The Hive

Your First 10 Hires

The people you bring in first don't just fill roles; they set the temperature of everything that comes after. This is a talk about getting that right.

Your first ten hires become the culture. They decide what "normal" looks like: how decisions get made, what gets tolerated, whether people feel trusted or watched. Hire ten people who fit and are given room to learn, and you build a place worth showing up for. Hire ten who don't, and you spend the next five years apologizing for it.

This session unpacks how to think about those early hires; not as a headcount problem, but as the founding act of a culture. We look at hiring for fit without hiring for sameness, giving people real autonomy early, and making sure each person can see how their work connects to something that matters.

Who it's for

Founders about to hire, small teams that grew fast and want to grow well, and anyone who senses that the "fill the seat" approach is quietly costing them. You'll leave with a way to think and a few uncomfortable questions worth asking before the next offer goes out.

Formats

The talk works as a conference keynote, a lunch-and-learn for a leadership team, or a longer hands-on workshop where we look at your actual next hires. Each one is shaped to the room rather than read from a script.

Bring Your First 10 Hires to your team. Tell me about your team — where you are, where you're headed — and we'll find the right shape for it.

Should You Join a Startup?

Applying to a startup is not a smaller version of applying to Novartis or Nestlé. It's a different act entirely, and knowing which one you're doing changes how you show up.

At a big company, you apply to a role. There's a defined job, a defined ladder, a defined process; the box exists before you do, and your task is to prove you fit it. Several people interview you against a competency grid, and if you're hired you'll do a well-drawn slice of a very large machine. That's not a criticism. Stability, brand, structure, and the room to go deep on one thing are real goods, and for many people at many moments they're the right ones.

A startup asks something else. You're not applying to a box; you're applying to a mission and to a handful of people who will sit three feet away from you. The job description is a best guess that will change by your second week. You'll be hired for range and judgment rather than for a perfect match, and you'll be handed scope faster than you feel ready for. The trade is real: you give up certainty and a famous logo, and you get agency, visible impact, and a story you actually helped write.

This talk is about telling those two things apart before you sign. We look at what a startup is really testing for, why "we don't have a process yet" is a feature and not a red flag, the questions worth asking about ownership and runway, and how to tell a chaotic startup from a fast one.

Who it's for

People deciding between the safe offer and the interesting one: students and early-career professionals eyeing their first move, and experienced people at a big employer wondering what they'd trade and gain by going small. You'll leave able to read a startup honestly, and to know whether the leap is yours to take.

Formats

The talk works as a university or career-fair keynote, a session for a cohort or accelerator, or a longer workshop where we pull apart real offers and job posts in the room.

Bring Should You Join a Startup? to your event. Tell me who's in the room and what they're weighing, and we'll find the right shape for it.