Technical Recruiting with Daniel Chen, Multi-time Founder & Visiting Fellow at Sequoia Capital

The Gradience

The crypto industry is rapidly expanding as interest in the ethos and space increases. As such, the demand for crypto talent in crypto-inclined startups is also increasing and getting competitive. Founders are painfully aware of this and the fact that the early stage of a company is its most delicate. Therefore, to deliver on the company’s goals, an early team has to function appropriately and synergize. In achieving this, professionals with the right skillset need to be recruited.

Additionally, in as much as job descriptions in the tech space might overlap, the core job functions of team members need to be identified. Crucial in this process is selecting members who have the right culture fit, are high performers, and are resilient. Having these figured out makes product development all the more effective.

In this episode of The Gradience Podcast, Nigel is joined by Daniel Chen, Multi-time Founder & Visiting Fellow at Sequoia Capital.

They cover:

👉 Dan’s journey to being a partner at Andreessen Horowitz

👉 Formative lessons from the VC/startup world

👉 The conception of Open Token

👉 Hiring co-founders and organizational members

👉 Understanding role division in the organization

👉 Cashflow management and team hiring

👉 Hiring criteria

👉 Homogeneity in hiring and team building

👉 OpenToken during the 2017 crypto winter

👉 OpenToken’s pivot into Hero.app and the acquisition of Hero.app

👉 OpenToken’s hiring funnel

👉 The crypto industry today

👉 Advice to Dan on his first founding attempt

👉 Resilience in founders

👉 The possibility of a crypto winter in the face of the influx of crypto/tech talent

If you’re interested in learning what it takes to be a founder, how recruitment occurs in the tech space, core team building, and product building in startups, tune into this episode of The Gradience Podcast, a Podcast by Build Talent.

Subscribe here:

👉 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3MCamCW

👉 Apple: https://apple.co/3JIqDDV

👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3HbsAan

👉 RSS: https://bit.ly/38yhi4n

👉 Email: [e-mail]

And connect with Dan here:

👉 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danielyoungchen

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/dychen3

About the Show

“The Gradience” is a podcast by Build Talent & hosted by Nigel Robinson, wherein each episode, we’ll be speaking with a founder or expert as we discuss the art & science of hiring leaders, why it matters, and how you can keep up.

The Gradience is hand crafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Previous guests include: Riley Ennis of Freenome, Matt Birnbaum of Pear VC, Derek Lo of Medallion, Chandan Lodha of CoinTracker, Jennifer Smith of Scribe
Check out our 3 most downloaded episodes:

• Prioritizing Culture with Riley Ennis, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Freenome
• Acquiring Your Dream Team with Evan Walden, Co-Founder & CEO of Getro
• The Role of Data Science in Early Stage Companies, with Kevin Novak, Managing Partner & Founder at Rackhouse Venture Capital