People love to talk about the PayPal Mafia's success, but Ramp's alumni are already launching breakout startups less than 7 years into the company's existence.


A lot of it comes down to their strict talent policy:

-Only hiring people you would start a company with.
-Hire for slope and spikeness
-Hire obsessed people who care deeply about every little detail.
-Hire people earlier than anyone else.
-Hire people who have a clear superpower (extremely good at 1-2 things).
-Hire where they have asymmetric information.
-Understand exactly how accurately you judge your own ability, and how far you've actually taken that skill.
-Hire people who raise the temperature and want to go faster.
-Hire people who help them differentiate > hire for versatility.
-Hire people who are excelling in the hardest classes.
-Hire people who got into incredibly selective programs.

That bar is already producing a founder network that most companies never get:

John Sarihan: Co-Founder & CTO of Crosby
Austin Hughes: Co-Founder, CEO of Unify
Austin Hay: Co-CEO & Co-Founder of Clarify
Pavel Asparouhov: Co-Founder and CTO of Silna
Piotr Smolen: CEO & Co-Founder of symmetrical.ai
Kimia Hamidi: Co-Founder & CEO of NationGraph
Alex Song: Co-Founder of Made Card
Adam Bialy: Founder & CEO of Fiat Republic

Every breakout alumni company makes Ramp an easier sell to the next class of A-players deciding where to start their careers.… more