It took me 4 years to hire a team member I'm happy with… I run a headhunting agency 💀 For the longest time, I was the shoeless cobbler. Always finding awesome talent for others, never for myself. But I didn't care. I grew and exited an 8-figure business before I started

BTW: I'm bringing my newsletter back this year. Breakdowns on hiring, team building, and what I'm seeing across 8 and 9-figure brands. No fluff. Just what's working. Sign up here:

One of my clients is on track to 7x this year with only a few additional hires. Lovable is buying entire companies to hire ONE founder. Zuckerberg is doing the same thing to scale. That tells you everything about where hiring is headed in 2026. AI changed everything. A

If you need an A-player in every role, you need to rethink your business. … is what I would've told you 10 years ago. The old model made sense. Hire a few A-players, let them strap some B-players on their back and drag the team across the finish line. The top team members

PS: Many founders are stuck in Stage 1 or 2. The ones scaling to 8 and 9-figures are ahead in Stage 3 (as should you in 2026) BTW: I’m starting up my newsletter again. Signup below…

STAGE 3: MATURITY You’re still willing to pay top $$, but now you validate ahead of time that they can deliver. No more hopes, but actual verification You realize that finding the right person takes time and care. So you invest in a top-tier recruiter instead of rushing it

STAGE 2: MONEY BUYS TALENT Once growth is unlocked, you think you’re ready to pay 3x what you paid before (as long as they solve your problem) You decide to look over small red flags to keep the momentum going. Then payroll starts adding up, and not all hires pan out. You end

STAGE 1: DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH There’s not a huge amount of money to go around, so you look for cheap talent. You end up finding your “unicorn” - someone great at $2-5K/month. Leading you to think that every hire should work like this. NEWS FLASH: It doesn’t You’ll burn

Every founder goes through the same 3 stages in their approach to hiring. (Save this framework for later) 🧵

2025 was all about building the machine. - 5x the capacity - 93% 12-month success rate - Majority of searches closing in 3 weeks or less The infrastructure works, and the team is sharp. 2026 is all about getting in front of more eyes. We’re focusing on distribution with: -

Hired 2 people exactly like this last year, will be hiring many more in 2026 👀

I went through 4 major challenges in 2025: 1. The clients you represent matter We moved upmarket with multi-8 and 9-figure founders, filling hard roles. And what I didn’t expect was that better clients attract better employees. Higher stakes attract higher candidates (and

My friend almost certainly has undiagnosed ADHD and was struggling to manage his own calendar while running a 9-figure eCom brand. Let me tell you, this guy was a marketing genius, could spot opportunities miles away, but he was TERRIBLE at time management. I was able to help

In 2020, I had a 7-figure exit. Millions in my personal bank account. It was the worst year of my life. But I learned a ton. Before the exit, I fantasized about finally being able to chill with no stress or obligations. Just freedom. In reality, it was way worse than I

Had a prospect hit me up about a Finance Director role. $7M/month business during peak season, $3-4M on slower months. An awesome brand that’s scaled super fast. But something wasn't adding up. I asked what key problem he's solving by bringing this person in. The answer was

I'm turning 35 this February - Scaled to $10M twice - Been married to my soulmate for 10 years - Got 6 kids - 2 homes (in the US and in Europe) - Been to 100+ countries I'm exactly halfway there on all of the above. But the first half is always the harder one.

Exiting a company wasn't nearly as fulfilling as I thought. The cash in the bank is nice. But as soon as I exited, I lost meaning. I needed something to be working on. I'm a builder. That's what gets me going. After my exit, I realized I needed something I could do for the

I placed an A-player into a company that looked great on paper. A few months later, he exposed the sh*tshow I’d walked into. My gut was warning me from the start (I even rejected the client at first). But he was a friend of a friend. That friend stepped in and said, "No I

“STAY IN YOUR LANE!” “DELEGATE!” “BE THE VISIONARY!” The absolute worst advice founders get. Like bro, IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE. A founder I work with had a problem that bothered him for over a decade. The entire industry fights the same issue. He solved it on a flight. Not

Had a convo with a founder the other day that still has me thinking. FOUNDER: I really wish my team were better than me. ME: What do you mean? FOUNDER: I really wish you could make this decision, run with your gut, and just do it. ME: So what’s stopping them? FOUNDER:

In-house recruiters juggle 15+ open roles. My team works on 3. More focus = faster shipping. That's why we can close in 3 weeks.