In this episode of SaaS Fuel, Jeff Mains sits down with Michelle Griffin, founder of Griffin Resources, to unpack actionable strategies for building strong, flexible, and founder-friendly teams in scalable SaaS businesses.
Michelle draws on her six years of hands-on experience supporting startups and scaling organizations with fractional HR, recruiting, sales ops, and operational support. Listeners will get insights into modern hiring practices, maintaining workplace culture in remote teams, succession planning, supporting diverse career paths, and practical tips for retention and performance—all tailored for founders ready to lead organizations, not just teams.
Key Takeaways
00:00 "Leadership, Growth & Employee Choices"
04:38 HR Consulting Business Story
08:44 Defining Culture Through Feedback
11:42 "Work Culture and Reputation"
14:33 Remote Work Flexibility Enhances Life
18:39 Structured Hiring on a Budget
20:02 "Effective Hiring Practices Overview"
24:11 Cognitive Skills in Hiring
29:01 Promoting Without Management Skills
31:54 Leadership Through People Skills
33:30 Golden Handcuffs and Workplace Happiness
37:56 Mentorship and Career Growth Pathways
41:48 Fair Hiring Practices Matter
43:58 AI Innovation & Leadership Insights
Tweetable Quotes
Viral Topic Title: Company Culture Is Everyone’s Responsibility
Quote: "Maintaining a culture is intentional and the face of the company is the, you know, pretty much the day to day workers. It's everybody. And it's not something that is kind of reserved for leadership and management and especially how your reputation is seen." — Michelle Griffin
Work-Life Balance After COVID: "That was something that we noticed was a huge priority coming out of COVID is people really reprioritized family." — Michelle Griffin
Quote: "You can do something called a structured interview, which is basically just having your set of questions that you're going to ask every single candidate." — Michelle Griffin
Viral Topic: The Pitfall of Promoting Top Performers Without Management Training: "They often will hire or promote people into a role that were good at their jobs but aren't taught or know how to manage people." — Michelle Griffin
Quote: "if someone is really good at just doing their job and they don't want to move up, that you respect that and keep them in, in a role that they're happy in and, you know, you find other ways to keep them engaged and motivated." — Michelle Griffin
SaaS Leadership Lessons
- Listen Before You Build: Startups succeed when they listen intently to client needs and co-develop solutions, rather than forcing a market-fit from the top down.
- Define and Defend Culture: Invest in discovering your team’s values. Protect culture by hiring for fit and embedding it into every policy, not just the handbook.
- Flexibility Drives Retention: Recognizing life priorities and offering flexible, remote, or personalized schedules dramatically reduces turnover and builds loyalty.
- Structure Beats Gut Instinct: Use structured interviews and neutral assessments to mitigate bias and improve hiring outcomes—especially when scaling quickly.
- Prepare for Leadership—Don’t Assume It: Promotion must come with training, support, and encouragement to develop people skills, not just technical expertise.
- Respect Alternative
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