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HR Heretics

HR Heretics

Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners – Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors.

This show is for those who are ready to ditch conventional wisdom and figure out from first principles what works for their culture, business model, and industry, with the goal of building a resilient and enduring company.

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Troy Sultan: How Guide Turned RCs into Iron Man

Recent Episodes

April 25, 2025

Troy Sultan: How Guide Turned RCs into Iron Man

In this episode, Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich interview Troy Sultan who shares his journey from Google to founding Guide, an AI-powered recruiting coordination platform. Sultan challenges traditional recruiting assumption...
April 22, 2025

Sapphire VC’s People Leaders” Retreat & Deep Fakes

Kelli and Nolan recap their experience at the recent Sapphire People Leader Retreat focused on the evolving role of CPOs in 2025, covering executive alignment, moral boundaries, burnout prevention, and peer networks. They als...
April 17, 2025

Character AI's Annie Wickman on PMF, Google's Deal, and Humu

Annie Wickman shares insights from her journey as Google alum, first non-founder at Humu, and now Head of People at Character AI. Annie tackles our hardest questions in an unmissable episode. She covers the tensions between p...
April 15, 2025

Startup Ethics: All In or Out

In this week's 'Dear Heretics' segment, Kelli and Nolan discuss a listener's dilemma about working with ethically questionable founders. They explore the tension between startup rule-bending culture and personal values, advis...
April 10, 2025

VC Brett Queener Unpacks AI-Native Startups and the End of Grunt Work

HR Heretics welcomes back guest Brett Queener, Managing Director at Bonfire Ventures, for a check in on the current venture landscape. Fresh from raising a $245 million fund, Queener explores how AI is fundamentally changing ...
April 8, 2025

Claude's Human-Like AI & Groundbreaking Research from Anthropic with Siadhal Magos

In this week's installment of AI Corner, Siadhal Magos, Metaview CEO, and Nolan Church dissect Anthropic's groundbreaking paper revealing the mysteries behind modern AI. They explore surprising findings: LLMs plan ahead rathe...