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Confidence and trust in hiring decisions
How Superlayer built a network of rare founder talent to power Web3 with an attribute-based talent platform.
How do you hire for domain expertise at the cutting edge of technology? That’s what Olivia Williams had to ask herself when she became Head of People and Talent at Superlayer, a venture studio dedicated to partnering with founders to build Web3 start-ups.
The venture studio model is to conceive of an idea, hire co-founders to build the company, and partner with them to launch it. Olivia not only hires for the Superlayer core team, she also recruits project co-founders to build web3 companies with Superlayer’s support.
“I set an ambitious goal to hire 3 c-level roles by the end of the year,” said Olivia. “We filled all 3 roles with Findem-sourced candidates. And these were the best people to launch the companies.”
Here’s how she did it.
Start with precision search to find hidden talent
“We’re looking for very specific types of senior level candidates,” she said, “and Findem gives me precision search tools to find exactly who I’m looking for. ”
For one search, Olivia needed candidates with a product background, founder experience, understanding of financial markets in India or Indonesia, work history at a company that managed gold or crypto investing, and would be excited about the opportunity. “It’s not your run-of-the-mill full stack engineer, right?” according to Olivia. “There are a small number of companies that have done this before, and an even smaller number of people who have led product in addition to having the founder chops to be successful in our type of model.”
Instead of purchasing 3 or 4 tools for the task, Olivia chose Findem to automate sourcing and outreach for critical hires. Olivia used Findem to discover the 7 people who fit that profile, and used the “like” company feature to expand the company’s market insights. “People outside of recruiting don’t understand,” Olivia said. “It’s not easy work. But when you find someone great, it’s the best feeling.”
Build confidence with hiring managers
The next step is sharing the talent pool makeup and search results with hiring managers. As necessary, Olivia can work with them to calibrate criteria and expand the pool. Managers want options and to know that they are selecting from the best candidates.
Findem is the preferred candidate search tool because it helps Olivia increase stakeholder trust and align on realistic hiring expectations. With other tools, the talent pool looks much bigger than it is and sets false expectations for hiring managers. Findem discovers the handful of people in the world who check all the boxes. “Findem gives us more confidence about the hiring decisions that we’re making,” she said.
Personalize outreach from your c-suite
Bringing on c-suite talent is never easy. “The right people are never looking,” according to Olivia. Once she knows who she’s pursuing, she uses Findem drip nurture campaigns to reach out to her shortlist with emails from hiring managers and managing partners. A strong team with a great reputation helps Olivia maintain a high response rate from interested, qualified candidates.
According to Olivia: “Findem makes life easier for internal stakeholders who can respond to interested candidates directly. I have visibility into that exchange, so I can continue to manage the candidate process.”
Build a network of quality candidates
Targeted outreach is helping Olivia build a network of people with specialized skills in Web3 to tap for referrals and new opportunities. For example, she realized that the studio companies need a marketing or community person once they get to a certain level of growth.
With Findem, she already has a ready pool of candidates, and a pre-built search. It can be tweaked for a particular company and the nurture campaigns can be updated to come from different stakeholders. I have a search built for a CTO,” she said, “and it’s cheaper than hiring a dedicated sourcer.”
When Superlayer partnered with another fund using Findem, they were able to collaborate seamlessly to share searches, shortlist candidates, and speed up the recruiting process.
Superlayer supports email outreach with branded content and engagement on social media platforms. “A lot of the folks we’re looking for aren’t always on LinkedIn,” she said. “They’re on Twitter and Discord communities for Web3.”
Trust with stakeholders to grow
“As a venture studio, you succeed or fail, depending on the talent that you’re able to attract, and retain,” she said. “If we can’t bring in the best co-founders, there’s no way we’re going to win. I understand how my role is crucial to that.”
Findem helps Olivia build trust with her stakeholders by finding the rare talent needed to power Web3 companies. Next, she plans to use Findem search for ATS discovery as well as outbound sourcing.
