Marco Zappacosta launched Thumbtack after graduating from college in 2008. Like most first-time founders, he wanted to reinvent everything. Since then, Zappacosta’s company has changed how consumers connect to local professionals, with millions of projects completed across the U.S.
One of his proudest accomplishments, however, was not an innovation, but a realization–one that took nine years to fulfill. “We’ve recruited heads of engineering, product, marketplace, finance, HR, operations, marketing, and general counsel. For the first time in our history, we’ve filled all the seats. They’re incredible in their own ways and work well together,” says Zappacosta. “It took a bit, but I’ve learned to leave reinvention to our product, not its guardians. I’ve realized how immensely valuable it is to have an experienced executive team.”
Senior engineering director at Google. Director of product management at YouTube. Principal at Bain. When Zappacosta looks at the pedigree of his executive team members, they’re both impressive and far more senior in their careers than he is. For first-time and early-stage founders like Zappacosta, it can be daunting to recruit and hire such high-caliber executives, especially when you don’t have enough knowledge to test for skill level in their areas of expertise. As a result, Zappacosta notes that “hiring execs is extremely high beta. When it goes well, it can be an enormous force multiplier, accelerating your company in ways that you won’t appreciate right away. The flip is that a high-upside hire is also a high-stakes hire. It can take four quarters before you can really know if it’s going to work out.”
With that in mind, the Thumbtack CEO shares two of his best tips for identifying and vetting C-level leaders, from job descriptions to the interview stage.

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