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.

Jack Coleman, Co-Founder of Double Yolk, shares his journey from launching one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing startups to leading it through acquisition by global firm Outsourced in 2024. With a background spanning entrepreneurship and corporate leadership, Jack offers practical insight into building strong teams, scaling with intention, and maintaining founder resilience through change.

Jeanelle Ooi, Principal Talent & People Experience Partner at Auror, draws on over a decade of experience scaling high-growth teams globally. Joining Auror shortly after its Series B, she has helped the company expand to over 250 people across four markets. Passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), Jeanelle champions creating inclusive, high-performing environments where every team member can thrive.

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.