Gathering

In this episode of StartWell's Gathering Podcast, you'll get an insider's look at Sachi Kittur's remarkable journey from HR professional to successful entrepreneur. Starting with her early career in tech recruitment during the Y2K boom, Sachi shares honest insights about her time at companies like Sigma Systems, where she experienced everything from scaling teams to managing mergers and acquisitions.What makes this discussion particularly valuable is Sachi's candid take on the evolution of corporate leadership. She points out how CEOs have shifted their focus from purely sales and profits to emphasizing people, culture, and engagement – a change that reflects the modern understanding that successful companies need to nail the "people culture formula."The conversation takes an exciting turn when Sachi discusses her leap into entrepreneurship with Sachili, her CPG food brand. She doesn't sugar-coat the challenges, sharing real stories about the hurdles of getting products onto retail shelves and managing tight margins. This experience led her to create Go CPG, an innovative platform designed to help other CPG founders navigate the industry's complex landscape and reduce the staggering failure rate.Throughout the discussion, you'll find practical wisdom about mentorship, with Sachi emphasizing the importance of connecting with entrepreneurs who are "2-3 years ahead of where you want to be." Her experience reporting to six different CEOs provides fascinating insights into leadership styles and the crucial traits of successful executives – including their ability to maintain unwavering focus regardless of outside opinions.The conversation also dives into timely topics like remote work, the changing dynamics of talent acquisition, and the unique advantages that HR professionals bring to entrepreneurship. Sachi makes a compelling case for why people operations skills are a "superpower" in business development and relationship building.Whether you're an HR professional considering entrepreneurship, a current business owner, or someone interested in the evolution of workplace culture, this conversation offers valuable perspectives on building successful businesses in today's rapidly changing environment. Sachi's blend of corporate experience and entrepreneurial ventures creates a unique lens through which to view the modern business landscape.

Get ready for a fascinating deep dive into the future of talent acquisition with Marianne Bulger, an executive recruiter who brings a refreshingly human perspective to the tech world. In this episode of The Gathering Podcast, you'll meet someone who started with a master's in human rights and found her way into tech because she "needed to find the people who are changing the world, but faster."As an executive at TrueSearch, North America's 6th largest executive search firm, Marianne shares game-changing insights about how companies should approach hiring. Forget everything you know about traditional recruitment – she's here to shake things up. You'll learn why reactive hiring is out and why building meaningful relationships before you need them is in.What makes this conversation special is Marianne's unique take on talent acquisition. She explains why companies need to think beyond just "people you could hire" and consider a whole orbit of talent – from investors to advisors to customers. She's particularly passionate about the rise of fractional roles and how they're changing the game for both companies and experienced professionals.The episode takes some fascinating turns when Marianne discusses her community-building experience, including her work with TechTO and her approach to bringing people together. There's a great segment where she breaks down why understanding different cultures and personalities is crucial in modern business relationships.Perhaps most intriguingly, she shares her vision for how AI will transform recruitment, spending "10% of time every week" exploring how technology can automate the mundane aspects of hiring, letting humans focus on what they do best – building relationships and making meaningful connections.Whether you're a founder looking to build your team, a professional considering your next career move, or just curious about how the workplace is evolving, this conversation offers valuable insights delivered with authenticity and practical wisdom. It's not just about filling positions – it's about rethinking how we connect talent with opportunity in today's rapidly changing business landscape.

Jeff Riseley's journey from high-pressure sales to mental health advocate is a compelling story of personal transformation and industry innovation. After graduating from McGill University, he entered the sales world in a classic boiler room environment, where he faced intense quotas of 200 daily calls. Despite outward success, he struggled privately with anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks.Rather than accepting medication as the only solution, Riseley began exploring ways to manage the pressures of his sales career through mental health and mindset techniques. His personal journey took a dramatic turn in July 2018 when, just three days after launching his first sales consulting website, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. This life-altering experience crystallized his understanding of how mental health strategies could be applied to both personal crises and professional challenges.Through Sales Health Alliance, founded six and a half years ago, Jeff has transformed his experience into a comprehensive approach to sales team wellness. He's trained over 10,000 sellers at major companies like Shopify, DoorDash, and Dell, promoting the concept of salespeople as "corporate athletes" who need proper mental and physical preparation to perform consistently.His methodology has evolved from one-off speaking engagements to a more sustainable approach. This includes his book "Stress Less, Sell More," which provides 220 daily discussion topics, and Project Mamba, featuring 80 micro-learning modules and a community of over 300 sellers. He conducts mental performance assessments to identify core needs and works with leadership teams to implement solutions.Riseley's approach challenges traditional fear-based management techniques, arguing they're outdated relics from industrial-era thinking. Instead, he advocates for psychological safety and department-specific wellness strategies. He criticizes generic corporate wellness programs, emphasizing the need for context-specific solutions that address the unique stressors each department faces.His work represents a shift in how organizations approach sales team wellness, moving from sporadic wellness initiatives to integrated, ongoing support systems. Through his community-based approach and micro-learning programs, Jeff is helping to reshape sales culture, proving that mental wellness and high performance aren't mutually exclusive but rather complementary aspects of successful sales operations.

Shawna Stewart's remarkable journey from psychology graduate to tech executive is related in this episode of the StartWell Podcast.  She shared how she transformed from an entry-level position to co-running a successful MarTech company through acquisition. Watch/listen to learn invaluable insights about career advancement, startup leadership, and the power of identifying organizational gaps. This episode is perfect for ambitious professionals, startup enthusiasts, and anyone interested in tech leadership and company acquisitions.

Projectory, founded by Oren Berkovich, Jeff Rogers, and Patty Harrington, is revolutionizing corporate events through experiential design and meaningful interaction.Their approach transforms traditional corporate gatherings into engaging, participatory experiences and their methodology focuses on three key areas: in-room facilitated activities, interactive physical installations, and post-event data analysis. We sat down with the founding team for StartWell's Gathering Podcast and learned all about why they engage people through common experiences at events, as well as their methods.This episode will be especially inspiring for anyone in event planning - whether you're an EA tasked with creating an offsite for your team for the first time, or an experienced people & culture person.

Body language and human behaviour expert Mark Bowden joins us for StartWell's Gathering Podcast to discuss how workplace cultures can be evolved.In this conversation, we explore the concept of purpose and meaning in work, the need to transform traditional workplace cultures, and the importance of nonverbal cues, authenticity, and personal growth in effective leadership.Among many other things, Mark emphasizes the importance of aligning an organization's values with its brand promises and recommends employing humor and empathy to affect positive outcomes for performance.You'll love listing to this whether you lead or support working teams and we invite you to explore our full Gathering podcast series for more conversations about corporate culture.

Larissa Holmes comes to entrepreneurship from a diverse range of career experiences. She’s got multiple degrees (one of which in Art), worked in hospitality, pharma and technology, and has spent years developing capacity at companies like Borrowell – where she grew their team to 200+ people and assisted acquisitions. In this episode, we cover a […]

After having left Toronto to move Eastwards and settle in Prince Edward Island, Dave Cairns presents an unusual case as a commercial real estate broker. His practice has for years paired customers with office space in downtown Toronto, and most recently this has been managed online and with the occasional 2.5hr flight to meet with […]

Eric Hutchinson is a senior HR advisor, consultant & coach educated in psychology with a specific interest in cognition. For this episode of the Gathering Podcast we talk about systems design for HR, remote work and new complexities which HR staff need to consider to manage working teams. *Video version here.

Leslie Oquendo is an author and now works at Salesforce in business development – after spending 4+ years in talent acquisition and people/culture roles. He joins us on the Gathering podcast to discuss how grief can be part of both the candidate job hunting process and the role which hiring teams play. Leslie’s own journey through grief was […]