Human-First: The GTM Hiring Show
Claim This Podcastby Captivate Talent
Podcast Overview
<p>AI is rewriting what "great" looks like across sales, marketing, customer success, and RevOps. Old playbooks have stopped working. And most founders are hiring in the dark.</p> <p>Human-First: The GTM Hiring Show cuts through the noise with high-signal conversations for B2B Tech founders, revenue leaders, and the VCs who back them - from the team at Captivate Talent.</p> <p>Unlike other shows about hiring, we pull back the curtain on what a search actually looks like: real funnel data, real candidate feedback, and the kind of market intelligence that helps you make decisions based on reality, not guesswork.</p> <p>Every episode is built around three questions every leader asks before making a GTM hire:</p> <ul><li>Am I ready to hire? (And what to do when the honest answer is "not yet")</li><li>How do I hire? (How to run a tight process and spot "great" when you've never seen it before)</li><li>Did I hire the right person? (How to diagnose whether it's the role, the comp, the process, or the person)</li></ul> <p>Each episode features founders, revenue leaders, VCs, and operators who've made the hard calls firsthand - sharing what worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently. We also tackle the AI fluency question head-on: not the hype, not the fear, just what's actually changing in GTM hiring and how to evaluate it in candidates.</p> <p>Human-First is produced by Captivate Talent, a boutique recruiting firm specializing in go-to-market hires for seed through Series B B2B Tech companies.</p> <p>If you're building a GTM team and want to hire with more clarity and less chaos, this show is for you.</p> <p>Subscribe so you don't miss an episode - and join the founders, VCs, and revenue leaders already listening.</p>
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Publishing Since
3/25/2026
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Recent Episodes
June 23, 2026
What is a GTM Engineer? Hiring, AI and the Future of RevOps with Lauren Hughes of Justworks
<p>Here's how to tell if you need a GTM Engineer and what to fix first.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Lauren Hughes is VP of Revenue Effectiveness at JustWorks, where she rebuilt the entire function from the ground up by merging rev ops and enablement, introducing GTM engineering roles, and hiring AI enablement specialists. Roughly 75% of her team is either new or in a completely different seat than before.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>From this episode of Human-First, you'll walk away knowing exactly how to diagnose whether you need a GTM engineer or a Salesforce admin, how to assess builder mindset in interviews when no one has "10 years of GTM engineering experience" on their resume, and what foundation you need in place before any of it matters.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>This one's for founders, revenue leaders, and rev ops professionals trying to figure out what their team should actually look like right now and what it needs to become. We cover GTM hiring for technical roles, AI fluency as a hiring bar, case studies in the age of AI, and why your operating maturity determines your next hire.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Key Takeaways</b></p> <p>>> If your pain is "Salesforce hygiene is bad and routing rules need fixing," you need an admin. GTM engineers are for inventing capabilities that don't exist yet, not maintaining what does.</p> <p>>> The strongest GTM engineer candidates deconstructed the problem from a data perspective and came with a complete system redesign, while average ones just talked about process improvements.</p> <p>>> Case studies are more critical than ever precisely because of AI with the real test is whether candidates can defend and explain what they built when questioned live.</p> <p>>> Before hiring a GTM engineer, get your data foundation right with clean infrastructure, clear ownership, and system discipline. AI and builders can't fix what's fundamentally broken underneath.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Chapter Markers</b></p> <p>00:00 - What a GTM engineer actually does</p> <p>01:54 - Why JustWorks rebuilt revenue effectiveness from scratch</p> <p>05:17 - How the rebuild played out: roles added, removed, and renamed</p> <p>08:51 - GTM engineers vs. Salesforce admins: where the confusion comes from</p> <p>14:58 - How to interview for builder mindset with no job title precedent</p> <p>18:05 - Case studies in the age of AI: what's changed and what still works</p> <p>21:02 - The AI fluency bar: what Lauren asks every candidate</p> <p>24:08 - AI enablement roles and just-in-time personalized learning</p> <p>29:52 - The flattening org: why middle management layers are thinning</p> <p>33:44 - Career paths in rev ops: skills-based, not tenure-based</p> <p>35:34 - What early-stage founders should do before hiring a GTM engineer</p> <p>38:35 - Rev ops as the entry point for AI across the org</p> <p>41:07 - Where Lauren learns: podcasts, communities, and vendor dinners</p> <p>45:32 - The one thing to get right before writing a job description</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Useful Links & Resources</b></p> <ul><li>Lauren Hughes on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenehughes10023/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenehughes10023/</a> </li><li>Captivate Talent: <a href="https://www.captivatetalent.com/" target="_blank">https://www.captivatetalent.com</a></li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Connect With the Show</b></p> <ul><li>Captivate Talent on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/</a></li><li>Danielle Parker on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/</a></li></ul> <p><br /></p> <p>What's your take? Is the GTM engineer title getting ahead of what most teams actually need? Drop your thoughts in the comments, or tell us what your rev ops team looks like right now. We'd love to hear how you're navigating this shift.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Visit captivatetalent.com to learn how we help B2B tech companies hire exceptional GTM talent. If this episode was useful, like, subscribe, and share it with someone building out their rev ops function.</p>
June 10, 2026
The Framework Behind a Great First GTM Hire with Rav Dhaliwal
<p>A lot of founders get their first go-to-market hire wrong. Not because they pick the wrong resume, but because they skip the thinking that comes before the job description.</p> <p>You've raised the round, your investors are pushing you to scale, and you're copy-pasting job descriptions from companies ten times your size. But you don't actually know what "great" looks like for this role at your stage, and the cost of getting it wrong won't show up for 12 to 18 months.</p> <p>Rav Dhaliwal is a partner at Crane Venture Partners who spent the first half of his career as an operator building GTM teams at Slack, Zendesk, and Yammer. He's made every early-stage hiring mistake possible and now helps founders avoid the same traps.</p> <p>You'll walk away with a clear framework for deciding whether you're actually ready to hire, the math to pressure-test your plan, and a structured approach to interviewing that separates real performers from polished storytellers. This is practical, data-backed hiring advice you can use immediately.</p> <p>This episode is for B2B tech founders making their first (or next) GTM hire, VCs advising portfolio companies on GTM buildout, and revenue leaders navigating the shift from founder-led sales. Rav covers readiness signals, scorecard design, behavioral interviewing, and the critical transition from founder-led to founder-managed sales.</p> <p><b>Key Takeaways</b></p> <p>>> Before hiring an AE, work backward from OTE to pipeline: if you can't generate 3 - 4x qualified pipeline against their quota target, the timing isn't right, no matter what your investors say.</p> <p>>> The four types of salespeople willing to join before you've figured out your market are almost never the ones you want. Be aware of poor performers, lucky riders, stealth consultants, and semi-retired operators.</p> <p>>> A job description lists activities; a hiring scorecard defines mission, outcomes, and behavioral competencies and it's the difference between collecting useful interview data and getting sold by a good storyteller.</p> <p>>> Test intrinsic motivation before you test skills: why someone wants to leave, why they want to join you specifically, and whether their career goals align with what you're actually offering.</p> <p><b>Chapter Markers</b></p> <p>00:00 - Why early-stage GTM mis-hires create management debt</p> <p>02:07 - What a hiring mistake actually costs in practice</p> <p>04:30 - How to know if it's the right time to hire</p> <p>06:54 - The OTE-to-pipeline math every founder should run</p> <p>09:32 - Pushing back when investors pressure you to scale</p> <p>10:14 - Four types of salespeople who'll join too early</p> <p>12:49 - Sussing out stage fit in interviews</p> <p>16:04 - Behaviors vs. skills: where the conviction comes from</p> <p>18:49 - Behavioral interviewing in practice with real examples</p> <p>22:01 - The hiring scorecard: mission, outcomes, competencies</p> <p>28:53 - Early warning signs of a GTM mis-hire</p> <p>30:37 - Founder-led sales to founder-managed sales</p> <p>34:38 - Why the Frankenstein job description is dangerous</p> <p>36:31 - Testing intrinsic motivation in screening calls</p> <p>41:18 - Key takeaways and wrap-up</p> <p><b>Useful Links & Resources</b></p> <ul><li>Rav Dhaliwal on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravinderdhaliwal/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravinderdhaliwal/</a></li><li>Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street - the hiring framework referenced in this episode: <a href="https://whothebook.com/" target="_blank">https://whothebook.com/</a></li><li>Crane Venture Partners: <a href="https://crane.vc/" target="_blank">https://crane.vc</a></li></ul> <p><b>Connect With the Show</b></p> <ul><li>Captivate Talent on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/</a></li><li>Danielle Parker on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/</a></li><li>Captivate Talent website: <a href="https://www.captivatetalent.com/" target="_blank">https://www.captivatetalent.com/</a></li></ul>
May 26, 2026
How to Build a US Sales Team When You're Expanding From Europe with James Isilay
<p>Most European founders expanding to the US make the same hiring mistake. This episode breaks down what actually works when building a commercial team across the Atlantic.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Tired of watching US expansion burn through cash with nothing to show for it? Wondering whether to hire senior or junior first, which city to land in, or how to stop your new US team from churning out within a year?</p> <p><br /></p> <p>James Isilay founded Cognism and scaled it from zero to $80M+ ARR, navigating the move from the UK to the US firsthand, including an early pivot from New York to Boston that changed the trajectory of the business. He's since advised multiple high-growth B2B software companies on strategic expansion and go-to-market.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>You'll walk away with a clear framework for sequencing your US expansion: when to transplant your own people, when to start hiring locally, and the positioning work most founders skip that determines whether the whole thing sticks. This isn't theory, it's a playbook built from real decisions and real mistakes.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>This one is for European and UK-based SaaS founders and GTM leaders who are planning or actively navigating US expansion. If you're deciding on your first US hire, choosing a city, or trying to figure out why your US pipeline isn't converting, this is the episode.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Key Takeaways</b></p> <p>>> Hiring a senior US sales leader before you've built a working system on the ground is the most common and most expensive way European founders fail at US expansion.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>>> Transplanting early employees from your home base creates a bridge between your existing playbooks and the new market, giving your US team access to the knowledge network that remote hires simply can't replicate.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>>> Choosing a city based on where your specific industry talent lives, not prestige or personal preference, dramatically affects hiring quality, retention, and cost.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>>> Founders need to find a tight ICP with high win rates in the US market before putting their foot on the pedal with sales hiring; without that foundation, you're accelerating from nothing.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Chapter Markers</b></p> <p>00:00 - Why hiring senior in the US usually fails</p> <p>02:59 - The pattern behind failed European expansions</p> <p>05:17 - Starting junior vs. transplanting your own team</p> <p>06:32 - How often founders need to be on the ground</p> <p>07:50 - New York to Boston: why geography matters</p> <p>10:01 - Choosing a city based on talent, not prestige</p> <p>12:27 - The competitor that burned through a Series A in San Francisco</p> <p>14:04 - Time zone overlap and the East Coast advantage</p> <p>15:09 - US vs. UK sales talent: cost, churn, and calibration</p> <p>17:44 - Adapting your hiring process for the US market</p> <p>20:33 - Building culture across a satellite office</p> <p>22:33 - Why your UK brand doesn't transfer to the US</p> <p>24:44 - Reducing churn: comp, culture, and in-office presence</p> <p>26:46 - Working with specialist recruiters in the US</p> <p>28:55 - The one thing James would tell every founder before expanding</p> <p>30:17 - Honest signals that you're ready and false ones that trick you</p> <p>33:08 - Quickfire round</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Useful Links & Resources</b></p> <p>James Isilay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-isilay/</p> <p>Captivate Talent: https://www.captivatetalent.com/</p> <p>Danielle Parker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemessler/</p> <p>Chris Gannon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gannonchristopher/</p> <p><br /></p> <p><b>Connect With the Show</b></p> <p>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/captivate-talent/</p> <p><br /></p> <p>What's been your biggest surprise expanding a team into the US? Or if you're planning it right now, what's the question keeping you up at night? Drop it in the comments, we read every one and it helps shape future episodes.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>If this episode gave you a clearer picture of what US expansion actually takes, subscribe and share it with a founder who's about to make the move. New episodes drop every fortnight.</p> <p><br /></p>
8 total episodes available
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- What is Human-First: The GTM Hiring Show?
<p>AI is rewriting what "great" looks like across sales, marketing, customer success, and RevOps. Old playbooks have stopped working. And most founders are hiring in the dark.</p> <p>Human-First: The GTM Hiring Show cuts through the noise with high-signal conversations for B2B Tech founders, revenue leaders, and the VCs who back them - from the team at Captivate Talent.</p> <p>Unlike other shows about hiring, we pull back the curtain on what a search actually looks like: real funnel data, real candidate feedback, and the kind of market intelligence that helps you make decisions based on reality, not guesswork.</p> <p>Every episode is built around three questions every leader asks before making a GTM hire:</p> <ul><li>Am I ready to hire? (And what to do when the honest answer is "not yet")</li><li>How do I hire? (How to run a tight process and spot "great" when you've never seen it before)</li><li>Did I hire the right person? (How to diagnose whether it's the role, the comp, the process, or the person)</li></ul> <p>Each episode features founders, revenue leaders, VCs, and operators who've made the hard calls firsthand - sharing what worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently. We also tackle the AI fluency question head-on: not the hype, not the fear, just what's actually changing in GTM hiring and how to evaluate it in candidates.</p> <p>Human-First is produced by Captivate Talent, a boutique recruiting firm specializing in go-to-market hires for seed through Series B B2B Tech companies.</p> <p>If you're building a GTM team and want to hire with more clarity and less chaos, this show is for you.</p> <p>Subscribe so you don't miss an episode - and join the founders, VCs, and revenue leaders already listening.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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