Outlier On Air | Founders, Disruptors, & Mavens
169: Ben Martinez - Passion Before Product

"Find people who are passionate. Those are the kind of people who are going to help you scale and grow your company." Ben Martinez

About: Ben Martinez- VP of HR at HireVue

Overview: Ben Martinez is an entrepreneur at heart who left the comfort of a big company job to become the VP of HR at a growing company- HireVue. He walks us through what the product is like and how it can change a companies' hiring process. He also gives entrepreneurs great advice on what to look for when hiring to help their company become successful.

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Highlights:

HireVue: HireVue is a SaaS software company- primarily in the HR space that has been in business now for 10 years. They offer videos for accelerating a team for large and small companies. They then use those videos for hiring, training, etc.. They also gather and use data from these videos to predict the type of people you are going to hire (sort of like a Pandora for hiring).

HireVue's Product: They primarily focus on larger companies, (Current clients include: Nike, Chipotle, Walmart, Amazon, JP Morgan Chase) although they do help small companies as well. Their video product is specifically designed for training and recruiting. They take the guesswork out of hiring by allowing you to screen potential hires, engage with them via email, social media, etc, connect with them through real time video conferencing, and offer them opportunities to showcase their skills through online work samples. (If you'd like a full detail of what their product does- check out their website at www.hirevue.com)

Selling the Product: Ben shares that it's an easy sale once you get the appointment and can show the demo, getting there is the tough part because people tend to be afraid of the product. They tend to think it's similar to FaceTime, or Skype- but once you can dive into the product and share the pain points with the future client, they are able to see how this product is going to dramatically help their hiring process.

Biggest Challenge: Overcoming the BDC problem (Big Dumb Company as Ben puts it). He explains that there is always the challenge to implement new ways to do things without pushback to continue to improve and grow the company.

Advice for Entrepreneurs in Hiring: Ben would advise anyone who is hiring to first take a step back, find passionate people and get them sold on your product/idea. Those are the kind of people who are going to help you scale and grow your company. Ben always says, "passion before product."Ben also advises if you have an employee who isn't fitting into the role that you need them to, terminate them. Always remember the old saying, "Slow to hire, quick to fire." When firing, seek advice from another leader in the company if you are unsure about what you should do. Especially, if you are an entrepreneur, or a one man band. Make sure to have a witness in any conversation you have with future employment for legal reasons.

Take Away: Have the courage and take the leap into what you're passionate about. Really be in tune with yourself and your desires. You tend to be your own worst enemy, just go and do what you want to. Make sure when you are ready to hire, hire those that are passionate and onboard with your ideas.

Connect With Ben:

Website | @BenMartinezj | Podcast | Blog

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Direct download: Ben_Martinez.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 3:10pm MDT

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