How Rillet’s Founder and CEO Screwed Up ‘Domain’ Hiring | Startups

Nicolas Kopp—CEO and founder of Rillet—reveals how he screwed up hiring by over-indexing on customer empathy and believing anyone could learn anything given enough time. He learned the hard way that domain expertise matters, especially when accounting hires couldn’t ramp up fast enough to meet startup demands. But instead of abandoning his philosophy, Nicolas refined it. He developed a nuanced framework for when to bet on potential vs. experience, and created a playbook to set unconventional hires up for success. In this interview, Nicolas breaks down his top tactics: co-leading early customer calls, sequencing projects to stretch new hires gradually, and spotting early signs they’re on track. Whether you're wrestling with the trade-offs between functional experience and domain knowledge, or are trying to train high-potential talent into unfamiliar roles, this episode is packed with useful lessons in strategic hiring. CHAPTERS 00:00 Nicolas intro 00:15 Show intro 01:28 The early days 01:45 Hiring philosophy 03:16 The mistake 04:08 The cost 05:29 Lessons learned 06:15 Success stories 08:16 Signs of an exceptional domain hire 09:33 Spotting an exceptional domain hire 10:58 Setting hires up for success 12:57 Beyond hiring Enjoy these founder confessions? Sign up to get new episodes delivered straight to your inbox → https://www.rippling.com/first-princi... - Increase savings, automate busy work, and make better decisions by managing payroll, HR, IT, and spend in one place. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system. Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.8B from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks and Bedrock— and is ranked one of America's best startup employers by Forbes, as well as in Fortune's Future 50 Check us out on: LinkedIn:   / rippling   X: https://x.com/rippling Instagram:   / ripplinghq   Facebook:  / ripplingapp   Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organizati... App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ripplin... Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...