Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Lessons from one of the world’s top executive recruiters | Lauren Ipsen (Daversa Partners, General Catalyst)

November 3, 2022

AI Summary

5 min read

Lauren Ipsen, an executive recruiter who has placed over 80 senior product leaders and now supports General Catalyst's consumer and crypto portfolio companies, explains how founders, product managers, and recruiters can improve hiring outcomes. Drawing from her experience at Daversa Partners and in-house roles, she emphasizes building networks ahead of need, defining roles precisely, and fostering genuine relationships to identify talent that fits specific company stages.

Building market awareness before hiring

Founders should always track thriving companies and standout product leaders, chatting with them informally—no agenda—to benchmark profiles and build rapport. This plants seeds for future hires; Ipsen recounts a seven-month courtship for a VP of Engineering at IRL via advising gigs and collaborative input, creating trust beyond transactional interviews. Candidates benefit similarly by staying connected to high-performing networks, avoiding desperation moves amid market volatility.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Open in App

What you'll learn

1 `* (00:35) **Market Pulse for All**`
2 `* (05:07) **Lauren's Career Path**`
3 `* (09:53) **Founders' Hiring Pitfalls**`
4 `* (13:25) **Define Role & Success**`
5 `* (18:26) **Titles & Org Strategy**`
6 `* (22:07) **Pre-Hire Networking**`
7 `* (37:51) **PM Career Tactics**`

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Lauren Ipsen is one of the most well-known and respected executive recruiters in the industry, having placed over 90 senior product leaders at companies including Twitter, Reddit, Opendoor, Postmates, Nextdoor, and many others. She is currently the Director of Executive Talent at General Catalyst, and prior to that was a senior leader at Daversa Partners. In today’s podcast, Lauren shares advice for founders on hiring senior product leaders, tips for product leaders on finding better opportunities, and the most common mistakes recruiters make. She talks about how to play the long game of networking to find the best talent and about recruiting best practices, and we also dive deep on market mapping, LinkedIn, and how to approach reference checks.

—

Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-one-of-the-worlds-top

—

Where to find Lauren Ipsen:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-ipsen-6a5a84113/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: