How Social-Impact Startup Manara Built Their Leadership Team with Scalrr
Iliana Montauk, CEO & Co-Founder at Manara“Best recruiter I’ve worked with now supports startups! We all know how painful it is to find a good recruiter. After trying out ~10 I’ve finally found someone I love. For us he’s doing Design, Eng, Product & Marketing. He has also helped set up our processes and recruit for 4 roles concurrently.”
Introduction
Recruiting stage-relevant talent for your startup can be challenging at an early stage. The process can feel daunting against the backdrop of all of your other business priorities, yet you know how critical it is to bring in the right people. After numerous attempts, Manara, a Y Combinator-backed social impact startup, found a meaningful solution in Scalrr, a boutique executive recruiting firm specializing in early-stage companies. Scalrr's unique approach and strategic partnership transformed Manara's leadership hiring process, delivering exceptional results that set the stage for its growth journey.
Client Background
Manara, led by CEO and Co-Founder Iliana Montauk and CTO and Co-Founder Laila Abudahi, is on a mission to drive social impact in the tech sector of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a special focus on empowering women and promoting technology workers in Palestine. Supported by top investors including Y Combinator, Stripe, and Reid Hoffman, Manara identifies and prepares top computer scientists from the MENA region for interviews, while also bridging the diversity gap in tech. The startup's impact has been recognized by global giants like Google and Meta, attesting to its unrivaled potential.
The Challenge
As a promising early-stage startup, Manara sought to enhance its leadership team and bolster its technical capabilities. It aimed to fill strategic positions across operations, engineering, and marketing while expanding its presence in Europe and the Middle East. All attempts with recruiters yielded frustration, until Manara engaged Scalrr, which was ready to meet its unique challenges head-on.
The Scalrr Solution
Scalrr's commitment to early-stage startups made it the perfect partner for Manara. The firm offered two distinct engagement models: a retained search for leadership recruiting and a subscription model, called Team Builds, for multiple concurrent strategic role searches. Manara opted for the subscription model due to its flexibility and the need for holistic talent support, a decision that epitomized the company’s startup mindset. This partnership also provided talent advising at no extra cost, a value-add that set Scalrr apart.
In addition to recruiting from different geographies and finding individuals who could thrive at an early-stage startup, Scalrr adapted to Manara’s processes, including using the ATS they already had, Breezy.
The Results
Scalrr's involvement in Manara's hiring extended to a spectrum of roles essential for the startup’s growth:
Director of Strategy & Operations
Director of Product Design
Director of B2B Growth Marketing
Senior Software Engineers
Over five months, Scalrr effectively collaborated with Manara, fulfilling all four key roles across diverse domains and geographies. This accomplishment was fueled by a combination of direct search, tapping into Scalrr’s vast network, and leveraging automation, tech, and communications to find, engage, and ultimately hire top talent for Manara. Scalrr engaged in writing campaigns, managing the end-to-end pipeline, and optimizing the candidate experience. This comprehensive support demonstrates Scalrr’s commitment to its clients' success.
The Path to Success
The linchpin of Manara’s success was the true partnership forged between the two companies. Scalrr gained extensive access to Manara's company information, tools, and teams, making it an integral part of the startup's talent strategy. Weekly sync calls facilitated deep understanding of Manara's culture, values, and updates, ensuring that candidate fit extended beyond technical skills.
Slack channels and WhatsApp messaging enabled real-time communication. Scalrr immersed itself in Manara's culture, and was even invited into the internal watercooler Slack channel, allowing Scalrr to experience the startup's ethos firsthand. A culture of radical candor fostered open feedback and constant refinement of strategies.
Adaptation and Innovation
Scalrr's success with Manara was driven by an innovative approach, leveraging Manara’s network for referrals and insights and employing A/B testing of job titles and recruiting campaigns. The partnership extended to feedback exchange, where both sides collaboratively refined interview and assessment strategies. The partnership was marked by a willingness to learn, adjust, and adapt, leading to a strong alignment of goals and strategies.
Conclusion
In Scalrr, Manara found a recruiting partner that shared its vision and passion. The innovative subscription model, coupled with Scalrr's relentless commitment to success, enabled Manara to build a robust leadership team and strengthen its technical capability. This partnership not only filled roles, but transformed Manara's hiring approach, demonstrating how startups can leverage strategic recruiting to drive growth, innovation, and social impact. Scalrr's proven track record with Manara showcases its expertise and unique value proposition for early-stage founders seeking to revolutionize their leadership hiring.
