WHO We Hire

Luiz Cent
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WHO We Hire is built on a simple premise: no great company gets built without great people. Luiz Cent talks with founders, CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, COOs, and executives at technology companies to unpack how they hire, where they've gotten it wrong, and what they've learned scaling teams from the ground up. Topics include hiring strategy, talent acquisition, team building, leadership, company culture, scaling startups, and building high-performance teams in SaaS and tech. If you're a founder, operator, executive, board member, or VC, this show is for you.

  1. 1d ago

    Why AI Sales Agents Will Never Replace Humans (The Accountability Problem) with Mark Schopmeyer

    Mark Schopmeyer is the co-founder and co-CEO of CaptivateIQ, a modern commission-management platform that scales incentives for revenue teams. Prior to building his own company, he led finance and strategy operations at BrightRoll and worked extensively in growth-equity technology investing. Under his executive leadership, the company has scaled to serve nearly 1,000 customers globally, including enterprise giants like Netflix and Stripe. In this episode, he breaks down the psychological flaws of spreadsheet-driven management and outlines his core framework for spotting elite leadership talent. - Copied comp plans from larger firms lack authenticity and can easily drive your team in the opposite direction of your actual business objectives. - Spreadsheet math often misleads finance teams into keeping quotas artificially high due to a false belief that sales reps stop working once they hit their targets. - Top performing sales representatives are driven by a desire to maximize their paychecks rather than hitting a bare minimum quota. - When introducing short-term spiffs, leaders must define a clear narrative and exit strategy to avoid the incentive implicitly becoming permanent. - Cultural screening must be an explicit, dedicated stage in the recruiting funnel rather than a casual addition to tactical manager interviews. - Skill barriers have collapsed with the rise of artificial intelligence, making a candidate's intrinsic will the primary determinant of hiring success. - Elite executive hires can be effectively filtered by evaluating just two core qualities during the interview process, clarity and energy. Timestamps:00:00 The origin story of CaptivateIQ and broken compensation4:35 Finding a co-founder and the Y Combinator experience09:12 Why venture capital will not magically build your company13:03 The fundamental flaw in copying other companies' compensation plans17:16 Why finance leaders misunderstand sales rep motivation at quota23:27 How to design effective short term spiffs without breaking culture28:07 Designing a strict interview process to protect your core values32:38 Strategies for maintaining company culture across international borders36:55 Why AI agents cannot replace the accountability of a human sales rep41:53 The clarity and energy framework for hiring legendary executives Where to find Mark Schopmeyer:Website: https://www.captivateiq.com/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mschop/Email: mark@captivateiq.com Where to find Luiz Cent:Website: https://latamcent.com/Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    45 min

  2. Jun 23

    ScaleStack CEO: AI Raised the Bar! Here's What "No Slop" Hiring Looks Like with Elio Narciso

    Elio Narciso is the co-founder and CEO of ScaleStack, an AI-powered go-to-market infrastructure layer powering billions of data points for enterprise customers, and the host of the Revenue Engine Masters podcast. Before ScaleStack, he spent four years at AWS running their global startup program with front-row seats to hundreds of companies building revenue engines, became a certified Amazon Bar Raiser with veto power on hires, and built two prior companies including one that cleared $50M. In this episode, he breaks down the Bar Raiser system, the follow-up question framework that exposes BS candidates, and why AI has raised the hiring bar so high he wouldn't hire his own past self. - Why lowering the hiring bar at Amazon during COVID created cascading effects, including missing the AI wave entirely - How the Amazon Bar Raiser program works and why veto power changes hiring behavior across an entire org - The follow-up question method that breaks down rehearsed answers and AI-assisted interview scripts - Why Elio flips the interview by making candidates ask him questions first, and what their questions reveal about curiosity - The "what did the customer say?" question that exposes whether a candidate is truly customer-centric or shallow - Why ScaleStack shares interviewer feedback before debriefs, breaking from Amazon's protocol - How to evaluate a co-founder using complementary skill sets, kindness in failure, and humility in success - Why "AI slop" first drafts are an instant red flag and what real upleveling looks like in 2026 - The closing rule for founders making their third or fourth hire: be your own bar raiser Timestamps: 00:00 Cold open: scripts, agents, and rising expectations 01:00 From AWS to a third startup: what changed in hiring 03:30 Becoming an Amazon Bar Raiser and how veto power works 06:30 Follow-up questions that kill rehearsed and AI-assisted answers 10:50 The ScaleStack interview system and cultural fit values 13:50 Flipping the interview to test for curiosity 17:30 Pre-briefs, live docs, and debrief structure 21:50 "What did the customer say?" and exposing BS candidates 24:50 Choosing co-founders you actually know 35:50 "I wouldn't hire myself two years ago" in the AI era 40:00 Final advice: be your own bar raiser Where to find the guest: Elio Narciso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elionarciso/ ScaleStack: https://scalestack.ai Revenue Engine Masters Podcast: https://scalestack.ai/podcast Where to find Luiz Cent: Website: https://latamcent.com/ Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    42 min

  3. Jun 16

    Ex-SAP President Who Scaled SaaS to $2.5B: 3 Questions to Ask Before AI Replaces You

    Meg Bear is the former President of SAP SuccessFactors, where she led a global 4,000+ person business past $2.5B in revenue with double-digit YoY growth. Before SAP, she spent two decades building enterprise software at Oracle, and today she serves as a public board director, investor, and advisor to companies reinventing work with AI. In this episode, Meg reveals her frameworks for surviving the AI transformation as a CEO, why "intellectual humility" is the new operator superpower, and what boards are actually demanding from leadership in 2026. What you'll learn: - Why "the first rule of holes" applies to every CEO leading through AI transformation right now - The exact 3-question framework Meg uses to coach CEOs into making their own jobs obsolete - Why waiting on AI is "the worst of all postures" and how skeptics will be "very, very wrong" - Why nervous system regulation is the hidden leadership skill nobody is talking about - The hiring rule every founder should follow: hire smarter than you, hire for learning agility - Why boards see revenue per employee as the new battleground for capital allocation - How to hack your own curiosity even if it doesn't come naturally - Why human connection still wins, but only with intentionality Timestamps:00:00 Ex-SAP President Who Scaled SaaS to $2.5B: 3 Questions to Ask Before AI Replaces You01:12 Meet Meg Bear: From Oracle to SAP President01:53 Why Human Capital Became Human Experience03:16 The Cognitive Dissonance of Layoffs in HR05:00 Why 80% of CEOs Are Scared Right Now06:39 Make Your Job Obsolete Before Someone Does09:01 The 3-Question Framework for CEO Reinvention14:16 The Whiplash FOMO Moment in AI18:08 Big Companies vs Startups: Who Wins the AI Race21:19 Nervous System Regulation as Leadership25:13 What Boards Get Right About Hiring29:30 Why Engineers Now Cost 2X Their Salary34:31 Remote vs Hybrid: Which Org Performs Better37:39 Inventing the Future of Work40:56 Meg's #1 Hiring Rule for Founders Where to find Meg Bear:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megbear/The Meg and Amy Show: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMegandAmyShowWebsite: https://www.megbear.com/ Where to find Luiz Cent:Website: https://latamcent.com/Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    42 min

  4. Jun 2

    Why This Founder Prefers Hiring People Who've Never Used ChatGPT | Pablo Solare

    Pablo Solare is the founder and CEO of Sprightful, a tech-enabled solar company he's been running for 10 years with just 4 humans and what he calls "hundreds" of AI agents. He relocated his family from Miami to Santa Cruz to be closer to the AI revolution and has built a fully remote operation with contractor teams across South Florida and core team members in Portugal and Colombia. In this episode, Pablo reveals his counterintuitive hiring philosophy, explains why he thinks the ratio of humans to AI agents will reach 1:10,000 within four years, and shares the exact tech stack his team uses to automate their CRM communications. What You'll Learn: - Why hiring someone with zero AI experience might actually be better than hiring AI-fluent candidates- The one trait Pablo values above all else when hiring: high agency and the self-motivating drive to see things through without getting stuck- His "3 months per year" framework for remote team alignment and why it's the sweet spot for retention- How to manage contractor teams who aren't great communicators by meeting them where they are with voice notes and Telegram- Why he'd rather spend CapEx on Teslas with full self-driving for employees than maintaining an office- His belief that remote work can always improve but in-office work has already peaked- How he built an AI agent that texts his team on Telegram when CRM deadlines are approaching and updates the database from their responses Chapters: 00:00 Why This Founder Prefers Hiring People Who've Never Used ChatGPT | Pablo Solare 04:34 The remote work vs office debate and why adventure trumps efficiency 07:31 The 3-month rule for getting remote teams together in person 12:18 Managing contractor teams who don't communicate well 17:27 How AI agents transformed his CRM workflow with Monday and Telegram 21:11 Where humans still matter when AI can do almost everything 24:17 The 1 human to 10,000 agents prediction and the first billion-dollar solo company 28:25 Why you might want to hire people with zero AI experience 33:09 AI is like fire 2.0: we have no idea what the nuclear bomb version looks like 36:25 Robots installing solar and empowering human workers 40:03 Why you shouldn't fall in love with your AI agents Where to find Pablo Solare: Website: https://sprightful.com/ Instagram: @pab.sun Twitter/X: @pabsun Where to find Luiz Cent: Website: https://latamcent.com/ Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    42 min

  5. May 26

    VP Marketing Reveals Why He Only Hires People Smarter Than Himself

    Stephen Banbury is VP of Marketing at ClearlyRated and has spent 20+ years leading marketing teams at enterprise companies including McAfee, Symantec, and Reputation. He's scaled teams from small nimble groups to organizations of 25,000+ people, and currently runs a lean remote marketing operation that leverages agencies and AI to punch above its weight. In this episode, Stephen shares why he deliberately hires people who are "all different" from each other, his framework for deciding between agencies and headcount, and why being "curious" about AI is no longer enough. What You'll Learn: - Why Stephen only hires people smarter than himself and how he learned to defer to experts in functions he doesn't master - The difference between hiring for "craft" versus hiring for industry expertise and why he prioritizes the practice of marketing over vertical knowledge - His rule for remote work success: never accept a meeting invitation without an agenda - Why AI has taste problems and can't replace the creative spark that makes content resonate with buyers - The critical distinction between being "customer-focused" and delivering true "customer experience" - His framework for hiring agencies: find partners who treat your business like their own instead of managing multiple vendors - Why candidates who don't ask questions during interviews reveal they're not truly interested in the role Timestamps: 00:00 VP Marketing Reveals Why He Only Hires People Smarter Than Himself 01:35 Why hiring people smarter than you is the only way to scale 03:36 How Stephen learned to defer to experts in product marketing and operations 06:47 Self-starters only: the one trait that matters across every company size 09:08 AI in marketing: keeping headcount low without replacing anyone 10:36 Why AI doesn't have taste and the creative spark still comes from humans 14:08 The CX maturity model example: from PowerPoint to interactive tool in months 18:37 Customer-focused vs customer experience: the operational difference 22:00 Agencies vs headcount: how to decide where to place your dollars 28:03 Hiring mistakes: why cultural fit and chemistry matter more than skills 31:49 Advice for CMOs hiring their first global team member 34:45 Why marketing and the art and science of it keeps Stephen engaged after 20 years Where to find Stephen Banbury: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-banbury-4237441/ His companies: Emotive Brand https://emotivebrand.com/ ThunderClap: https://www.thethunderclap.com/ TripleDart: https://www.tripledart.com/ Stephen Banbury’s Podcast: The CX Catalyst Podcast: https://www.clearlyrated.ai/podcastCX & to take the maturity mode assessment: Maturity Model™ Self Assessment Tool: https://www.clearlyrated.ai/cx-maturity-assessment Where to find Luiz Cent: Website: https://latamcent.com/ Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    38 min

  6. May 12

    Why This CEO Removed All One-on-Ones From His Calendar

    Ryan Barry is the CEO of Appcues, a user engagement platform serving over 1,400 technology businesses worldwide. Before taking the helm at Appcues in March 2025, Ryan spent nearly 11 years at Zappi, co-authoring the best-selling book The Consumer Insights Revolution and scaling the company as President alongside founder Steve Phillips. In this episode, Ryan reveals the unconventional leadership frameworks he used to recruit an entirely new executive team without outside recruiters, why he refused to hire a chief of staff or executive assistant in favor of AI productivity tools, and the four non-negotiable traits he screens for in every single hire. What You'll Learn: - Why Ryan eliminated most one-on-ones from his calendar and what he replaced them with. - The four traits he screens for in every hire: curious, adaptable, smart, and growth-minded. - How he recruited a full executive team through crowdsourcing instead of executive search firms. - Why he refused to hire an EA or chief of staff and used AI tools instead to force himself to learn the cutting edge. - His framework for deciding which decisions need to "breathe overnight" versus which should be made immediately. - The difference between coming in hot with passion versus assuming you know the answer in week two. - Why he embeds team personality profiles and decision-making guides directly into company AI tools. Chapters: 00:00 Trailer - Why This CEO Removed All One-on-Ones From His Calendar EP 8 01:03 Introducing Ryan Barry, CEO of Appcues 05:08 Why coming in hot fails most new executives 06:16 Breaking down silos in two hours instead of three weeks 08:41 How AI elevated support roles instead of replacing them 11:11 Recruiting executives without search firms 17:20 The four non-negotiable traits for every hire 21:04 Managing a geographically dispersed team across Latin America 27:48 How he manages energy and async work across time zones 31:22 Empowering teams to make decisions without approval 35:06 Why he removed most one-on-ones from his calendar 39:21 One piece of advice for first-time founders and leaders Where to find Ryan Barry: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-barry-8354036/ Appcues: https://www.appcues.com/ Where to find Luiz Cent: Website: https://latamcent.com/ Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/

    42 min

  7. May 5

    She Supported 20+ CEO Transitions Why Your Best #2 Might Fail as #1

    Annmarie Neal has spent 20+ years as Chief Talent Officer at Cisco, First Data, and Hellman & Friedman where she achieved an 85% success rate across 20+ CEO transitions. Now as Chief People Officer at Zendesk, she's transforming a $2B company into an AI-first organization while activating over 1,000 leaders. In this episode, she reveals the hiring frameworks, referencing strategies, and leadership playbooks that separate successful executive transitions from costly failures. What You'll Learn: - Why hiring people who "look and feel like you" is the biggest hiring mistake leaders make - The 10-12 reference rule: Why 3 references will never give you the full picture - The "vanilla ice cream walk" approach to convincing reluctant leaders to step up - How to assess whether a CEO can scale through acquisitions and complexity - Why the best successions start with strategy 3-5 years out, not solving today's problems - The critical difference between hiring for roles vs. hiring for outcomes - When to bring in your first talent/people hire as a founder (hint: earlier than you think) Where to find Annmarie Neal: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/annmarie-neal-psy-d-b35aa9/⁠ Where to find Luiz Cent: Website: ⁠https://latamcent.com/⁠ Who We Hire: ⁠https://whowehire.org/⁠ In this episode, we cover: 00:00 The hiring mistake most founders make but never talk about 02:16 The 85% success rate playbook for executive transitions 04:00 Assessing talent: identifying superpowers and kryptonite 07:45 What actually causes executive transitions to fail 09:12 The executive who surprised everyone and crushed it 12:24 Activating 1,000 leaders during a $10B transformation 19:54 What AI transformation actually requires from your talent function 28:21 Why replicating yourself is the biggest hiring trap 30:38 The voicemail hack that saves hours on reference checks 31:02 The one thing founders building teams need to hear

    35 min

  8. Apr 28

    12 Employees, Zero Turnover in 5 Years: The Leadership Switch That Changed Everything

    Juan Betancourt spent a decade placing C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies through Korn Ferry and Heidrick & Struggles, then discovered everything he knew about hiring was wrong for startups. In this episode, the Humantelligence CEO reveals how he rebuilt his entire recruitment playbook after striking out on three marketing hires and four salespeople, and why giving "B and C players complete freedom" led to zero turnover in five years. What you'll learn: - Why hiring "A-plus superstars" from your executive search days will actually kill your startup, and the "Bad News Bears" mindset that works instead - The critical reference check question that reveals whether someone can thrive in remote work (hint: it's not about their resume) - Why you should never hire a salesperson who's currently unemployed, and the compensation structure that filters out pretenders - The counterintuitive leadership flip: how going from "90% doing, 10% leading" to "90% leading, 10% doing" eliminated all turnover - Why letting employees make decisions you know will fail creates more productivity than micromanagement ever could - The psychometric interview hack that prevents you from accidentally hiring a team of clones who all think the same way - Why executive search reference checks are useless, but startup reference checks are everything Where to find Juan Luiz Betancourt LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/juanluisbetancourt Website: https://humantelligence.com Company: Humantelligence (AI coaching for Slack, MS Teams, Outlook, Zoom) Where to find Luiz Cent:Website: https://latamcent.com/Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/ In this episode covers: 00:00 Introduction: From Fortune 500 recruiter to startup founder 04:30 The hunger problem: why successful candidates stop performing 06:00 Phase-based hiring: why 0-to-1M requires different talent than 1M-to-10M 07:30 The remote work trap: how to reference check for self-motivation 09:15 Using psychometric assessments in the interview process 14:30 The hardest hire: why sales roles are nearly impossible to interview for 19:30 How AI is changing team productivity without replacing headcount 25:00 Why zero turnover in five years starts with complete freedom 28:00 Killing Fortune 500 processes that stifle startup growth 30:00 The AI coaching category explosion and why timing matters 37:00 Cross-cultural leadership: why US management fails in France 42:00 The Colombia advantage: best country for hiring software engineers 44:00 Final tips: references, equity vesting cliffs, and industry-specific hires

    45 min
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About

WHO We Hire is built on a simple premise: no great company gets built without great people. Luiz Cent talks with founders, CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, COOs, and executives at technology companies to unpack how they hire, where they've gotten it wrong, and what they've learned scaling teams from the ground up. Topics include hiring strategy, talent acquisition, team building, leadership, company culture, scaling startups, and building high-performance teams in SaaS and tech. If you're a founder, operator, executive, board member, or VC, this show is for you.

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  • Creator
    Luiz Cent
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Luiz Cent
  • Show Website
    WHO We Hire