When I joined GoFundMe, I was employee number 50. By the time I left, the company had grown to more than 900 people across multiple countries. Those nine years shaped me in ways no other role ever has, and they gave me lessons that I will carry for the rest of my career.
Scaling a company at that pace was not just about hiring quickly. It was about protecting culture, building systems that could survive the next growth wave, and making tough calls even when they were unpopular. It was about balancing the human side of talent with the business realities of scale. Here are the biggest lessons I learned along the way.
1. Hiring Is About Who You Let In and Who You Don’t
In the early days, we focused on skill and potential. We needed people who could jump in and figure things out as we went. Later, I saw how critical it was to weigh culture fit and shared values just as heavily as experience. Every wrong hire had ripple effects. One person who was misaligned could lower trust, slow down a team, or damage morale in ways that were hard to repair.
I had to learn that recruiting was not just about saying “yes.” It was about having the discipline to say “no,” even when executives were pressuring me to fill a role yesterday. The hardest part was learning to trust my instincts and protect the culture, even when speed seemed like the top priority.
2. Build for Scale Before You Need It
At 50 employees, you can run on intuition, whiteboards, and spreadsheets. By the time you hit 500, that completely breaks. I learned quickly that if you wait until you feel the pain, you are already behind.
We invested in an ATS, created interview training, and built workforce planning models before they felt urgent. At first, it was hard to convince leaders that these things mattered, but when the hiring wave hit, we were ready. The companies that delay building for scale end up spending twice as much time and energy fixing problems later.
3. The Best Leaders Grow With the Company
One of the hardest lessons was realizing that not everyone scales at the same pace as the business. Some leaders are incredible in the scrappy early days, but struggle when things become more structured. Others do not shine until systems are in place and the company matures.
As Head of Talent, I had to help leaders grow, support them through change, and sometimes make the painful decision to part ways with people I respected and cared for deeply. Those moments taught me that leadership is not only about creating opportunity. It is about being honest and doing what is best for both the company and the individual.
4. Transparency Builds Trust, Especially in Hard Times
GoFundMe went through many chapters: hypergrowth, international expansion, acquisitions, and eventually restructures. Through every transition, the thing that held teams together was transparency. Even when the news was difficult, people respected honesty.
I learned that over-communicating was never the mistake. Under-communicating was. Silence created uncertainty and fear, while transparency built trust, even in the hardest moments.
5. People Remember How You Made Them Feel
Looking back, the systems, dashboards, and strategies mattered. But what people carried with them long after was how they felt. Were they treated fairly? Did they feel heard? Did they grow in their role?
The real impact of talent work is not in the processes you design. It is in how people experience them. That was the lesson that shaped me most.
Final Thought
Scaling GoFundMe from 50 to over 900 employees was not just another career chapter. It was a masterclass in building teams, leading through constant change, and learning how much people matter in every equation.
The biggest lesson I walked away with is simple. Growth is never just about numbers. It is about building something that lasts because the people inside it believe in the mission, the culture, and each other.
Leave a Reply