EPISODE · Apr 13, 2026 · 59 MIN
Building Teams That Scale And What Happens When They Don't | Will Blaze
from TRADEOFFS: The Hardware Startup Podcast · host Nate Padgett, Chris Rill
On this episode, we sat down with Will Blaze, technical recruiter and founder of Blaze Talent, where he helps hardware and AI companies scale their engineering teams. Will shares his journey from scrappy startup recruiting at Birchbox to scaling Peloton from 150 to nearly 10,000 people, and getting laid off twice in 2022, including once while on paternity leave.Today, Will brings that experience to companies like CoreWeave and Andium, helping them hire the right people at the right time. Throughout our conversation, Will shares lessons on when to hire full-time versus contractors, why structured interviews matter more than most founders think, and the trade-offs you have to make when you can't check all 10 boxes.Learn more about Will and Blaze Talent: www.blazetalent.comFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm
What this episode covers
On this episode, we sat down with Will Blaze, technical recruiter and founder of Blaze Talent, where he helps hardware and AI companies scale their engineering teams. Will shares his journey from scrappy startup recruiting at Birchbox to scaling Peloton from 150 to nearly 10,000 people, and getting laid off twice in 2022, including once while on paternity leave.Today, Will brings that experience to companies like CoreWeave and Andium, helping them hire the right people at the right time. Throughout our conversation, Will shares lessons on when to hire full-time versus contractors, why structured interviews matter more than most founders think, and the trade-offs you have to make when you can't check all 10 boxes.Learn more about Will and Blaze Talent: www.blazetalent.comFor more information on the podcast, check out https://tradeoffs.fm
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Building Teams That Scale And What Happens When They Don't | Will Blaze
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