On the TechWaterloo stage ×1
First seen on the TechWaterloo stage in 2017. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Mike ↗
In their words
The mark of a world-class person when I'm interviewing someone is someone who teaches me something during the interview process. You'll come out of that interview smarter than when you went in.
Hiring a minor-league team is fatal. Even though a hire feels reversible, it actually will stall your company out at some point.
We give them a project over Slack that allows us to see things like their grammar, the response times, their etiquette in conversations — over the primary method that we use to communicate as a company.
Quick answers
What does Smile.io do?
It builds loyalty and rewards software — points, referrals and VIP tiers — for e-commerce merchants, and grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo.
How does Mike Rossi hire?
Do the job yourself before you hire for it, ask the best people you know who the best people they know are, and write the job description last. He also runs a second interview as a live project inside the company's Slack.
Was Smile.io always called that?
No. Rossi told the TechWaterloo audience in 2017 that many people still knew the company by its previous name, Sweet Tooth.