Handshake COO, Jonathan Stull on democratizing access to opportunity, the journey to $100M ARR & a $3.5B valuation, building a three-sided marketplace, timing, global expansion, adding independent board members, the move to hiring specialists, and more

Handshake COO, Jonathan Stull, joins to talk about the journey of building a three-sided marketplace to $100M ARR at a $3.5B valuation with over 500 employees. We touch on the role of COO at Handshake; Jonathan's path from waiting tables to Capital Hill to PE to tech; compromising on tactics but not on vision or mission; adding independent board members; deploying $100MMs in funding; the move from hiring generalists to specialists; global expansion; timing and more.

Handshake’s mission is to democratize access to opportunity: to help every student find the right job, no matter where they’re from or who they know.

Today, Handshake is the number one site for college students to find jobs. Handshake powers career offices at 1,300+ higher ed institutions—including 100+ community and technical colleges. With 550,000+ employers recruiting on Handshake—from every Fortune 500 company to nonprofits, startups, and more—schools that join Handshake see on average a 3x increase in the size and diversity of their employer network.

Jonathan Stull on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonstull/

Handshake: https://joinhandshake.com/

Michael Koenig on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mkoenig514/

Between Two COO's: https://betweentwocoos.com/

Episode Site: https://betweentwocoos.com/handshake-coo-jonathan-stull/