How a $3M Blockchain Startup Saved $400K and Fast-Tracked Product Development

Case Study: How Pooky Saved $400K and Fast-Tracked Product Development with Strategic Talent Acquisition

Challenge

As Pooky navigated its initial growth phase post-seed funding, the company faced several critical challenges in scaling its operations:

1. Rapid Product Development: To meet critical milestones, Pooky needed to swiftly build a core Engineering and Growth Team capable of accelerating product enhancements and new features.

2. Specialized Talent Acquisition: The startup required senior engineers and growth specialists with robust expertise in blockchain technology and deep domain knowledge relevant to sports and gaming.

3. Cultural Fit and Stability: Finding highly motivated candidates who fit the company’s dynamic culture was crucial. Candidates needed to exhibit high energy, a stable career history without frequent job hopping, and deep technical and domain expertise.

4. Cost Optimization: As an early-stage startup, Pooky was focused on optimizing costs. The founders recognized the importance of cautious financial management to ensure long-term sustainability in the competitive tech landscape.

Solution

To address Pooky’s recruitment challenges and ensure a smooth scale-up, Globy implemented a comprehensive remote hiring strategy with several key components:

1. Strategic Remote Hiring Framework: Globy provided expert guidance on the best practices for remote hiring, helping Pooky establish an effective approach and process tailored to their needs.

2. Optimal Location Identification: Considering technical and domain expertise, salary expectations, and cultural fit, Globy identified top geographic locations with a concentration of suitable talent. This strategic selection ensured access to skilled professionals in regions aligned with Pooky’s operational requirements.

3. International Recruiter Squad: To accelerate the hiring process, Globy assigned a team of its senior recruiters from various countries. This diverse team worked simultaneously across selected regions, ensuring a swift and wide-reaching talent search.

4. Regional Pitch Customization: The recruitment pitch was adapted for each region to attract top-tier candidates, highlighting Pooky’s unique value proposition and the benefits of joining their team.

5. Streamlined Sourcing and Vetting: Globy handled the entire internal process of sourcing and vetting candidates before presenting them to Pooky. This pre-vetting process significantly reduced the time Pooky spent reviewing unsuitable candidates, leading to a high hiring success rate.

This strategic approach enabled Pooky to build a robust core team quickly and efficiently, minimizing recruitment time and aligning with their financial and operational goals.

Candidate Requirements

Pooky is seeking highly qualified individuals for their expansion, focusing on the following key criteria:

1. Technical Expertise: Candidates must have in-depth knowledge of blockchain, Go, Node, React technologies.

2. Industry Experience: Experience in the sports and gaming sectors is crucial to understand and drive product relevance and engagement.

3. Communication Skills: Fluency in English with excellent communication abilities is essential for collaborating within a fully remote team.

4. Cultural Fit: High motivation, stable career history (minimum two years per position), and strong alignment with Pooky’s dynamic culture are required.

5. Time Zone Compatibility: Candidates should be able to work in time zones that facilitate effective collaboration across Pooky’s international team.

6. Business Acumen: Understanding the business dynamics of blockchain in the gaming industry, including regulatory compliance, is important.

Recruitment Pipeline Performance and Results

Conclusion: The recruitment drive for Senior Fullstack Engineers showed commendable efficiency, with 62.5% passing the initial interviews, 50% advancing through the tech challenges, and 25% meeting both technical and cultural benchmarks to secure employment. This reflects a strong alignment with Pooky’s high standards, ensuring that only the most qualified candidates were selected.

Conclusion: The Fullstack recruitment process at Sydecar maintained high retention rates across stages, with many candidates advancing from technical to cultural rounds and ultimately being hired. This demonstrates the effectiveness of their recruitment in securing candidates who are both technically skilled and a good cultural match.

Testimonial

“What I really like about Globy is the process, with clear visibility over the prospect pipeline by using modern AI tools, a modern approach fitting the needs of a young web3 start-up like ours, allowing us to hire talents in a very short time frame. I can vouch for them.”

Claudio Riff | Co-Founder at Pooky

Conclusion and Summary of Achievements

Pooky’s strategic recruitment efforts have not only optimized their operational efficiency but also significantly accelerated their product development timeline. By implementing a targeted recruitment strategy, Pooky has achieved notable successes:

• High Conversion Rate: The recruitment process demonstrated a high conversion rate, indicating efficient candidate screening. This efficiency minimized the time and resources typically spent on the hiring process, allowing Pooky to allocate more focus on product development and other core activities.

• Annual Cost Savings: Pooky saved approximately $400,000 annually in combined salary and operational costs. This substantial saving underscores the effectiveness of their cost-optimization strategies in a competitive tech market.

• Rapid Team Assembly: The swift onboarding of a highly qualified engineering team helped meet crucial product development deadlines. This was essential for maintaining momentum in Pooky’s innovative blockchain-based gaming platform.

• Strong Core Team: The high standards maintained during the recruitment process ensured that the candidates not only filled the technical needs of the roles but also aligned well with Pooky’s culture, creating a strong, cohesive core team.

These achievements highlight Pooky’s ability to effectively manage recruitment challenges, leading to significant operational gains and positioning the company for sustained growth and success in the blockchain and sports gaming industry.