Aflevering Scaling Your Startup Without Losing Its Soul With Relinde Boerman | Ep. 145

Most startups hire fast. But is that the right hiring strategy? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Relinde Boerman, lead recruiter at PolarSteps. This travel app startup scaled from 20 to nearly 100 employees while maintaining the culture that made it special. We explore why PolarSteps ignores time-to-hire as a metric, how they assess culture fit beyond vague feelings, and what it takes to build a talent-dense team that doesn't compromise on values. Relinde explains how clearly defined values become hiring criteria, why curiosity matters more than perfect clarity in a scaling environment, and how their "day at the office" interview process reveals what traditional interviews miss. This episode is for female founders, startup leaders, and anyone building a team who wants to understand how to scale without sacrificing the culture that makes your company special. What you'll learn in this episode - Why time-to-hire is the wrong metric for culture-driven startups - How to translate abstract company values into concrete hiring behaviors - What "talent density" means and why it matters more than headcount - Why hiring "overqualified" people for first-of-kind roles is a smart strategy - How a full-day interview reveals what 3 rounds of traditional interviews can't - What it takes to maintain culture while scaling from 20 to 100 employees Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:02 Relinde's Journey to Polarsteps 04:47 The Growth of Polarsteps 07:20 Maintaining Company Culture During Rapid Growth 10:23 The Importance of Values in Recruitment 12:54 Hiring for Culture Fit15:38 Assessing Cultural Drift 17:54 Defining Company Values 20:05 Embedding Values in the Hiring Process 22:15 Curiosity as a Cultural Element 25:12 Balancing Clarity and Ambiguity in a Fast-Paced Environment 27:58 The Role of Leadership in Culture 30:14 High Impact, Talent Density, and Values 33:10 Navigating Commercial Pressures in Hiring 35:43 Addressing Hiring Mistakes 38:15 The Day at the Office: A Unique Hiring Approach 40:59 Onboarding and Settling In 43:42 Fostering Belonging in a Hybrid Setup 46:51 Career Growth and Internal Mobility 49:23 Hiring a New CEO 52:19 Advice for Female Founders 55:15 Closing Thoughts and Resources Connect with Relinde Boerman and PolarSteps Relinde Boerman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/relindeboerman/ Polarsteps on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarsteps/ Polarsteps website: https://www.polarsteps.com/ Polarsteps careers: https://careers.polarsteps.com/ ?? Listen to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. ?? Subscribe for more conversations on building sustainable, culture-driven tech companies.