BREW REVIEW: ThisWayGlobal CEO, Angela Hood
Chad & Cheese are always looking for legitimate excuses to consume beer, chat-up start-ups and provide quality podcast content. Enter Brew Review, where they check all the boxes above. You're welcome.
Enjoy this very first show, with special guest Angela Hood, CEO of This Way Global from Last Stand Brewing Co.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION sponsored by:
Announcer: Hide your kids. Lock the doors. You're listening to HR's most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are here to punch the recruiting industry right where it hurts. Complete with breaking news, brash opinion, and loads of snark. Buckle up, boys and girls. It's time for the Chad and Cheese Podcast.
Joel: Okay, what's up everybody? This is Joel Cheesman of the Chad and Cheese Podcast. I'm joined here today by my cohost Chad Drinking-Good-Beer Sowash.
Chad: Chad loves Me and my goddamn beer Sowash. That's right. Yes.
Joel: And your ears are going to thank us. Today, we are doing the first ever—
Chad: Ever.
Joel: ... brew review. Okay, here's how this is going to work.
Chad: What is a brew review?
Joel: Here's how this is going to work.
Chad: What is this brew review?
Joel: When we travel and we travel quite a bit.
Chad: We do.
Joel: We're going to sucker somebody, some company to come in and buy us beer, review the beer, and tell us about their company.
Chad: And talk about the company.
Joel: Very, very casual, very relaxed. We're live here from Austin, Texas for the TAtech Conference. And we are joined here today by Angela Boys in the Hood, Hood.
Chad: Yes. That's right.
Angela: All right. Okay.
Joel: With This Way Global, which sounds like a travel agency-
Chad: It does.
Joel: But it is not. Angela, welcome to the first ever and maybe the last brew review. We'll see how this goes. And we've got to say, Angela, really Texafied this brew review.
Chad: She killed this dude.
Joel: We thought, "Let's get a pub. We'll order a beer, and we'll do this up." They said, "No, you're in Texas. We're going to a brewery, we're getting barbecue, we're not doing one beer, we're doing a whole flight of four."
Chad: Yes.
Joel: So Angela, God bless you. Welcome to the show.
Angela: Oh, thank you. And we do not half ass things in Texas. So, yeah. So we-
Joel: We know this.
Chad: Yeah. We now know this.
Angela: We're bringing it.
Joel: The Aquanet is out.
Angela: That's right.
Joel: Tease to the moon.
Angela: That's right.
Chad: We have the hair to Jesus moment happening. This is a beer to Jesus moment.
Joel: I've never been so close to God as I have been at this moment. Well, Angela, for those who don't know, tell us something a little bit about the company, and then we'll go ahead and sample, good Lord, Texas Forever.
Angela: See? Texas Forever. That's right.
Joel: That's the kind of show this is going to be.
Chad: The first beer, Texas Forever.
Angela: Yep. Well, we are headquartered here in Austin. We specialize in one thing and one thing only. We match the crap out of people to jobs. So, that's what we do.
Joel: Is that your tagline?
Angela: That's it.
Joel: We match the crap out of people.
Chad: That's the slogan. That's the slogan. Yeah.
Angela: No, so we really do. We focused on this one thing. I know a lot of companies do about a hundred different things.
Chad: They try.
Angela: I see these huge things where we're from end to end recruiting. And we said okay, we're not going to be end to end recruiting.
Chad: Oh, she just busted out on AllyO. Oh I heard it.
Angela: I didn't say anyone specifically. No.
Joel: Have you been leaving Glassdoor reviews?
Angela: I have not.
Joel: On AllyO?
Angela: No. So, we said, "Let's just do one thing. Let's do one thing really well." We picked matching.
Joel: Yeah.
Angela: And so, we find that it's been a tough road for the last couple of years because the market wasn't quite ready for what we proposed. And then, I don't know what happened six months ago, but I'm really glad it did. The flip was switched or switch was flipped. And I have not even had any beer yet.
Chad: Oh, you had one.
Angela: But wait till—
Joel: And how long have you been doing this?
Angela: So, it started with the concept in 2014 at University of Cambridge and went through lots of trials and tribulations. We failed 13 times. Not bragging. I'm just saying that it's a—
Chad: They say that's an unlucky number.
Angela: Yeah.
Chad: It doesn't sound like it's unlucky.
Angela: Yeah. Well, 14th time—
Chad: Is the charm, right?
Angela: Right, exactly. And so, now we're there.
Joel: I'm assuming that this isn't Cambridge, Texas.
Angela: No, this would be Cambridge, England.
Joel: Yeah, a long way from Texas.
Angela: Yeah, yeah.
Joel: Okay, all right.
Angela: Where the narrow roads and the roundabouts and all that.
Joel: Yeah. So, before we get started and we get maybe too drunk to do this, let everyone know where they can find out more about you in case we're too drunk at the end to remember.
Angela: I'm so happy that you said that because I always forget this part.
Joel: Yeah, we don't.
Angela: Yeah, so thiswayglobal.com. Our suite is called AI 4 Jobs. So, A-I, the number 4 jobs.com. Either way, you find us. And we're at HR Tech this year. We're exhibiting. It's very exciting because we also were selected for top 10 innovations for 2019.
Joel: Congratulations. So, where are we? What brewery is this? What part of Austin are we currently in? And then, we'll sample Texas Forever.
Angela: Great. So, we are out on the edge of Austin. We're almost to Dripping Springs. We are at The Last Stand Brewery. It's been around for a little less than five years, has amazing beers, and we're very fortunate that one of our elite sales team is also family member of the brewers.
Chad: You got the inside.
Angela: We do have an inside track. We do.
Joel: The inside at the Last Stand.
Chad: You know what he's thinking right now? She can't get rid of me.
Angela: No, that's right, yeah. And then, he went and got the barbecue too. So I don't know.
Chad: Ah, there we go.
Joel: Brown nose.
Chad: He's legit sales.
Angela: Yeah.
Chad: That's legit sales.
Joel: The barbecue sauce is about the same shade as his nose right about now.
Angela: Maybe.
Joel: All right. Well, let's get into Texas Forever. I'll start by saying that this is a light beer. The color is very modest yellow. You can see through it.
Chad: It's very light. Hence, the light, yes.
Joel: Not much of a head. This looks like the quintessential sort of Texas summer refreshing beer. What do you guys think?
Angela: Yeah, very much so. It's like a summer pale.
Chad: She's already knocked it out. Is it?
Angela: Yeah. That's to me.
Chad: I'm going to try it.
Angela: I like it.
Joel: Do we say cheers in Texas or Cambridge?
Angela: Well, we say cheers here.
Chad: You say cheers anywhere.
Angela: We just say down it, cheers, whatever.
Chad: Yeah. So, this is the beer after you get done mowing the lawn, this is the one that you can—
Angela: Cool off beer.
Joel: Yeah, I would compare this to a PBR, an old style back in the Midwest.
Angela: I think that is terrible.
Joel: Yeah, I would. No, no, no, no.
Angela: What are you talking about?
Joel: This is an everyday beer.
Angela: Oh my God. He's lost it. He's lost it. No, totally disagree. Okay. That's a shame that your taste buds do that to beer.
Joel: PBR, for me, is not a diss.
Angela: No, it's not?
Joel: No, it's not.
Chad: It's a total diss.
Joel: It's not a diss at all.
Angela: This beer is much better than PBR.
Chad: I love it.
Angela: All right, so this is the Texas Forever, right?
Joel: All right, so let's do this right away. Let's give this a one to 10 ranking, 10 being heaven in a glass and one being absolute piss. Where are we putting Texas Forever?
Angela: Well, hold on, hold on. Today, it is almost 100 degrees in Texas. I think that needs to be taken—
Joel: And it's September, late September.
Angela: Shh. It's the first day of fall. This is what our fall looks like.
Joel: Fall is 94 degrees.
Angela: Okay, I'm going to go with... I'll say a seven.
Joel: Going with the even number. Okay, seven from Angela. Chad?
Chad: I'm going to tell you right now. And again, I'm going to say if I come out of a hot summer day, mowing the lawn, I'm reaching for this.
Joel: Yeah. This is an eight in my book in that scenario because I was always like to think of when am I going to drink this beer? I don't just drink this beer anytime. This is one of those beers that—
Angela: You're contextualizing this—
Chad: Yes, exactly. So, I'm using AI.
Angela: You are.
Chad: My internal AI.
Angela: Your internal AI.
Chad: Yeah.
Joel: I'm going to go a little bit below that. I'm going to go at like a 6.8.
Angela: Wow.
Chad: Really? The point? We're doing that.
Joel: I'm doing a 6.8 because that's how I roll. That's all I roll.
Angela: He's been watching The Food Channel too much. That's what's happened.
Joel: Like there's something wrong with that? The Food Channel's great. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives is my favorite show.
Angela: Okay.
Joel: All right. Well, let's talk about product. What are you guys building? What's cool? What are customers loving right now?
Angela: I think the most popular conversation that we ever have is, "Hey, our matching integrates into your ATS in the background. You do not have to go out to a Google Chrome extension or anything else to use it." They're like, "Seriously, do not toy with us if that's the truth." I was like, "That is the truth."
Chad: What do you mean don't toy with us? Because they're looking at all these add-ons and whatnot that have to, okay.
Angela: Yeah, they've been told it's going to live inside your ATS. And the reality is, when they go to try to use it, it really does not, and it changes the workflow.
Chad: Oh, they're getting faked out.
Angela: Yeah.
Chad: They're getting the head fake.
Joel: Bait and switch. Bait and switch. Who do you consider your main competitors? When you're on sales calls, who else are you selling against?
Angela: So, I would say the one that probably comes up the most is Eightfold. And the reason why is because we are also talking to large customers. They are too. So, it's kind of in that space.
Angela: But, the thing that I think separates us the most is the way we remove bias is not like clicking a button and saying I don't want women or I don't want men or something like that. It's just baked into the product because the removing the bias is paramount for us. It's not an afterthought.
Angela: And then, the second component is we can match on any candidate base size. So, it doesn't matter if you have 20 or if you have 200 or 2000, the system still works.
Joel: And what ATSs is do you currently integrate with?
Angela: So, Greenhouse was the first full grown integration. We have a Teleo integration that kind of is a 17, or I'm sorry, 19A integration. So, we will be doing in 19B as soon as it's released next year. Salesforce, this is massive.
Chad: That's big.
Angela: We have not announced this publicly, little company.
Chad: Salesforce, they have a tower in Indianapolis. I don't know if you know that or not.
Angela: Yeah, right. Salesforce partnership with a full integration and that, we've already sold hundreds of thousands of dollars on, and we haven't even released it yet.
Chad: Hello.
Joel: Very cool. I had thought Eightfold was passed by ten, sorry.
Chad: That's kind of like Seven Minute Abs where you can do it in six minutes.
Angela: Yeah, four minute abs. [crosstalk 00:10:07]
Chad: Exactly. You went four minute abs.
Joel: Careful. Can we get to our second beer?
Chad: Our second beer is ... Okay, so this one is the Fuzzylicious?
Angela: Yeah, Fuzzylicious.
Chad: Fuzzylicious?
Angela: This is your pick. Don't act like you don't know what this is.
Chad: No, I love this beer. Just so you know, I love IPAs, but I love hazy IPAs.
So, this one, it better knock it off the charts for me because—.
Joel: Very hazy. Can't see through this thing. This is a gold drink.
Chad: This is my standard. This is my go to drink. No matter what, I will pick one of these up.
Angela: This looks like a cocktail to me and less like a beer.
Chad: No, it's lovely. Let's go and try this.
Joel: My fear is there's going to be a lot of lemon in this.
Angela: Cheers. Women?
Joel: Yeah, it smells a little citrus-y.
Angela: Oh, I like that one.
Joel: I smell a little grapefruit.
Chad: Oh, that's citrus-y. The hops.
Angela: That's nice.
Chad: Oh that's .. Oh, see? That's a good beer.
Angela: Yeah, it is a good beer.
Chad: So now, you can drink this thing. The problem is, I'm looking for the ABV because generally, these things are going to kick you on in the ass.
Joel: 6.4.
Chad: Not too bad. Not too bad. That's good. I like that.
Angela: What was the last one we had?
Joel: Texas Forever.
Angela: Yeah, but what was—
Joel: We're looking at the board here. Texas Forever might be off the menu. I don't know.
Angela: Because I feel like this one's a heavier, stronger beer.
Chad: Texas Forever, yeah, is a 4.3.
Joel: This is a settle in and get comfortable.
Chad: Oh yeah. No, this is a good beer right here.
Angela: Yeah. I like this one. I think I like this one better than the last one.
Chad: So Joel, will you go first on this one.
Joel: All right, I'll go first. So, this is a solid, probably like 7.8 for me.
Chad: A 7.8, almost. We're going to round that up. We're going to call it an eight.
Angela: Okay. You're an integer guy is what you're saying.
Chad: Yeah.
Angela: Okay. All right. I'll do an 8.5. I'll take your lead on this.
Joel: Oh, there you go. See?
Angela: It's catching.
Joel: It's catching on.
Chad: Peer pressure.
Angela: Well, it's not a 9 for me. [crosstalk 00:12:00] It's not, but it's—
Joel: Sometimes, you don't want to go all the way. You've got to—.
Angela: Yeah, ease into it.
Joel: Just the tip. Sometimes—.
Chad: Here's the thing that I love about this tip is that it is—
Joel: and Chad knows a lot about tips.
Chad: a little bit, yes. I played that game a little.
Joel: You have heard the podcast before you agreed to come on.
Angela: I have.
Chad: So, this being a little over six means I can drink more of it, which is exactly what I want. Generally, I'll get a beer like this, and it'll be like eight close to 9%, and it'll kick my ass.
Angela: Oh, that's a great point.
Chad: This one right here?
Angela: Yeah.
Chad: Not so much, which means I can drink more of it.
Angela: You can 11 or 12 of them.
Chad: That's exactly right. So, I'm going to go with a solid eight.
Joel: Okay.
Chad: No, no—
Joel: That's okay. You be you, Chad.
Chad: Eight.
Joel: If round numbers are what you do, man, then stick with that.
Chad: So, if we stay any longer and the Uber's late, This is what I'll be having.
Joel: Yeah, this would be a good sort of pint after the flight is done. Yeah, this could be good.
Angela: Yes, there you go. Yeah.
Joel: So, I want to know more about Pitchfest at HR Tech. Give us sort of a preview on the pitch.
Chad: So, how many minutes do you get?
Angela: I get three minutes.
Chad: Three minutes. That's ridiculous.
Angela: Two minutes of Q and A.
Chad: Yeah.
Angela: I know what the questions are going to be.
Chad: Okay.
Angela: Yes, the matching works. This is how we do it.
Joel: Do they give you the questions before?
Angela: No, I just know. It's always the same questions.
Joel: Oh, you just know.
Angela: October 1st, 5:30 to 6:30. What I've heard is there's four or five companies that'll come up—
Joel: Do you know the other companies?
Angela: And it's the first round. Nope. So, we stand up three minutes, do the pitch. I went with a pictorial pitch. I've got lots of big images.
Joel: Okay.
Angela: And I have learned I still have to kind of watch what the crowd's doing. Are they understanding what I'm saying? Nope. I need to maybe be less technical, or you can kind of tell if they want to know more specifics, you can sort of see it in their face, and I get more specific.
Angela: So, when I've done talks at TAtech, I can get more technical there, and people are like, "Okay. Yeah, don't. She's answering the questions." Where other places,
you can't necessarily.
Joel: And if you win, what do you get? Do you get money? Do you get a trophy? What?
Angela: Yeah, So I think ... It's either $25 or $50,000 in cash, and then you get a free booth the next year, which is worth a fair chunk of money.
Chad: Well, hello. That is a fair chunk of money.
Joel: It's a 10 by 10, and you have to upgrade, but that's a different story.
Angela: Right. It might be, yeah.
Joel: You get a kiosk.
Angela: Right, you get a kiosk, right. And then, you get something else, like something about promotion or Upwork or whatever. I don't know. I can't remember.
Angela: We've got a book release. We were covered in a book, a Victor Assad. He wrote a book called Hack Recruiting. It was released, and we're covered in it. So—
Chad: Love it. You two are slow, by the way, just so you know. You haven't finished it yet. [crosstalk 00:00:14:43].
Joel: Let's get to number three. Angela, how about you? You want to set this one up?
Angela: All right, sure. So, I picked one that I've thought was a little odd. So, this is the Watermelon—
Chad: Kolsch.
Angela: Kolsch Watermelon, yeah. And I've never had a watermelon or a Kolsch. So, I was like, "Let's do something different."