The Tech Leader's Playbook

Avetis Antaplyan
  • 5.0 (27)
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  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to your weekly playbook for tech leadership - where founders, executives, and innovators share real strategies for scaling smarter and leading stronger. Hosted by Avetis Antaplyan, Founder and CEO of HIRECLOUT, a global leader in technology and go-to-market recruiting and consulting.

  1. Your Boardroom Is Full of People Who Think Exactly Like You

    19H AGO

    Your Boardroom Is Full of People Who Think Exactly Like You

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan⁠⁠ In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Kylee Ingram, a decision science expert and co-founder of Wizer, a platform built to help leaders design better decision-making rooms at scale. Kylee’s journey began in sports television and documentary work before pivoting into interactive media and ultimately decision intelligence—a shift inspired by her desire to remove industry gatekeepers and build systems that empower diverse thinking. Kylee unpacks the science behind why good leaders still make bad decisions, revealing how cognitive diversity—not just demographic diversity—is the missing ingredient in most executive teams. She breaks down the three hidden biases that compromise leadership groups (social, information, and capacity bias), why “smart people in the room” isn’t enough, and how decision profiles dramatically change communication, hiring, fundraising, and strategic alignment. Through research from Dr. Juliet Burke and real-world examples from organizations like Enron, Kylee illustrates how teams drift toward sameness as companies scale, quietly erasing the diversity of thought needed for innovation. She also shares practical tactics for CEOs to improve decision quality—without slowing down execution—and how leaders can tailor communication to different decision styles for more buy-in, clarity, and outcomes. This episode is a masterclass on designing better rooms, better conversations, and ultimately, better decisions.  Takeaways Cognitive diversity—not demographic diversity alone—is what prevents bad decisions in leadership teams.Most CEOs fall into just two decision-making styles, which creates blind spots and groupthink at scale.The “hippo effect” (highest-paid person’s opinion) strongly influences decisions unless leaders intentionally speak last.Independence is critical in decision design; decisions made before people enter the room create false consensus.Structured diversity in decision profiles can reduce decision error by 30% and increase innovation by 20%.Decision profiles offer a practical way to identify missing perspectives (e.g., risk-focused, analytical, visionary).Leaders should audit each decision by asking: “Who is missing from this room?”Communication should match decision styles; most organizations inadvertently ignore analyzers, achievers, and risk-oriented leaders.Designing rooms—not relying on gut instinct—is the most reliable way to scale high-quality decisions. Chapters 00:00 The Hidden Problem in Leadership Decisions 01:12 Kylee’s Journey: From TV to Decision Intelligence 03:07 Early Wins & The Birth of Wizer 04:45 When Gut Instinct Isn’t Enough 05:40 The Three Biases Undermining Every Leadership Team 09:17 The Hippo Effect & Room Dynamics 12:22 Cognitive Overload & Oversimplification 14:16 Speed vs. Quality: Avoiding Paralysis by Analysis 17:38 Cognitive Skew & The Enron Example 19:07 The Seven Decision Profiles 22:47 Small Teams & Practical Application 25:55 Why Personality Tests Don’t Work 30:34 Cognitive Drift in Scaling Companies 33:10 Conflict Entrepreneurs & Modern Culture 34:08 Why the Wrong People Keep Making the Decisions 36:00 Designing Better Interviews & Panels 37:29 Messaging & Decision Styles 41:27 Tailoring Communication Without Manipulation 43:07 One Thing CEOs Should Implement This Week 45:15 Mapping Your Organization with Wizer 47:30 Kylee’s Aha Moments & Reflections 49:06 Closing Thoughts & What’s Next Kylee Ingram’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleeingram/ Resources and Links: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.hireclout.com⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.podcast.hireclout.com⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright⁠

    50 min
  2. Think Your Startup Needs Venture Capital? Think Again

    FEB 4

    Think Your Startup Needs Venture Capital? Think Again

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan⁠ In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Alex Shartsis, serial founder, former corporate development lead, and current CEO of Skyp.ai—to unpack the real cost of “growth at all costs.” With scars and exits to back his views, Alex offers a candid breakdown of what founders get wrong about product-market fit, fundraising traps, and the often-misunderstood economics of scaling. Together, they explore why bootstrapping is back in vogue, how over-raising can kill flexibility, and how AI is redefining what it means to be a lean operator. Alex draws from his time at Perfect Price and now Skyp.ai to expose the hidden “footwork” behind successful GTM strategies and why most SaaS founders underprice out of insecurity. The conversation is loaded with tactical advice—from navigating platform creep to testing pricing thresholds—and peppered with war stories from the front lines of both venture-backed and bootstrapped journeys. Whether you're scaling an AI startup or building quietly with customer revenue, this episode challenges conventional wisdom and lays out what durable, customer-obsessed growth looks like in 2026. Takeaways Many founders mistake a short burst of sales or demand for true product-market fit, leading to premature scaling and churn. Financial acquirers focus on cash flows; strategic acquirers pay for fit. Most founders don’t deeply understand either. Venture capital often creates misaligned incentives. Founders lose control over exits and may be pushed to chase unsustainable valuations. Bootstrapping forces discipline: every dollar must generate near-term return, every decision must align with customer need. Raising too early or too much reduces urgency, increases burn, and often leads to wasteful bets and bloated teams. SaaS buyers increasingly value smaller vendors who prioritize service over scale. Advice is context-dependent: founders must be careful not to blindly copy tactics that worked in a different market or macro. AI tools enable hands-on execution and eliminate layers of communication, especially for lean teams. Founders often “hide their footwork”—the unseen details that actually drive GTM success. Customer proximity and rapid iteration beat slide decks and assumptions every time. Chapters 00:00 Growth at All Costs Is Dead 01:07 What Acquirers Really Care About 02:35 The Mirage of Product-Market Fit 05:10 Amazon vs. Realistic Unit Economics 06:44 When Losing Money Is Okay—And When It’s Not 08:01 The Advice Trap: When Playbooks Expire 10:01 The SurveyMonkey Blueprint (And Its Limits) 13:06 How Bootstrapping Forces Better Decision-Making 17:34 Owning the Downside: Founders vs. VCs 20:13 Building a $5M Business Without Needing a Billion-Dollar Exit 22:30 Platform Creep and Product Dilution 27:53 Customer Success Is the Real Differentiator 29:49 Jiu-Jitsu and GTM Footwork 36:39 How AI Changes How Work Gets Done 44:43 Prototyping, Building, and Speed with AI Tools 46:41 Pricing Insecurity and Willingness to Pay 51:01 You Are Not Your Customer: Pricing Psychology 53:48 Cheap Gym Memberships, Expensive Lessons Alex Shartsis’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shartsis/ Resources and Links: ⁠⁠https://www.hireclout.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.podcast.hireclout.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright⁠

    59 min
  3. Why Great Talent Gets Ignored and Fakes Get Interviews

    JAN 30

    Why Great Talent Gets Ignored and Fakes Get Interviews

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan⁠ In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan dives headfirst into the trust crisis disrupting hiring across tech and go-to-market roles. Drawing from conversations with both hiring managers and top-tier candidates, Avetis unpacks the growing disconnect: why talented people are being ghosted while keyword-stuffed, AI-generated resumes get through the door—and often, no one shows up. As the founder of HIRECLOUT, Avetis offers a blunt assessment of the current system: hiring isn’t broken because of AI—it’s been broken for years. AI simply exposed how fragile the trust and signal layers already were. In this candid solo episode, he outlines why resumes no longer reflect real value, how signal degradation is warping candidate pools, and what needs to change for hiring to scale with integrity. From the dangers of synthetic candidates to the myth of "clean" resumes, this episode is packed with pattern recognition strategies, hard truths for founders and recruiters, and a blueprint for using AI as a tool—not a replacement—for judgment. If you're building or hiring in tech, this is essential listening. Takeaways The hiring process is failing both qualified candidates and frustrated hiring managers.AI didn’t break hiring—it revealed how broken trust and signal layers already were.Top talent is being filtered out by systems that prioritize keywords over capability.Many resumes that look impressive on paper are either exaggerated or AI-generated.Clean, keyword-rich resumes often come from average performers—not real builders.Bulk applications and synthetic candidates are crowding out authentic applicants.Trust—not automation—will be the next real hiring moat.Hiring systems that prioritize volume over intent end up scaling noise, not quality.Companies need to refocus AI to handle speed and prep, while humans manage judgment.Silence from recruiters often reflects broken systems, not a candidate’s lack of value.Founders who can't distinguish real operators from fake ones aren't ready to scale.The solution lies in a hybrid model: real interviews, verified networks, and contextual judgment. Chapters 00:00 Intro: Why this solo episode matters now 00:53 The hiring paradox: Both sides feel broken 01:47 It's not a talent issue—it's a signal and trust breakdown 02:27 The candidate opt-out: when frustration becomes exit 03:15 Why AI struggles to recognize real tech and GTM careers 04:40 The hiring irony: real people get ghosted, fake ones get interviews 06:13 When volume replaces intent: how systems reward the wrong behavior 07:04 Resume inflation and red flags recruiters often miss 08:30 The model that works: AI for speed, humans for judgment 09:25 Scaling incompetence: the danger of removing humans too early 10:05 Trust as a competitive advantage in hiring 11:10 How HIRECLOUT filters for real vs fake candidates 12:30 Final thoughts: the future of hiring is human-centric Resources and Links: ⁠⁠https://www.hireclout.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.podcast.hireclout.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright⁠

    14 min
  4. If You’re Not a Top 3 Brand, You’ve Already Lost 70% of Deals

    JAN 21

    If You’re Not a Top 3 Brand, You’ve Already Lost 70% of Deals

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Kurt Uhlir, seasoned CMO, operator, and advisor to private equity-backed growth companies, for a no-BS breakdown of what modern marketing and real leadership look like at scale. Kurt challenges the mainstream playbook with sharp insight into why most CMOs aren’t actually marketers, how obsession with attribution is damaging businesses, and why the real differentiator is trust, not clicks. From dismantling the myth of PPC-fueled growth to showing how brands win by building long-term category authority, Kurt shares hard-won lessons from the trenches of B2B SaaS and services. You’ll hear how he thinks about short-term vs long-term growth horizons, why servant leadership isn’t soft, and what companies miss when they separate marketing from customer success. This is a masterclass for any founder, CMO, or growth leader who wants to scale responsibly, attract vs. chase customers, and build teams that actually own outcomes. If you’ve ever felt like traditional marketing advice didn’t match the reality of scaling a company, this one’s for you. Takeaways Most CMOs are actually salespeople afraid of making cold calls, not strategic marketers.Companies lose 70% of deals by not being one of the top 3 trusted brands in the buyer’s mind.Short-term tactics (PPC, partnerships) drive revenue from 2–12 months, but trust drives revenue from 12–36+ months.Modern marketing must focus on contribution to outcomes, not just attribution metrics.Search Everywhere Optimization (not just SEO) is now essential, across YouTube, app stores, LLMs, and social.AI is a force multiplier for small teams, if used correctly to repurpose and amplify valuable content.Great marketing starts by mining product usage data, support tickets, and customer success conversations, not keyword tools.Servant leadership isn’t about being soft, it’s about owning outcomes and developing people.The best leaders are also great followers, especially when serving a strong brand-driven CEO.The cost of authoritative leadership is silent disengagement and missed opportunities for feedback.If every team member can’t explain how their role connects to company outcomes, leadership has failed.The most honest marketing feedback comes from calling customers who canceled, and listening without selling. Chapters 00:00 Intro & Kurt’s Opening Shot at Modern Marketing 02:00 Attribution vs. Contribution 05:00 The 70% Rule: Brand Trust and B2B Decision-Making 08:00 Should You Aim to Be a Top 3 Brand? 10:00 The Three Horizons of Marketing ROI 13:00 Search Everywhere Optimization and the New SEO Reality 16:30 AI + Content Workflows: From Reels to Repurposing 18:30 Content Strategy Starts with Customer Support Data 20:00 Servant Leadership vs. Authoritative Leadership 24:00 Following When It Matters: The Power of Deference 26:00 Communication at Scale: Berkman Assessments and Team Alignment 28:00 The Silent Cost of Authoritative Leadership 30:00 Attribution Is Easy, But Contribution Builds Companies 34:00 Why Marketing Should Own Customer Success Insights 36:30 Managing Expectation Risk in Sales vs. Service 38:30 Creating a Single View of the Customer 40:00 Amplifying Referrals Without Getting in the Way 42:00 The Ground Truth Lives With Canceled Customers 43:30 Atomic Habits, Sticker Charts, and Showing Up 44:30 The Billboard Test for Great Leadership  Kurt Uhlir’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtuhlir/ Kurt Uhlir’s Website Link: https://kurtuhlir.com/ Resources and Links: ⁠https://www.hireclout.com⁠ ⁠https://www.podcast.hireclout.com⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright

    47 min
  5. Your Startup's Real Problem Isn't Tech, It's This

    JAN 14

    Your Startup's Real Problem Isn't Tech, It's This

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Marcus East—Tech Executive and Author of Working with Dinosaurs—for a candid and thought-provoking conversation on the realities of digital transformation. With a career spanning leadership roles at Apple, Google, National Geographic, and more, Marcus brings a rare dual perspective from both Big Tech and legacy enterprises. They unpack why most digital transformation efforts fail despite heavy investment, what separates successful tech leaders from those who merely talk innovation, and how culture—not just code—can make or break your future. Marcus shares powerful real-world stories: from National Geographic’s transformation into a digital juggernaut, to the organizational inertia that derails billion-dollar initiatives. He outlines the “three dinosaurs” that stall progress—legacy systems, outdated operating models, and people unwilling to change—and offers sharp insights into why customer obsession beats tech obsession every time. Whether you lead a startup or a Fortune 500, this episode will challenge your assumptions, sharpen your thinking, and equip you with frameworks to lead meaningful change in an AI-driven world. Takeaways Legacy companies don’t fail because of age—they fail when they refuse to update thinking while technology advances.Successful transformations require both visionary leadership and operational discipline across the org.Billions in digital investment are wasted when the right people aren’t empowered to drive change.Embedding innovation into the core business beats isolating it in innovation labs.Flexible technology is a must—but without true cross-functional collaboration, it's not enough.Only about 5% of AI investments currently show ROI, largely due to legacy systems and poor org alignment.Top-performing organizations operate with tight accountability and a focus on measurable outcomes.Customer experience—not tech stack—should guide transformation priorities.Large “grand projects” that last years often fail to deliver value or ROI.Elite talent gravitates toward environments with high standards, fast iteration, and meaningful impact.Companies that can’t attract top talent must either lead with a compelling mission or lean into strategic partnerships.People are the hardest "dinosaur" to evolve—fixing culture and mindset is harder than replacing tech. Chapters 00:00 Intro & Guest Introduction 01:30 Why Some Legacy Companies Transform & Others Fail 03:45 The Real Problem: People & Culture 06:20 The Innovation Lab Trap 08:15 The First Domino: Flexible Tech & Cross-Team Collaboration 10:25 Build vs. Buy in the Age of Cloud 12:30 AI Hype vs. ROI Reality 14:20 Leadership’s Role in Driving Transformation 17:55 Customer-First Thinking Over Tech Fetishism 21:30 The Dangers of Tech-First Transformation 23:45 Why Accountability is the Missing Link 29:45 Why Elite Tech Talent Clusters (and Leaves) 34:00 Rest & Vest vs. Impact-Driven Professionals 41:45 What If You Can’t Attract Top Talent? 47:00 The Three Dinosaurs: People, Tech, Models 53:30 Why Outdated Processes Are More Dangerous Than Tech 57:00 Extreme Accountability as a Performance Driver 59:15 Books, Billboards & Final Thoughts Marcus East’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuseast/ Resources and Links: https://www.hireclout.com https://www.podcast.hireclout.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright

    1h 2m
  6. The Real Reason Your Team Isn’t Performing, And It’s Not What You Think

    JAN 9

    The Real Reason Your Team Isn’t Performing, And It’s Not What You Think

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan In this compilation episode of the Tech Leaders Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan brings together three powerhouse voices from the world of elite sports and leadership: Rex Kalamian, assistant coach in the NBA and head coach of the Armenian National Basketball Team; Dr. Jen Welter, the first female NFL coach and a pioneer in sports psychology; and Dick Vermeil, Super Bowl-winning NFL coach and Hall of Famer. Through their stories and reflections, these leaders offer raw, actionable insights on team building, ego management, mental resilience, and human-centered leadership. Rex shares how he galvanized a culturally fragmented team into national champions. Jen dives into the emotional intelligence required to coach high-performers and handle personal struggles as a leader. Dick gives hard-won lessons on delegation, trust, and building deep team culture through consistency and care. The episode blends sports and business in a way that reveals timeless truths about leadership, identity, and performance under pressure. Whether you're a founder, executive, or aspiring leader, this is a masterclass in cultivating winning teams without losing your humanity.  Takeaways Effective leadership requires upfront emotional investment—build trust before you ever coach performance.Winning cultures start with clarity: build, enhance, then sustain.Ego management is critical. A coach’s first job is to neutralize ego—both theirs and the player’s.Killer instinct can’t be taught; it must be identified early and nurtured over time.Great leaders don’t motivate the unmotivated—they hire self-starters and avoid demotivating them.Being human and apologizing authentically creates deeper relational capital and loyalty.Female leaders face invisible barriers—intentional mentorship and allyship are critical to systemic change.Tough love works when it’s consistent, fair, and rooted in seeing people’s full potential.Delegation is not a weakness—it’s a multiplier. Trust and systems are prerequisites to scale.Great leadership requires learning to listen more than you speak—and never assuming you're the smartest person in the room.Long-term success comes from defining a plan, surrounding yourself with good people, and showing them you care. Chapters 00:00 Intro: Mastermind Compilation of Leadership Wisdom 00:42 Rex Kalamian: Building Armenia’s National Basketball Team 03:54 Uniting Diverse Talent and Building Belief 06:15 Leading with Sacrifice and Mission-Driven Mindset 07:23 Coaching Superstar Egos with Relationship-First Approach 09:07 Can Killer Instinct Be Taught or Is It Innate? 12:22 Translating Lessons from Sports into Business 13:46 Jen Welter: Performance Dips & Empathetic Leadership 15:27 “Do You Need a Minute?” — Spotting the Signs of Mental Strain 17:59 Balancing Leadership While Being Human 21:50 Lessons for Women Breaking Barriers in Leadership 24:55 The Power of Mentorship and Intentional Advocacy 25:19 Dick Vermeil: Tough Love and Consistent Standards 27:00 When Talent Isn’t Matched by Work Ethic 28:26 Bringing People Into Your Home to Build Culture 30:35 Delegation, Obsession, and Why He Walked Away in ’82 33:14 How to Evaluate Talent Beyond Interviews 35:08 Can Leadership Be Taught or Is It Born? 36:33 Coach Vermeil’s Playbook: 7 Core Principles of Winning 38:52 Final Thoughts and Outro by Avetis Resources and Links: https://www.hireclout.com https://www.podcast.hireclout.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright

    40 min
  7. Your Network Is Your Real Moat in an AI World

    12/31/2025

    Your Network Is Your Real Moat in an AI World

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Drew Sechrist, an early Salesforce leader who helped scale the company from its earliest days into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and the founder of Connect The Dots. Drew brings listeners inside the chaos of Salesforce’s zero-to-one phase, sharing firsthand stories from a time when cloud software was unproven, customer trust was fragile, and evangelism mattered more than polished playbooks. The conversation explores what it really takes to scale a company from nothing, why the jump from zero to one is far harder than later stages, and how leadership decisions around hiring, pace, and conviction shaped Salesforce’s trajectory through the dot-com crash. Drew offers rare insights into working alongside Marc Benioff, including lessons on relentless execution speed, founder conviction, and organizational alignment through frameworks like V2MOM. A major theme of the episode is the enduring power of relationships. Drew explains how warm introductions, internal champions, and relationship capital closed deals worth millions and why, in an AI-saturated world, human networks are becoming the true long-term moat. The episode culminates in the origin story of Connect The Dots and why mapping real relationships is becoming a competitive advantage for modern teams. Takeaways Salesforce succeeded early by evangelizing an unproven cloud model, not by selling features. Trust and customer success mattered before those functions even had names. Timing was critical; launching in 1999 gave Salesforce a window competitors missed. Distribution, not product, became the primary constraint once product-market fit was proven. Hiring leaders who had “seen the movie before” helped Salesforce scale deliberately. V2MOM created alignment and surfaced bottlenecks before they became existential problems. Marc Benioff’s pace of execution was a competitive weapon in enterprise sales. Slow communication is a leading indicator of poor performance in startups. Warm introductions and internal champions unlocked deals that cold outreach never could. AI is amplifying noise, making trusted relationships more valuable, not less. Relationship capital is emerging as the real moat in an AI-heavy world. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and why relationships matter more than ever 02:00 Drew’s background and joining Salesforce before it was Salesforce 05:00 Evangelizing cloud software in a skeptical market 07:30 Why zero-to-one is the hardest phase of growth 11:00 Product-market fit, distribution, and the dot-com crash 15:30 Leadership changes and Marc Benioff stepping in as CEO 18:30 Scaling teams and hiring leaders who’ve done it before 20:00 V2MOM and how Salesforce stayed aligned while growing 26:00 Pace, conviction, and what Drew learned from Marc Benioff 31:30 The power of warm introductions and internal champions 36:00 Why AI is increasing noise and weakening cold outreach 38:30 The origin story of Connect The Dots 44:00 Why LinkedIn fails at representing real relationships 50:00 Relationships as the long-term moat in an AI-driven future Drew Sechrist’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewsechrist/ Resources and Links: https://www.hireclout.com https://www.podcast.hireclout.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright

    1h 5m
  8. The Most Expensive Mistake Founders Make Before Series A

    12/24/2025

    The Most Expensive Mistake Founders Make Before Series A

    For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avetisantaplyan In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Isabelle Tashima, a growth equity investor at Volition Capital, to cut through the AI hype and unpack what truly drives breakout success in internet and consumer technology companies. Isabelle brings a unique perspective shaped by her experience across Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, KKR, and now Volition, where she focuses on backing capital-efficient founders who have achieved product-market fit with strong fundamentals. The conversation explores Volition’s contrarian investment philosophy, why bootstrapped or lightly funded companies often outperform, and how growth equity differs from venture capital and private equity in both risk and partnership style. Isabelle shares insights on why community, creators, and affiliate-driven distribution have become durable moats in consumer tech, often outperforming traditional paid acquisition channels. They also dive into how AI is reshaping the landscape, not as a replacement for teams, but as a force multiplier for efficiency, unit economics, and speed. From evaluating founder-investor alignment to understanding when to prioritize partnership over valuation, this episode offers a grounded, thoughtful look at scaling modern tech businesses in an increasingly noisy market. Takeaways Companies without AI risk being displaced by competitors who use it effectively.Volition prioritizes capital-efficient founders who achieved traction without heavy dilution.Growth equity focuses on protecting downside (1x) while targeting meaningful upside (5x+).Community and brand can serve as powerful, defensible moats.Creator-led and affiliate-driven go-to-market strategies are reshaping distribution.Micro and nano creators often outperform large influencers in engagement and conversion.AI does not need to be customer-facing to add value; backend efficiency matters.Not all fast-growing AI companies have durable, long-term revenue.Founders should align with investors on time horizon, risk tolerance, and definition of success.Choosing the right partner often matters more than achieving the highest valuation. Chapters 00:00 Cutting Through the AI Hype 02:30 Volition Capital’s Investment Philosophy 05:00 Growth Equity vs. VC and Private Equity 07:30 Contrarian Investing in Overlooked Markets 10:30 The Shift in Go-To-Market Strategies 13:30 Micro Creators and Democratized Distribution 16:00 Evaluating AI in Non–AI-Native Companies 18:30 Common Scaling Mistakes in Consumer Tech 21:00 Fast Exits vs. Long-Term Value Creation 25:30 Isabelle’s Career Path and Investment Lens 29:00 Choosing the Right Capital Partner 38:00 Final Advice for Founders Isabelle Tashima’s Social Media Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-tashima-780065135/ Isabelle Tashima’s Website Link: https://www.volitioncapital.com/team/isabelle-tashima/ Resources and Links:https://www.hireclout.comhttps://www.podcast.hireclout.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hirefasthireright

    42 min
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About

Welcome to your weekly playbook for tech leadership - where founders, executives, and innovators share real strategies for scaling smarter and leading stronger. Hosted by Avetis Antaplyan, Founder and CEO of HIRECLOUT, a global leader in technology and go-to-market recruiting and consulting.

Information

  • Creator
    Avetis Antaplyan
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    120
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Avetis Antaplyan
  • Show Website
    The Tech Leader's Playbook