Startup Cafe: Hire for Values, Build for Scale
Investors weigh the people, leadership and vision behind a business as closely as the idea itself, and customers increasingly care about what a company stands for. Both of those come down to who you hire.
Scaling makes that hard to hold onto. The opening you need filled this month wins out over the organization you are trying to build, and what follows is reactive hiring, teams pulling in different directions, and a culture nobody chose. The restructures that come later are expensive.
Tarol Jackson advises founders and CEOs on leadership and organizational design. She'll work through how to hire against the company you intend to become, and you'll leave with a framework for making people decisions deliberately.
What we'll cover
Define and translate: identify the core values meant to guide your organization, then turn them into observable behaviors and expectations.
Hire and build: evaluate talent for capability and for fit with those values, and assemble teams with complementary strengths, perspectives and shared principles.
Scale: hold the values in place through leadership, accountability and the way the organization runs day to day.
Agenda November 18th, 2026
8:45 - 9:30 am • Coffee and Socialize
9:30 - 10:30 am • Talk in the Clubhouse with Audience Q&A
11:00 am • Space closes to the public
About: Tarol Jackson
Tarol Jackson is a corporate strategy advisor working on CEO effectiveness, organizational design and culture. Through her firm she partners with founders and CEOs on strengthening leadership, reshaping how their organizations are built, and creating values-led companies that can scale from startup to enterprise.
Originally from the New York metropolitan area, she brings close to a decade of experience across publicly traded companies, technology startups and emerging industries. She worked as an analyst alongside a Wall Street veteran who served as CEO and later Executive Chairman of a publicly traded company, and went on to serve as Chief of Staff in media, cryptocurrency and Web3, taking her from highly regulated public-company environments to fast-moving sectors working through regulatory uncertainty.
About The KINN
The KINN is a membership network, accelerator, and collaborative workspace for conscious entrepreneurs, based in Venice, CA. Running tailored inner development and business accelerator programs for startups, providing executive coaching, accountability, and access to a top-tier LA-based community of entrepreneurs, creatives, intrapreneurs, and investors. If you're interested in learning more about KINN Membership, please visit http://thekinn.co/apply
About Nerdstage
Communication training and high-impact events giving tomorrow a louder voice. Nerdstage hosts the Demo Day event series & the Nerdstage Podcast.
Parking
We recommend taking a rideshare to The KINN. If you prefer to drive, please see the parking map below for nearby options.
Water Provided by Alive Water
Sourced from Opal Springs, a pristine volcanic aquifer in Oregon, this water is naturally alkaline, mineral-rich, and bottled in sacred glass to preserve its purity. Experience it the way nature intended.
Sign up at https://alivewaters.com/KINN and use code KINN for 25% off.
By attending this event, I give Horizon House LLC, its representatives, and the event photographer permission to use, publish, broadcast, share, and display any photographs, video, or audio recordings of me captured during KINN or Horizon Studio activities. These materials may be used with or without identifying me by name. I waive any right to compensation and any claims for damages arising from their use.