From the earliest days, decisions about hiring, culture, and people shape the trajectory of a company. But, very few founders – even if they’ve built companies before – have hands-on experience in the core competencies of HR and Talent Acquisition that are critical at early stages. As they start their journey, we know that many founders are eager for support.
That is why I am thrilled to join the TLV Partners team as the Head of Talent, People, and Operations, partnering with our portfolio companies in the areas of recruiting, HR, and organizational development, as well as leading platform and community efforts across the portfolio. The team at TLV Partners has long been a key partner for our early-stage founders. Now, we are able to offer an even greater level of support and partnership.
A little bit about me: I was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of the smallest state in the US and a place that many Israelis know only from a TV series of the same name that aired in the late 90’s. I lived in Boston, San Francisco, and New York before moving to Tel Aviv in 2019. I have two degrees from Harvard; a first degree in Public Policy and a second degree in Law. My hi-tech career started in Operations at Google in Mountain View before I transitioned into the world of startups.
Over the last decade, I’ve come to love the early and middle stages of the startup lifecycle; full of ups and downs, but never boring. I’ve done thousands of interviews and hired hundreds of people, from New York to Shanghai to Tel Aviv, Delhi, and Ukraine. I’ve helped to build and manage amazing teams and made tons of mistakes along the way. I’ve joined companies as one of the first 10 employees and I’ve been on the executive team when the companies have topped 200. I’ve had opportunities to manage every part of the business hands-on, from marketing to finance to creating product specs to running due diligence with top-tier investors. And, I’ve worked hand-in-hand, in true partnership, with visionary CEOs and Founders. In other words, I’ve built a lot, seen a lot, learned a lot (often through trial and error), and have some mileage under my belt.
And, for the last four years, I served as the COO and Head of People at Datagen, a TLV Partners portfolio company, giving me a deep appreciation for the wealth of talent, resilience and creativity that define the Israeli hi-tech industry.
So, while I’m new to this role, I am no stranger to TLV Partners, our amazing portfolio, and the types of challenges – good, bad, and ugly – that define early- and mid-stage startups. Now, it’s time to put some muscle behind our conviction that strong HR and hiring practices are of key strategic importance to our portfolio companies, at every stage of their growth.
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Attracting world-class talent to the TLV Partners Portfolio.
I know firsthand that, even in difficult market conditions, hiring top talent is both highly strategic and highly competitive. Great additions to the team can 10x growth, while poor hiring decisions can waste time, money, and energy. Companies that learn early on how to find and attract the best talent have a leg up on their competition.
Going forward, I’m excited to actively support our companies’ recruitment efforts, through candidate referral and matching, process-building support, tactical advising, and development of in-house recruiting capacity. My goal is to make those perfect matches between talented candidates and growing companies – win-win partnerships that can catapult teams forward.
Putting people first.
Good hiring is critical, but so is retaining top talent. This requires implementation of innovative, responsive, and context-sensitive practices that align the people and the business and give employees the opportunities and environment they need to thrive.
From the first day of investment, I work closely with founders to develop their organizational structure and implement key HR practices. This partnership is highly responsive, designed to bring sustainable value in whatever capacity and at whatever cadence best suits the team’s needs.
Growing alongside our companies.
Every stage of growth brings new challenges and we are here to support at every step along the way. This means being highly flexible in how we work together; hands-on, advising, providing evergreen resources and benchmarks, or simply being a sounding board for decision making. It also means working closely with HR, Ops, and Talent leaders as companies shift from founder-led startups to organizations with specialized expertise. Finally, it includes building bridges; helping leaders connect with peers and mentors, companies at similar stages or with similar products, or with outside experts from across the ecosystem.
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As I begin to work across the portfolio, I am confident that TLV Partners’ early investments in hiring and HR will be incredibly impactful for the long-term success of our companies. I am also always looking to connect within our ecosystem; with founders looking to raise money, talented people looking for their next role, experts in their field looking to share knowledge, and anyone else who wants to learn more about what we do at TLV Partners. So, reach out and we’ll talk – maybe you can help us build the next generation of great Israeli startups!
