The Blind Ambition with Jack Kelly

Amir Nathoo, Founder and CEO of Outschool We explore what it is like to be a startup founder from the perspective of Amir Nathoo, who knew he wanted to be a software entrepreneur at an early age. Interestingly, he explains how a blog post he published in 2015 about a personal experience led to where he is today, as a founder and CEO of a startup last publicly valued at $3 billion. Amir also shares...

Max Tagher, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Mercury Max had never worked at a bank, financial services company or even a financial-technology startup before starting Mercury. Instead, he drew from his firsthand experience as a customer of Silicon Valley Bank, the once-popular bank with many startups, and noticed others like him were also dissatisfied. Max explains how he entered the fie...

Lia Garvin, Former Team Operations and Organizational Effectiveness Lead at Google Lia gives us an in-depth look into Google's program management and team operations. We explore how she became a program manager and what program managers do at Google and other Big Tech companies, including how they work with software engineers, product managers, designers and executives to map risks, ship regul...

Ingrid De Clercq, Chief People Officer at Deliverect Ingrid shares how four startup founders in Ghent, Belgium, developed the idea for Deliverect and what it was like conceptualizing and implementing a multinational company's vision, hiring process and performance philosophies from scratch. We also get a sneak peek into how a Belgian and European startup hires and retains talent from all over...

Jesse Tinsley, Former Recruiter at 23andMe Jesse Tinsley was a recruiter at 23andMe, Coinbase, Stellar Development Foundation, Protocol Labs and more. Now, he's the founder and CEO of a recruitment process outsourcing company, a largely unknown cog in the job recruitment process. We explore what RPO companies are and how you can work together with these recruiters to land your next job. While...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen break down the advent of AI bots that apply for jobs while you sleep. We discuss Job GPT and other similar services that claim to guarantee job interviews with their indiscriminate job applications. Rick thinks through the potential repercussions professionals could face for using these tools and AI technology. Jack shares his insights from his reporting about how employer...

Marcelo Lebre, President and Chief Technology Officer at Remote Marcelo recalls how he transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship. He gives us the rundown of what it was like to build the product that would become Remote.com and when he knew it was time to go all-in on his startup idea. We explore everything from identifying the market potential of a startup idea to recruiting employees worldw...

Shirley Baumer, Director of Product Management at Monday.com Shirley was the first product manager at Monday.com, back when it was a startup with fewer than 30 people. We explore how the company has changed in six and a half years, discussing everything from how the core work management product was conceptualized and built to the opening of new offices worldwide and a Nasdaq IPO. Shirley shares ho...

Melanie Quandt, Former Recruiting Manager at Salesforce Melanie has spent more than 10 years as a recruiter placing software engineers, developers, scrum managers, and more at Salesforce. We get the inside scoop into what sets Salesforce apart and how they hire engineers and other experienced professionals. Melanie reveals the performance metrics and key performance indicators she was held to as a...

Jake Leach, Chief Operating Officer at Dexcom Today, Jake is the COO at one of the top medical technology companies in the world. But, before he became responsible for all things product, research and development, and the like, Jake got his start in the industry as an intern. We explore Jake's career journey, including how he learned to apply his studies as an electrical engineer to the health...

Frank Calderoni, CEO of Velocity Global Frank has been an executive at some of the most high-profile tech companies in the world, including IBM, SanDisk, QLogic, Cisco, Red Hat, Anaplan and Velocity Global. We get the inside track into his career progression, starting from IBM and its legendary internship and leadership development programs. He shares why he decided to go into tech instead of work...

Erika Voss, Vice President, Engineering Platforms at Capital One Software Erika doesn't have the typical background of a technical executive at a large enterprise software company. She began her career as a corrections officer at a maximum-security prison. We explore how she transitioned from becoming a public servant, which she admits she would have been happy spending her entire life doing,...

Donna Helphrey, Vice President, Talent at Go1 Like many recruiters, Donna didn't have her heart set on helping others find their dream job. Instead, she grew into the profession and became a current executive at a multibillion-dollar "unicorn" startup. We look back at her start as a recruiter, from working at a staffing agency to hiring 1,800 people worldwide in a single year at Grou...

Josh Owen, Chief Technology Officer at Flourish Before he became a two-time CTO in the tech industry, Josh worked at some of the largest banks. He explains what he learned from his time on the business side of software engineering at Citi and Goldman Sachs, including the day-to-day work of developers and technologists on Wall Street. We also explore how the smallest seeming things can be one of th...

Andrew Duncan, CEO and Managing Partner at Infosys Consulting Andrew hasn't always worked in management consulting, and it's likely one of the reasons he's been so effective as an advisor to companies worldwide and a c-suite executive himself. We dive into his background to learn how engineers, technologists and other experienced subject-matter experts can break into management consult...

Jason Birmingham, Chief Technology Officer at Broadridge Financial Jason openly admits that he doesn't have the traditional resume of a CTO or a financial-technology executive. For one, he's a software engineer with finance degrees and a client-facing management consulting background. We dig into how he broke the mold and earned each promotion until he landed in the c-suite. He shares how...

Trent Henry, Global Vice Chair, Talent at EY Before becoming the global vice chair of talent at EY, Trent was the CEO of EY Canada. He's seen how the economy has changed and why so many employers and professionals haven't yet caught up. We get Trent to teach a masterclass about how professionals can invest in themselves and develop the in-demand skills that EY, the Big Four accounting and...

Ariella Steinhorn, Co-Founder of Lioness and Amber Scorah, Co-Founder and President of Lioness Ariella and Amber explain what it means to be a whistleblower and why someone might decide to take something public. If you ever asked yourself, "What is a whistleblower?" you must listen to this episode. We explore whistleblower rights and protections and the most common abuses, incidents and...

CJ Jouhal, Head of Engineering at Anchorage Digital CJ has led engineering teams as a CTO or head of engineering for more than 20 years. In this episode, we get vulnerable and dig into the major decisions in his life that made him the technical leader he is today, diving into nearly every high and low point in his career. CJ recalls how he decided to give up his comfortable job as a programmer at...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen chase down the labor agreement between UPS and the Teamsters Union to figure out if UPS drivers will really start to earn $170,000 in pay. We look into how the total compensation was calculated and if the reporters got their news headlines wrong. Jack and Rick then discuss the evolution of the job market and how some professions are changing in response to new technology l...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen explore Google's decision to discount stays at its on-campus hotels to $99/night. We explore why Google has an on-campus hotel and if the hotel rate is a good deal if you can no longer work from home. Jack and Rick also explain why some companies like Zoom are all announcing return-to-office policies and getting stricter with in-office work. Finally, Rick reveals the n...

Jonathan Dughi, Former Senior Software Development Manager at Amazon Jonathan was the head of engineering at Amazon Smile, Amazon's charity program that made it easy for shoppers to give back when they purchased from the online retailer. We explore his background and how Jonathan landed a job offer at Amazon as a software engineer with a history degree. Jack and Rick also quiz Jonathan about w...

Jack Kelly and Rick Chen react to the "prestige" meme on Blind, or how many professionals seem to be obsessed with whether a certain company, industry or job role is more prestigious than another. We dive into whether recruiters and hiring managers care about your educational background and which university you attended, your past employers or roles, and even if your industry or ZIP Code...

Erin Faverty, Operating Partner at PeopleTech Partners Erin explains what venture capital firms mean when they say they have a platform team on-hand. We look into why investors even bother staffing marketers, recruiters, and even data scientists and how they help startup founders and early employees. Next, Erin gives us her top tips on how to tell the good, helpful advisers from the bad and what i...

Michael Kascsak, Former Head of Software Engineering Sourcing, North America at Google Michael has been a recruiter for more than 20 years, connecting professionals with leading companies like Bank of America, Capital One, CBRE, and, most recently, Google. We compare and contrast what it takes to get a high-powered, high-paying job in the finance, real estate and tech industries and get into the n...