Scaling Startups: People Before Product

Talent is a startup’s greatest asset, but also its biggest challenge. This session explores the art and process of recruiting, onboarding, and rewarding team members, especially as startups scale into international markets.

Hear from startup leaders who’ve navigated the complexities of international hiring, remote team building, and culture scaling. We’ll explore practical tactics for recruiting top talent, onboarding across time zones, fostering inclusive cultures, and creating reward systems that attract and retain world-class people.

Whether you’re expanding offshore, managing hybrid teams, or simply planning your next hire, this session offers invaluable insight into how to build teams that scale with your vision.

🎤Meet the Speakers

Facilitated by Keren Phillips, Startup Aotearoa Coach and former Co-Founder of Weirdly, this session brings together a powerful panel of founders and leaders who have navigated the highs and lows of building impactful businesses.

Charlie Nowaczek, CEO at BoardPro Charlie has over three decades of experience as an operating executive, management advisor, entrepreneur, and consultant, focused on the dynamic "teenager" stage of business: small- to mid-caps on the verge of significant growth. His work has spanned a diverse set of sectors, including SaaS, digital media, financial services, travel technology, and physical infrastructure development. He is currently the CEO of BoardPro, a governance platform solution for SMEs and not-for-profits.

Laura Warden, Laura is Head of Operations at Folklore Ventures, a leading Australian early stage venture capital firm investing in the most ambitious Aussie and Kiwi software founders. She has a long standing career in recruitment, people and operations, starting her career working for a globally leading recruitment firm, Hays, followed by working in people and recruitment operations at Google. Laura then moved to Folklore in a People role and now heads up Operations for the firm. Having worked closely with startups through the gritty realities of pre-seed to the complexities of scaling, exits, and beyond, Laura is deeply passionate about helping founders navigate challenges and unlock their team and companies’ full potential.

Dale Clareburt, experienced all the ups and downs of the startup rollercoaster as CEO and co-founder of Kiwi startup, Weirdly. Now, as the leader of a brand-new recruitment offering, Onside NZ, Dale's helping other scaling business owners build the teams that'll see them through their own ambitious journey.

Lauren Peate, Founder and CEO at Multitudes, focuses on measuring the impact of AI on engineering delivery. With a career dedicated to using data to support people — from leading Ally Skills NZ to consulting at Bain & Co for Fortune 500 tech companies — Lauren brings a deep understanding of how teams can work better together while staying people-first in a tech-driven world.

📌 Please note:
By attending Auckland Startup Week events, you agree to follow our Code of Conduct. We are committed to creating a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for everyone.

🎥 Filming & Photography:
Events will be photographed and recorded. Footage and images may be used for promotional purposes. If you have concerns, please let our team know on the day.