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Workshop: Squad Assemble — Building Your Founding Team

Name: Workshop: Squad Assemble — Building Your Founding Team
Start: 2026-02-20T10:30:00.000-05:00
End: 2026-02-20T11:30:00.000-05:00
Location: Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale

Tsai CITY Calendar

Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale

New Haven, Connecticut

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About Event

Early hiring isn’t just about who’s available—it’s about assembling the right squad for the mission. This session supports first-time founders in moving past “good vibes” hiring and getting intentional about who they bring on and when. Learn how to identify real skill gaps, define essential roles, and avoid common early-team pitfalls.

Led by Samantha Oliver, Chief of Staff at a pre-seed gene therapy startup, this session shares lessons from over a decade of experience building and optimizing cross-functional teams. You’ll leave with practical tools to evaluate early-stage needs, structure a resilient team, and build systems that support long-term success.

Whether you’re hiring your first teammate or reshaping your core crew, this conversation will help you build a founding team that can ship, scale, and stick around.

Speaker bio:

Sam currently leads business operations as Chief of Staff at a pre-seed gene therapy startup based in Boston, MA. She has 10+ years of experience partnering with stakeholders to build cross-functional founding teams, optimize essential business functions, and implement scalable best practices. Sam is passionate about advancing mission-driven, innovative technologies.

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