The Marketing Rizz Podcast with Matt Woodard - Hiring Top Talent in 2026

If your hiring strategy is just "post a job ad and pray," you are actively slowing down your company's growth. Hiring isn't a transaction; it’s a system. On this episode of The Marketing Rizz Podcast, we have a conversation with Matt Woodard, the founder of Scalr. Matt has spent over 20 years building and optimizing Talent Acquisition (TA) functions from the ground up for massive high-growth tech brands like Xero, Zendesk, and Slalom Build. We dive deep into how founders, CEOs, and people leaders can build hiring infrastructure that supports scale instead of breaking under pressure. What We Covered in This Episode: 👉 The Infrastructure Fix: Why founders constantly underestimate structured hiring (and the signals that prove your current process is broken). 👉 The AI Shift: How Artificial Intelligence is actually impacting recruitment in 2026 and what the next 5 years look like. 👉 Global Talent: Matt’s raw take on outsourcing to powerhouse hubs like India and the Philippines. 👉 Frameworks over Resumes: The exact interview frameworks that actually predict on-the-job performance for startups. 👉 The Founder Hand-off: At exactly what stage founders need to stop acting as the primary recruiter and build a formal TA function. The Big Takeaway: "Fast-growing companies don't usually struggle with hiring; they struggle with retention because they hired for speed instead of alignment." #TalentAcquisition #StartupGrowth #HiringFrameworks #RecruitmentAI #FounderTips