news is that you can make it easier by asking the right questions in interviews. After building my first team of 10, I’ve learned to screen for something specific to make sure I don’t bring in a “bad egg.” It is…2 min read2 min read
Apr 30, 2022One shocking fact about business phone callsEveryone knows that calling a business is frustrating. You get long wait times and complex phone trees and often go straight to voicemail. My start-up’s mission is to fix this broken experience — we want to make calling a business a delightful experience using AI. So, I spend A LOT…1 min read1 min read
