{"id":225182,"date":"2026-02-26T13:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:02:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:02:00","slug":"how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid bad hires in early-stage startups | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week on TechCrunch\u2019s founder-focused podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/podcasts\/build-mode\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Build Mode<\/a>, Isabelle Johannessen is\u00a0joined\u00a0by Sarah\u00a0Lucena,\u00a0the CEO and co-founder of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/10\/28\/mappas-ai-voice-analysis-helps-you-find-the-best-job-candidates-and-will-show-off-its-tech-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mappa<\/a>,\u00a0a\u00a0behavioral\u00a0intelligence platform that uses voice AI to decode human\u00a0behavior\u00a0in\u00a0less than\u00a060 seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"tcembed-iframe tcembed--megaphone wp-block-tc23-podcast-player__embed\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=TCML8660675320\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lucena got the idea for Mappa after trying to build a marketing team but continually feeling like she had made the wrong hires. \u201cAnd I was so frustrated because I was hiring for what I thought were the right skills. It looked great on paper but didn\u2019t really work in real life,\u201d Lucena said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She had learned firsthand that hiring is typically based on markers of success like college degrees, previous work experience, and a gut instinct. But she knew there had to be a better way. So she developed Mappa and spent years creating a proprietary dataset based on hundreds of interviews that allowed her team to analyze behavior based on biomarkers indicated through people\u2019s speech patterns. Through this process, the Mappa team found that to make the right hire the first time, a candidate can\u2019t just be great on paper; they also have to be compatible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s no trait that\u2019s good or bad inherently; it\u2019s more of what environment do you put that person in, and what roles are better aligned with people\u2019s sort of tendencies and styles. So that\u2019s how we\u2019ve been thinking about defining compatibility,\u201d Lucena said in the podcast interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mappa is powered by an all Latinx team that knows how frustrating it is to be overlooked based on superficial biases or a lack of the \u201ccorrect\u201d experiences. She describes them as underdogs that understand this problem on a personal level.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are all underdogs. We are all folks that have been overlooked in some degree. And I guess that makes it even more important that we are the ones building this,\u201d Lucena said. \u201cHaving people like us building this technology, at the level we are doing, with the quality we are able to get to the market and serving our clients the way we do. It also opens up a door for others to come and join and know that there are multiple ways still to build technology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lucena\u2019s best advice for early-stage founders who are hiring is to take your time and be sure the compatibility is there from the beginning to avoid the hassle of hiring, firing, and rehiring for the same role.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n<p>Techcrunch event<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__location\">Boston, MA<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__date\">June 9, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Isabelle Johannessen is our host. <a href=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vWUZMNjEyNzkzNjQ5NA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Build Mode<\/a> is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience Development is led by Morgan Little. And a special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/02\/26\/how-to-avoid-bad-hires-in-early-stage-startups\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week on TechCrunch\u2019s founder-focused podcast, Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen is\u00a0joined\u00a0by Sarah\u00a0Lucena,\u00a0the CEO and co-founder of\u00a0Mappa,\u00a0a\u00a0behavioral\u00a0intelligence platform that uses voice AI to decode human\u00a0behavior\u00a0in\u00a0less than\u00a060 seconds.\u00a0 Lucena got the idea for Mappa after trying to build a marketing team but continually feeling like she had made the wrong hires. \u201cAnd I was so frustrated because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-225182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}