Ep 03 - World’s Best Boss: Sam Nasserian

We sat down with Sam Nasserian, Founder and CEO of Cozymeal, the top marketplace for culinary experiences in North America. We’ll learn how he has built one of the biggest networks of chefs worldwide and has managed remote teams for companies including Upwork, Cozymeal, and JustAnswer.

World’s Best Boss with Ruckus is a series of conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders that explore how the best bosses attract fantastic people, build up their teams, and keep their employees happy.

In this episode, Sam shares the keys to maintaining culture and keeping your teams mission-aligned even when handling a growing remote team. He talks about the traits he looks for when hiring and why it’s important to prepare case studies and ask practical questions. Lastly, Sam reveals the lessons he learned from failed products of Cozymeal. All this and more! 

Here’s What We Discussed: 

• [00:16] Sam tells us about his background and experience 
• [02:22] Sam shares how his passion for cooking began and his favorite cuisine 
• [04:47] Why asking real-world questions is a great indicator of culture fit when hiring
• [07:50] The traits Sam looks for when hiring someone 
• [07:50] How to invoke strengths within your teams 
• [12:54] Sam shares his tips and mistakes for handling cross-continent remote teams 
• [17:10] How has Covid caused you to shift gears?   
• [23:06] How to maintain culture and excitement in the company while growing  
• [26:00] Sam shares the mistakes and lessons learned from a failed product 

About Our Speakers 

Sam Nasserian, is an entrepreneur, speaker, and startup advisor. In 2014, he founded Cozymeal, the #1 marketplace in the U.S. and Canada featuring the best culinary experiences and products, including top-rated cooking classes, private chef experiences, team-building activities, cookware, and more!

About Our Moderator

Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

 

Quotes

“[Asking real-world questions] not only helps us better assess if they can think analytically, or if they can solve a problem, but they'll also help us assess to a certain extent if they could be a good culture fit.” - Sam Nasserian 

 

“It's very important to me that I empower the team members, and I think it's good for the team member, but also ultimately it's good for the company. When we hire team members we should define clear goals, and give the individual enough responsibilities that that individual owns part of the business.” - Sam Nasserian  

 

“It's also important that they see a purpose in the job. That really helps get the best out of the individual, when they know there's really a purpose. It's not just like they’re meeting their goal, making a salary and bonuses, but also, they’re actually helping our partners have a better life 

and a better income.”  - Sam Nasserian 

 

“The things we were trying to do in terms of culture when we were a much smaller team, it's important to try to maintain them even when you're a big team… You want to make sure that everyone is aware of the company vision, and ideally, you wanna have the buy-in of every single team member.” - Sam Nasserian 

 

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts! 

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