What Recruiters can learn from VCs

Hey folks! This week I interviewed Harriet Ball on moving from internal recruitment to advising VC portfolio Founders.

After senior roles at L'Oréal, Uber, and On Running, Harriet moved into a Head of Talent role at SuperSeed VC, moving from an operational delivery to strategic advisory focus.

We titled this discussion how to become a VC talent advisor for anyone interested in that role, but there is a tonne of key takeaways that can be applied to internal recruitment too.

If you’d like to hear a full interview, check it out on on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Any subscribers on these channels would be a huge help!

1. Skills to Land a VC Talent Role

Breakdown: Framing hires in either revenue gain or revenue loss (e.g the cost of the seat sitting empty) is maybe the quickest way to get buy-in from business leaders.

For each role can you quantify the:

• Revenue impact

• Growth potential

• Market opportunities

• Runway implications

Harriet shares some other skills you can develop in an internal talent role that help in an advisory role during our full conversation.

2. The Early Stage Hiring Playbook

Harriet shares some specific steps for early-stage hiring success:

1. Assess Readiness First:

• Has the founder cracked the function themselves?

• Is there consistent market traction?

• Are processes becoming too complex?

• Is time being pulled from other crucial areas?

2. Define the Real Need:

• Identify the specific problem to solve

• Understand required expertise level

• Consider market stage impact

• Map out growth expectations

3. Run Strategic Processes:

• Get deeply familiar with candidate experience

• Understand their business model background

• Verify their sales cycles and deal sizes

• Check stakeholder management experience

• Test motivation for startup environment

4. Key Questions to Ask:

• Are they ready to join an early-stage company?

• Do they truly understand the expectations?

• Will they work well with founders?

• Can they add to the culture?

3. Managing Time-Poor Stakeholders

Breakdown: Make it easy for busy stakeholders to engage with recruitment:

• Aim to be concise

• Focus on critical information

• Use their preferred communication channels

• Frame everything in terms of business impact

Question for Your Team: How can you make your hiring processes more stakeholder-friendly without compromising quality?

4. Developing an Advisory Mindset

Harriet shares key principles for becoming a trusted advisor:

Build Trust Through Understanding

• See the total business context, not just hiring needs

• Show empathy for leadership challenges

• Understand the pressure to deliver investment returns

Guide Rather Than Direct

• Share experiences that help founders reach their own conclusions

• Present options backed by context

• Help steer without telling

Think Commercially and Long-Term

• Frame advice in terms of business impact

• Consider future hiring needs

• Build talent pools proactively

Harriet actually teaches one of our highest rated Purpl courses: Leading Strategic Intake Meetings

Check it out on the link above, a Purpl subscription includes access to 25+ courses including the one with Harriet.

✅ That's it for this week! We hope these insights help you think more strategically about recruitment. Please reply to this email with any feedback - we'd love to hear it!