A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders
00:39:14 · Pablo Srugo
[00:39:14] S1: It's funny. This is the thing about startups, is like, yeah, you know, having having done one, it's like on the outside, you know, there's so much glamour around it, so much hype. And then it's like, it's actually you driving in a rental car in some like little town, you know, nobody around. And it's like three hours just for you to have a meeting where they're like, cool, thank you so much. Like, and you're like, okay, that's my day.
00:39:33 · AJ Loiacono
[00:39:33] S0: And it's terrible. Like, you know, like I will be fair, like the first couple of times you get really pumped and excited. And you're like, I have a customer and they want to talk to us, and this is so exciting. But then by the time you're it's like your 78th, you know, kind of one of these, you're just like, I think we could make a the earlier flight if we hurry. Yeah, exactly. But no, it is not glamorous or sexy. But when you are engaging with the customer, and I think this is important, this is I think really helpful advice is you know, we have hundreds of customers and we service millions of lives here directly. And I'm still the client manager on two of our oldest accounts. And people are like, why would you, as the CEO, be an account manager? And I go, Because I have a direct line to the feedback, what's working, what's not, what keeps them up at night, what could we do better? And I always want to say, like, yeah, is that in some sort of KPI report or, you know, someone giving me a presentation? I go, yes. But what keeps it what I would say honest and direct and raw is working with those customers. And I never gave up two of them, still to this day.
00:40:47 · Pablo Srugo, AJ Loiacono
[00:40:47] S1: So that's how you have this is like half the battle because you provide a great service, you're on top with your customers, your customers should be happy. Are you actively turning that into testimonials, or are you just doing it reactively where it's you're selling and they're like, hey, anybody else? And you're like, Yeah, sure, call these guys. Or are you doing something a little bit more proactive to get them kind of as brand ambassadors talking about you on your behalf? [00:41:09] S0: Sure. So now we're a little bit more sophisticated. So we ask everyone to participate in our annual survey for customer support and service. And so the typically head of HR or the head of total rewards or benefits at an organization is doing this review session and you know, filling in our rating. But one of the questions we ask is, can we use you as a reference? And that is extraordinarily important. And then we have another line and says, Would you ever be interested in doing a conference with us? So we have an annual conference for our customers or a panel or, you know, a featured broadcast of some sort. And, you know, you'll get people that are a little bit shy. You'll get people that are like, I would like to do it, but my company is just, they're so difficult. You know, we're a Fortune 500 company, it's very difficult for me to get approval to say anything about anything. But you still get people that do. And so you are being proactive to find the people that are allowed and willing to do it.
00:41:09 · AJ Loiacono, Pablo Srugo
[00:41:09] S0: Sure. So now we're a little bit more sophisticated. So we ask everyone to participate in our annual survey for customer support and service. And so the typically head of HR or the head of total rewards or benefits at an organization is doing this review session and you know, filling in our rating. But one of the questions we ask is, can we use you as a reference? And that is extraordinarily important. And then we have another line and says, Would you ever be interested in doing a conference with us? So we have an annual conference for our customers or a panel or, you know, a featured broadcast of some sort. And, you know, you'll get people that are a little bit shy. You'll get people that are like, I would like to do it, but my company is just, they're so difficult. You know, we're a Fortune 500 company, it's very difficult for me to get approval to say anything about anything. But you still get people that do. And so you are being proactive to find the people that are allowed and willing to do it. [00:42:19] S1: So let's shift gears. The other thing that I thought you were doing very well was on the hiring side. You you said you had about 90% retention for employees after four years, which is incredible because there's a lot of turnover in you know, in in tech and all these kind of startups. Um, the key you said was really hiring for mission. So I'm curious on just your hiring approach, especially the first 30, 40, 50 employees, like how did you go about hiring them? What did you do that was that was different, that was unique?
00:42:47 · AJ Loiacono
[00:42:47] S0: So the first 40 or so I was certainly involved with. And if it wasn't me hiring or recruiting that person directly, it was certainly me being involved with a panel of review. Like, hey, tell me why. These hires meant a lot. So we do a meet the new hires meeting uh every Monday here in our company. And I tell this story when I meet the new hires, because I normally see a new class every Monday of 20 or 30 new people. I mean, it's crazy. And when they come in, you know, I tell them the story. Once upon a time, we used to actually take you to dinner. We used to be like, hey, like it was such a huge moment that we hired someone this month. We'd be like, all right, like Linda, we're taking you to dinner. And they'd be like, all right. But then over time that didn't scale. And then we used to call everybody. Like I used to call every you know, person individually, and be like, hey, welcome to the company. I want to introduce myself. That didn't scale well with calendars. So now we do it as a group and it's a meet and greet. They introduce themselves, they ask a question of me, and it could be anything personal, business, experience, et cetera. And you know, it's the whole goal is for me to get to know them a little bit better and for them to get to know me a better. Better. But going back to your question is the piece that we kept finding over and over of people that were just our high performers, like our A players were the people that believed in the mission. Like wholeheartedly. Like, I want to change healthcare. I want to improve healthcare. And I think this is the way to do it. That made all the difference in the world. And I do want to say something is people ask me, like, well, what do you mean by high performer? High performer in my world is I say this all the time. D players see a problem and say nothing. Hopefully, most companies don't have any of those people. C players see something and be like, hey, there's a problem. And they report it to a supervisor or manager. You know, the B players are like, hey, I saw, you know, this problem. You could do A or B to solve for this. Oh, okay. You're giving me some solutions. The A players see something and fix it. And I never knew it even was a problem. And I'm stealing that from President Barack Obama, to be fair. I think that he has said that before. A players for him do that.
00:45:04 · AJ Loiacono, Pablo Srugo
And I couldn't agree more because when you're dealing with complex workflows and a human interaction, it's healthcare. You want people, obviously, that care about the mission, but they're willing to solve, like to go beyond. Like, hey, something is always going to break or fail on the system, but I'm going to fix it. And I think those people, what they all have in common, believe in the mission. [00:45:28] S1: So, I mean, there's kind of two parts to that. I'm curious how you tested for either the A-player side, people who are going to go and just fix things, and then the mission piece. Like, the problem with interviews is they're fakeable, they're gameable, you know, and especially something like mission. Hey, you know, why do you want to work here? Oh my God, it just health is so boring, what you guys are doing. It's, you know, I'm going to transform an industry. I mean, it'd be relatively easy for somebody to fake it, at least in terms of the words they say. How did you learn to test for that in a way that was at least relatively accurate to reality? Yeah. [00:45:57] S0: So in the early days, I will be fair, is we wouldn't bring up the question or ask about it. Like, why did you know? So we're trying to set someone up that is going to mention that they believe in the mission. The second thing that we almost always listen for is someone who relates to a bad experience in healthcare. That could be personal, that could be a family member. And I felt if those two things occurred, we had a high probability of this person's but you wanted it to come out naturally.