#02: He Sold ProfitWell for $200M | Now He's Fixing the Broken Job Market

Peter Zotto is the founder of Trove and the co-founder of ProfitWell, which he grew to 35,000 customers and sold to Paddle for $200 million. Job applications are up 286% year over year. Recruiters are drowning in thousands of AI-tailored resumes, and a tenured Silicon Valley PM with Amazon, Lyft and DoorDash on her resume couldn't get a single phone screen. It's never been easier to apply and never been harder to be evaluated as a human. So what does hiring look like when nobody can tell who's real? Expect to learn why networking matters more now than at any point in the last 30 years, how the AI arms race between applicants and recruiters actually works, why most AI hiring tools are just faster horses, the two flavors of resume counterfeiting from rounded-up conversion rates to North Korean agents using stolen identities, what 250+ interviews taught Peter about hiring on vibes and pedigree, why HubSpot's best sellers failed at his startup, the two non-negotiable traits he screens for, why real startup business happens between 5pm and 9am, the personalized video ABM campaign shot one prospect at a time years before AI, why Peter refuses to automate outreach to people who just lost their jobs and much more… ========== Guest: Peter Zotto, founder of Trove (thetrove.io), previously co-founder and CRO of ProfitWell (acquired by Paddle for $200M). Connect with Peter:   / peterzotto   Connect with Leon:   / leonwosko   Want to have human writers create content for your LinkedIn personal brand? Check out our offer on https://www.publicative.com ========== Chapters: 00:00 Intro: Peter Zotto, founder of Trove, $200M ProfitWell exit 02:36 Why networking matters more now than in 30 years 03:42 Why Peter started Trove: telling career stories that prove impact 06:41 The Silicon Valley PM who couldn't get a phone screen 10:15 Where hiring goes in 5 years: the data layer for AI agents 13:20 North Korean agents with stolen identities in tech jobs 14:48 Hiring on vibes: Peter's mistakes from 250+ interviews 19:37 Why HubSpot sellers failed at ProfitWell 23:22 Real business happens between 5pm and 9am 25:24 Unscalable growth: personalized video ABM before AI existed 29:07 How Peter does unscalable outreach at Trove today 31:24 What should stay human: wine bots, doctors and hiring 34:19 Outro ========== Human-Led Growth is the podcast where B2B tech and AI founders share how they turn human trust into revenue through reputation, relationships and measures AI cannot automate. Hosted by Leon Wosko, founder of Publicative.com. ========== Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: W7BFOD9PJT6SNXMC