Startups & Venture-Backed Tech
The people building teams at startups, scaleups, and venture-backed companies.
Joe Ashford
Oxford Quantum Circuits
Tal Assayag
Forte
Dolph Augustus
Hashgraph
Ben Blundell
Meter
Amanda Bradtmueller
Apploi
Kathryn Bremner
Arc Network
Brendan Browne
Replit
Randi-Lynn Bruso
FullStory
Michaela Burpoe
Supabase
Caitlin Byrnes
Audacious
Calder
OpenSea
Brooke Carter
OpenGov
Lauren Cassen
Savvy
Ginny Cheng
ŌURA
Benjamin Cheung
Rillet
Elizabeth (Liz) Clement
Hydrosat
Tripp Conrad
Goanna Capital
Sejal Patel D.
Ayar Labs
Jessica Davis
Hopper
Nihal Deopura
Whop
Nico Dontas
Red Cloud Technology
Joseph Doyle
Harness
Finnian Durkan
Nooks
Luke Eaton
Ava Labs
Meghan Emswiller
Dental Intelligence Inc.
Thomas Evangelista
Zip
Maggie Fish
Grafana Labs
Lauren Frailey
Mintlify
Billy Gavin
Carwow
Justin Glaser
Instawork
Carly Goldberg
Cape
Katie Gregoire
Highspot
Charles Guillemet
Lovable
Todd Hazen
HUMAN CAPITAL
Stephanie Holman
Defense Unicorns
Meghan Hudson
Sygaldry Technologies
Melissa (Woodburn) Kaganovsky
Parallel Web Systems
Akbar Karenga
Screenloop
Jocelyn S. Lai
Duolingo
Carlos Lezama
Serval
Catherine McClure
Audacious
Kelly McKenna
OpenTable
Kebone Moloko
Gusto
Ariana Moon
Greenhouse
Kelsey Morris
ARQ
Lori Schwartz Noel
ZenBusiness
Joe Ortiz
FINNY
Andy Pittman
ShipBob
John Quach
Astrocade
Ashleigh Ranero
Gusto
Adrian Rice
Intrinsic
Taylor Roa
Forus
Naché Robertson
Attentive
Nerida Rooney
Voyse
Adam Rousseau
Cursor
Alexandra Scheiman
Path Robotics
Laura Scott
Checkatrade
Gia Sharda
Beacon Software
Sabrina Silva
Apollo.io
Colette Turner
Stripe
Grace Turner
Pallet
Dani Unsworth
Semaloop
Rando Valdes
Oura
Vanessa Wainwright
Abodoo
Tessa Wilder
Anduril Industries
Erin Wilson
Rox
Rachel Wortsman
Intercom
Emil Yeargin
Squint
Lou Zumpano
Baseten
About this category
Each Talent 100 category recognizes up to 100 honorees. 69 of the honorees in the Class of 2026 belong to Startups & Venture-Backed Tech. They lead talent and recruiting work at organizations including Audacious, Gusto, Abodoo, Anduril Industries, and Apollo.io. Each profile covers how they got into recruiting, how their team hires today, and what they think is changing about the work.
Honorees are selected through a dual-path process: about half are nominated directly by fellow people and recruiting leaders, and the rest by selection committees of senior talent practitioners and industry advisors who seek out leaders who may be under-recognized. Nominations are free and selection is based on merit. See the Talent 100 overview for the full process, or browse every category of the class.
Other Talent 100 categories
- Enterprise Technology - Talent leaders at the world's established technology companies.
- AI, Data & Security - Talent leaders shaping hiring at AI, data, and cybersecurity companies.
- Financial & Professional Services - Talent acquisition across banking, fintech, insurance, legal, and consulting.
- Healthcare & Life Sciences - The talent leaders behind healthcare systems, biotech, and pharma.
- Consumer, Retail & Hospitality - Hiring leaders across consumer brands, retail, travel, and hospitality.
- Industrial, Energy & Manufacturing - Talent leaders powering industrial, energy, logistics, and manufacturing teams.
- Agency & Staffing - The standout talent leaders at agencies and staffing firms.
- Executive Search - The people trusted to place leadership at the highest levels.
- Recruiting Operations & Enablement - The builders behind recruiting operations, tooling, and enablement.
- Talent Leadership & People Operations - Senior people leaders whose scope spans far beyond recruiting.
- Founders & Independents - Founders and independent practitioners charting their own course.