What do you love most about working at Stytch?
The people! (duh!) Stytch is a group of uniquely empathetic and ambitious folks. We all really enjoy working together and working hard to make Stytch not only a successful product but a really great place to work, too.
What does a typical day at Stytch look like for you?
Depends on the day! I'm usually in the middle of a cycle for something People-related. For example, we're currently in the middle of our 360 reviews, so I'm preparing a presentation for a manager meeting on how to write reviews and how to avoid bias, also putting together calibration sheets for our managers (to review performance and compensation), and pulling benchmarking comp data to make sure our bands are up to date. I also just got back from a recruiting event in New York, we're throwing a launch party for some exciting Stytch web3 developments this Thursday (DM for details), and planning for our company offsite in July! (Never a dull moment on the People team.)
On the Recruiting side of the house, we're hiring for a lot of roles (come join us!). Usually we start the week with a sourcing sync to ensure our priorities are aligned and that we're allocating our time in the right ways. We have an end of the week sync with some hiring managers to review pipelines and the rest of the week is spent looking for and chatting with potential Constytchuents to join the team.
But regardless of what I'm doing, the day is usually sprinkled with coffee chats with coworkers, lunch together (or trying to snag a lunch from someone who actually remembered to order before the deadline), and trying not to snack too much.
What’s been the most surprising thing about Stytch?
How much we love hot sauce here... (sort of kidding).
In reality, I was super surprised to receive a recruiting email from a 15-person company looking for a People hire. I thought it was extremely rare (and cool!) that a company of that size was seriously interested in building out People processes and foundations from such an early stage. Reed and Julianna have since continually proven that our Constytchuents are a priority and I could not be more thrilled to work for such empathetic founders.
Stytch has gone from 0-1 in the last year, what have been some of your biggest learnings about joining an early stage company?
Not everything needs to be a process, sometimes you just need to get things done. Coming from a slightly larger company, I often felt like there needed to be a process or a policy in place for every ask, when more often than not, I was dealing with a one off issue or something that could be solved by just getting something done. Process is good (and often needed) but usually done is better than perfect.
What’s your favorite part of the Stytch culture?
The people and empathy :)
Which Stytch value resonates most with you and why?
Own it. My favorite thing about working at a startup is how many "hats" you get to wear and how many areas you get to flex into. At this size, every person has a significant impact on the company and "owning it" isn't just an exciting part of the job but an essential part.
What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on at Stytch?
So many things (like rolling out levels and comp bands and recruiting metrics) but we’re currently planning our full company offsite (which is a first for me) and I’m both excited and nervous to see how it turns out! (But most of this is being handled by our amazing OM & People Ops person (Zack) who is an absolute gem and born to plan great events.)
How did you end up working in People and Talent?
I serendipitously fell into it. I started my career in TV production and decided to move to SF on a whim (a room opened up in my best friends' house). I texted everyone I knew asking for a job and one of my friend's from college was hiring a recruiter.
I loved that my job involved interacting with people all day and I loved learning more about the tech world via the recruiting role. I eventually moved into a hybrid People Ops role and then fully into an HRBP role and now I'm back doing a little bit of everything I love.
In the People world you face a lot of hard, ambiguous problems in a space where metrics are harder to come by (but finally emerging!!) but you get so much value in helping people and enabling them to be a tiny bit better at their job or a tiny bit happier in their role (which compounds!). Whereas on the recruiting side, success is a little bit more obvious and metrics are easier to come by (and act on) but the thing that often differentiates a great recruiting team from an average one is the candidate experience and people skills.
When’s the last time you did something for the first time and what was it?
I went to Washington DC and ran a 5k all in one trip! Be careful who you date, it might be a Turkey Trot kind of family.
What hobby got you through COVID?
Rollerskating and water coloring. I learned how to spin on my skates and how to paint poppies and jellyfish.
What’s your ideal weekend?
Coffee, yoga, more coffee, then spending the day eating my way through SF with friends. (Or a hike in North Bay!)
What’s something you’re passionate about that’s not on your resume?
Balkan history! I studied a bit in Croatia and then worked a bit in Bosnia and absolutely fell in love with the people and countries of former Yugoslavia. If you're thinking about visiting, reach out! I might have some good recs :) I definitely have enough enthusiasm to at least convince you to go!
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