Techstars Startup Week Seattle 2017

Startups may not be able to offer the highest salaries or best 401k packages, but they can beat big companies in spades. From impact and learning opportunities, there are loads of ways startups can have the edge.  With competition for talented candidates fierce, and no shortage of options to choose from, the war is on! Luckily, what big companies offer isn't typically on the list of talented job seekers. The best candidates in today’s market are looking for mission driven companies, transparency, and to be able to make an impact. They want to work with strong peers and leaders, who can help them learn and grow.

Learn how to compete in a candidate driven market, from local recruiting leaders who are helping staff some of Seattle’s top startups.  From employment branding to interviewing process, what you can do make sure you attract and hire top talent.

Culture is key to every successful startup. When do you start defining your culture, and how do you maintain it as the company grows? Scaling culture is a big challenge, and one that not every startup can master. When the leader no longer interviews every new hire, how can you be sure you're adding people with the right values who are passionate about your mission? We’re bringing together seasoned startup CEOs who have built companies with amazing cultures that attract and retain top talent. They’ll share their thoughts and lessons learned about what makes a healthy culture and how to think about culture during rapid growth.

Starting a company is not a solitary endeavor. You might have the perfect Idea, but you won’t execute it well without the right team. Whether it’s finding a co-founder or hiring your first, 10th, or 100th plus employee, it is your team that will execute your vision. The best teams are motivated and diverse. You’ll need to sell your team on your vision, and you’ll need to assemble a talented group of people with varied backgrounds and perspectives.
The leaders on this panel have built such teams and are going to discuss their approach to one of the most critical and challenging aspects of starting a company: How to build a diverse team.

Whether you’re topping Great Place to Work lists or grabbing headlines for less flattering reasons, it’s clear creating a genuine, positive culture can be that make-or-break factor for many companies. But culture isn’t just about “fun perks” – ping pong tables in the corner, a casual dress code or “margarita Mondays.” It’s about building an intentional workplace culture that’s aligned with your business strategy and values. For entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, it’s critical to think about what really matters to the organization right from the start. If that’s aligned, then employees are more likely to be engaged and excited about coming to work every day.

Join Laura Hamill, Ph.D., Limeade Chief People Officer and Managing Director of The Limeade Institute as she digs into this topic from the start-up perspective. As a passionate expert on this topic, she’s spent the last 20 years researching what truly makes company culture stick, whether you’re two people, 200 or 20,000. Using local employee engagement startup, Limeade, as a case study, Dr. Hamill will discuss the steps leaders must take to first define their culture. From there, she’ll walk through the subsequent actions that must be taken—including employee education, operationalizing the values and more—that will help make your culture authentically come to life over time. Participants will walk away with actionable guidance on how to build and improve their own company culture, increase overall employee engagement and drive better business results.