Hi!! Hope everyone had a great summer ☀️. The GGR team kicked off the summer with a trip to Boulder, CO (where I’m based). We had a great time hiking ⛰ and hanging 😎
Time for some updates! TL;DR with more details below:
Market update & hiring landscape 📈 (🤫…don’t tell anyone but the market is picking back up)
New roles ⬇️
Check out our new website!
❤️ Phil and the Golden Gate team
Market Update & Hiring Landscape
My dirty little secret is that I can sometimes be pretty awful procrastinator. I very very very rarely let things fully slip, but when I get lazy (or have my hands full with two kiddos) I often push things off….especially sitting down to write this newsletter. I’ve written three different versions of this over the past few months - each reflective of how the hiring landscape is evolving - and it’s gone a little something like this:
May: No new business. Things are still slow. But I basically said that in April….I procrastinated.
June: There was a glimmer of hope! For the first time in six months, a bunch of companies reached out about working together. However, by the time that I started writing about being slightly optimistic…….one by one, each theoretical search fell through (citing reasons like: no longer have headcount; just did a RIF; consolidating three roles into one; moving someone internally; hiring an associate instead of a VP; waiting until 2024, etc.). We didn’t have a clear POV…so I procrastinated.
August: Everyone is on vacation so 🤷♂️ ?? Have the past few months dragged because it’s summer, and summer is always slow, and because everyone is on the Amalfi Coast or in Croatia? Or are there broader macro-economic uncertainties still at play? Too early to tell….so I pushed it off a little bit longer.
So where are we at today?
The post-Labor Day hiring pickup is real. We are becoming busy for the first time in a year, and it’s feeling juicy. It’s certainly not nearly as juicy as late 2021 / early 2022 but it at least feels like things are happening. The trajectory feels positive and I’m optimistic for the first time in 12 months.
That said, it’s certainly not a stellar job market yet with hurdles on both sides. While the roles that are being posted are live roles that companies are actually hiring for, there’s definitely a lot of competition on the market, given the pent up supply of available talent. Companies are continuing to see strong interest in their roles, but there are fewer qualified candidates than there were a couple months ago.
There’s never a way to be certain whether this environment will last, whether it’s real, and how things will evolve. But we’re preparing for a busy (and hopefully fun) couple of months :)
Open Roles
Check out a handful of roles working on below, but as always, you can review additional opportunities our Openings Page. And stay tuned for a few new roles that should be kicking off over the next few weeks!
Opal [Security SaaS]: Finance & Business Operations
Opal builds security software that helps organizations more effectively and safely manage employee access to data, apps, tools, etc. They’re looking for someone to lead finance and business operations, as well as special projects for the go-to-market and revenue orgs.
Wonderschool [Edtech]: General Manager
Wonderschool is helping address early education shortages by assisting in-home preschools and daycare centers run and operate. They’re looking for GMs across several markets (including Michigan, Missouri/New Mexico, Mississippi, and Florida).
Wholesail [SaaS]: Business Operations
Wholesail is a payment platform built for for food & beverage vendors that’s modernizing how wholesalers get paid. They’re looking for someone to drive strategic projects across areas like go-to-market, revenue operations, compliance and partnerships.
Website Update
We recently gave the GGR Website a face lift!
Check out our new site HERE.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything you’d like to see from us moving forward or have any feedback!
Some Content for Your Eyes & Ears
🎧 “Deep Dive on Series A” (Origins Podcast by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners): Discussion about the recent state of seed and Series A investing in a difficult startup environment
📖“Axis of Building” (Kyle Harrison, GP @ Contrary): Interesting views and takes on the difficulty of building efficiently, with comparisons to public project
📖 “Startup Funding Crunch” (Kevin Dowd @ Carta): Perspective on the VC funding market and where we are, and aren’t, showing signs of improvement