Lessons from 1,000 Hires | Elias Torres (Agency)
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Episode description
Hiring can make or break your startup. So can retention. Yet most founders get their first 10 hires wrong. In this session, Elias Torres (Founder & CEO, Agency) shares lessons from building teams at Drift, HubSpot, and now Agency. He’ll cover what actually attracts top talent, how to build loyalty without big salaries, and why culture fit matters more than you think. Expect real talk, mistakes made, and practical advice founders can use from day one. — AI-generated key takeaways - Don’t oversell the dream: be brutally honest about stage, chaos, and expectations to self-select truly committed candidates. - Hire slow on fit, move fast on process: validate in under 7 days without acting out of desperation. - Test for hunger and resilience: watch for hesitation; use trials/side projects to gauge commitment. - Avoid pedigree bias: past big-brand wins don’t guarantee impact in your context. - Build small, elite teams in the AI era: cap headcount, prioritize versatile, high-ownership builders. — Slush is the most founder-focused event on Earth, delivering actionable company-building advice while bringing together the who’s who in startups and tech. Slush will be back on Nov 18–19, 2026 in Helsinki, Finland. Stay in the loop: slush.org linkedin.com/company/slush instagram.com/slushhq x.com/slushhq
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