The startup talent quest

Making decisions around talent when your startup is in the early stages can be unsettling for founders, particularly if capital is tight. 

That makes this a pivotal time for nine-month-old Ideally. 

In November 2023, the customer insights platform announced $2.15m in seed investment. In the next month or so, the company will crack its 100th customer, already counting Telstra, Lion and Arnott’s amongst its Kiwi and Aussie client base. 

With such growth, the startup has had to make strategic hires. International brand marketer and ex-Googler, Maura Halpin, among them.

With over 18 years of experience in brand and product marketing, media and creative strategy, consumer insights, and go-to-market strategy, Halpin is “all about what makes consumers tick”. She has stepped into the newly created role of marketing lead. 

“I love understanding consumer behaviour and how we use behavioural theory to sell things and market to people and connect with them through creative and breakthrough marketing comms,” she says. 

Ideally cofounder and CRO Joshua Nu’u-Steele says with two-thirds of Ideally’s customers marketers themselves, hiring Halpin as a marketing lead was a “no-brainer”. 

“We wanted the best of the best and were fortunate to find [Halpin] on this journey. Not only did she have phenomenal experience across many disciplines within the marketing space, but she also has lived a life as a marketer,” he says. 

Halpin’s role involves developing and implementing Ideally’s overarching marketing strategy and, in line with its growth plans, has global responsibilities. 

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Attracting top talent

When finding the right people, Nu’u-Steele says it always “come[s] back to gut feel”. 

Backing your ability to read and connect with the person is key, he says. “I felt she was going to be the perfect balance between culture fit and culture add, as well as bringing experience that, as a business, we really need.”

One key consideration for Halpin in her post-Google career was to be surrounded by the right people, so connecting with potential colleagues was important. Prior to joining, she did her own due diligence, attending Ideally events and talking to people she knew adjacent to the startup. 

Halpin was also interested in working on a new technology and having the opportunity to grow as a marketer.

“‘From a marketing perspective, I worked on one of the world’s biggest brands, but I wanted the opportunity to work on more of a challenger brand and a brand that I helped build from the ground up.”

“The most exciting part of my career is working on products, specifically technology products, that have disrupted industries and made them better,” she says. 

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Selling your story

When it comes to nabbing top talent with a lower budget, Nu’u-Steele advises leaning into the mission.

“It always comes back to why we do what we do, sharing that and seeing if that connects with the person we’re interviewing,” he says. 

“The biggest thing I come back to is selling where we’re going to be. It’s easy for me to sell [Ideally] with conviction because I am confident in where we will be in 12, 18, 24 months.” 

While Halpin loved the Ideally product, what sold her on the company was seeing how positively its customers reacted. 

“You can see a bright future for Ideally. It’s had such a strong start, and you have the right brands and people in the room to fuel that growth,” she says. 

When it comes to matters of pay, Halpin believes those conversations should towards the end of the hiring process for startups. 

“If you’re a startup trying to attract talent and pay becomes the first thing you talk about, it’s probably not the right fit,” she says. 

Nu’u-Steele agrees: “People want to work at a startup because they believe in the product. They want to be a part of creating change either because they’re in a disruptive space or because they see the potential of what it could be.” 

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A crystal ball

Halpin is not the only recent Ideally hire. Five new people have joined the team in the last six weeks, bringing the company’s total staff to almost 20 in New Zealand and Australia, with more hires in the pipeline. 

With cracking the US market in the company’s sights, Nu’u-Steele says: “We’re hiring for the position we will be in the next 12 months.”

For now, Halpin and Nu’u-Steele are focused on making Ideally stand out on the world stage. 

“Ideally as a brand has so much to offer. We’re only really scratching the surface with what we’ve been doing to date,” Nu’u-Steele says.

Halpin adds: “[It] has a unique point of view. Right now, we’re working on how we articulate that point of view externally.”

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