The Business of: Building Out Your Team (Powered by Pirate Ship)
No matter where you are in your journey (early-stage founder, scaling a venture, or leading an established organization) the people you hire will define your success. Join us for a conversation with Poppy member, executive search expert, and 2x founder Caitlin Iseler on what it takes to build the right team, at the right time, for the right reasons.
What We'll Cover
The executive search blueprint — What hiring looks like at every stage, and how founders can use this framework as they scale.
Hiring beyond the résumé — How to set people up for success from day one, and how to recognize when it's the process, not the person, that's broken.
What a great hire actually unlocks — How to step out of the day-to-day, trust your team, and finally show up in the role you built this for.
Knowing when it's time — The signals that tell you you're ready to bring in help, how to get clear on the role before you fill it, and the financial markers that matter.
What you need vs. what you think you need — The questions to ask before you ever post a job, and how to define a position description that actually works.
Caitlin Iseler has spent two decades at the intersection of talent and leadership which includes partner at top executive search firms, an in-house talent leader, a Big Five consulting partner, and a 2X founder. Today she's a Partner at True Search, a VC, PE & public company focused talent advisory firm and one of the leading executive search firms globally, following a prior partnership at Korn Ferry.
What sets Caitlin apart is the breadth of her experience: she's built and sold a technology-focused search firm, founded a VC-backed HR tech platform, and led executive search across venture, PE, and public companies. Through highs and lows, Caitlin has learned what works and what doesn't and comes to this conversation with a combination of humble lessons learned and best practices. Her north star throughout has been connecting people and organizations through shared values, culture, and purpose — something she explores further on her podcast, Happy at Work.
Caitlin and her family live in Jackson, Wyoming and outside of work you'll catch them at yoga, biking, hiking and skiing.