Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesProfessional AV

Hiring Made Human: Hiring When You’re a Start-Up

Early-stage companies face the critical challenge of talent acquisition which can significantly impact their growth and survival. Finding the right talent is crucial for these companies to establish a strong footing in their respective markets. Hiring effectively becomes a pivotal component of their strategic planning.

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Professional AV teams put it to work with Customer Stories & Case Studies.

Promoted content from ActOne Group on MarketScale.

By Business Services · Apple OneBrett HowroydGovinvestHiring
Share

Key takeaways

01

Talent acquisition is crucial for early-stage companies.

02

The right hires can determine a start-up's growth trajectory.

03

Strategic planning in hiring is essential for start-up success.

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Professional AV?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Professional AV coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Request an invite

The challenges of hiring for a startup have become more pronounced these days than ever. With technological advancements and evolving market demands, startups must be agile and strategic in their hiring practices to ensure success. According to some studies, nearly 90 percent of startups fail, with a significant factor being the inability to attract and retain top talent.

Nearly 90 percent of startups fail, with a significant factor being the inability to attract and retain top talent.

How do startups effectively hire the right people to thrive? How can startups navigate the complex hiring landscape to find the talent they need to succeed?

For a new episode of Apple One, a podcast by The ActOne Group, host Brett Howroyd kicks off an episode as part of the "Hiring Made Human" series, where he explores the intricacies of hiring practices, particularly within startup companies. He was joined by Jasmine Nachtigall-Fournier and Matthew Fournier, co-founders of GovInvest. Together, they share their experiences and strategies for hiring the right talent in a startup environment.

Some of their main points discussed in their interview included:

  • The differences in specialized and general hiring approaches, and Jasmine and Matthew discuss the different methods used to hire specialized roles like actuaries versus more general roles such as account executives.
  • Emphasis on the need for new hires to not only have the right skills, but also to align with the company's vision and culture.
  • Unique challenges of hiring while bootstrapping a company, particularly for hardware-intensive projects like Puppy Wash.

Jasmine Nachtigall-Fournier is the co-founder and president of GovInvest. She was nominated for the LA Times Inspirational Women Awards in 2022 and 2023 and recently inducted into Who's Who of America. Nachtigall-Fournier holds a degree from Stanford University and has been instrumental in driving GovInvest's mission to help governments solve fiscal challenges.

Matthew Fournier is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of GovInvest and Puppy Wash. He played a key role in the early stages of OpenGov, which later became a successful unicorn company. Fournier's diverse background includes extensive experience in government data and technology.

Part of this channel

ActOne Group

News, updates, and expert insights from ActOne Group.

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Professional AV starts with a company putting its integrators, design engineers, and product specialists on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

When a spec writer or facilities lead searches this category, your integrators are what they find instead of a competitor.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

BS
Business Services

Follow Professional AV Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Professional AV: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Professional AV buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. See how AI describes your company today, and where competitors show up instead.

Free workspace

You just read one Professional AV expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your integrators, design engineers, and product specialists into the articles, video, and social content Professional AV buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale Studio workspace
One video edit a month, on us
AI writing, editing, and publishing tools
In-platform coaching to learn the system

More Professional AV Insights

AV integrators are buying scale because meeting rooms now run like software

AV integrators are buying scale because meeting rooms now run like software

Forté’s acquisition of Vega Global, adding more than 750 employees across 17 APAC countries, is a prominent 2026 sign of consolidation in enterprise AV, according to AV Magazine. At InfoComm 2026, Cisco, Crestron and HP showed room platforms centered on ongoing management, with Cisco and NVIDIA introducing RoomOS 26 AI agents that run on in-room hardware and HP tying Poly Lens to its Workforce Experience Platform, as reported by AVIXA and HP. Separately, Cisco’s Webex AI roadmap adds “agentic” automation and governance that reaches beyond room systems into the contact center and workforce management, according to No Jitter. As a result, standards, telemetry, security and service-level performance are taking a larger role in how contracts are evaluated, influencing both vendor choice and integrator consolidation.

  • 01When services are 38% of channel revenue and hardware is 36%, the integrator RFP stops being about the bill of materials and starts being about uptime, monitoring and lifecycle outcomes, per AV Magazine citing AVIXA channel research.
  • 02“Edge AI in the room” shifts how outages and performance issues play out: RoomOS 26 adds on-device agents and features such as Audio Zones that can lessen reliance on cloud connectivity, but it also increases requirements for endpoint compute, device governance and disciplined update processes, according to AVIXA and rAVe [PUBS].
  • 03Consolidation is becoming a procurement feature: Forté’s move from a federation model to owned operations signals multinationals want one throat to choke for standards, security and service outcomes across regions, per AV Magazine.

Sep 1, 2026

Sony’s BRAVIA Pro displays run VITEC Avedia IPTV with no external media player

Sony’s BRAVIA Pro displays run VITEC Avedia IPTV with no external media player

Sony Electronics and VITEC announced a global integration that lets Sony BRAVIA professional displays run VITEC’s Avedia IPTV and digital signage software natively, eliminating external media players, according to PR Newswire and AV Magazine. Management runs through VITEC’s CMS, and the companies say it can scale to thousands of displays across corporate, hospitality, healthcare, venues, and public facilities, per PR Newswire and invidis. For enterprise IT and facilities teams, the practical shift is a new procurement and governance model: treat “display plus software” as one Android-based endpoint, then manage it like an IT fleet with fewer devices to install but stricter expectations around app lifecycle, security requirements, and vendor roadmaps. The announcement also lands alongside Sony’s previously reported Bravia Inc. joint venture with TCL, which invidis says will move operational control in April 2027, a reminder that longer-running display deployments should track who sets the roadmap over the life of the fleet.

  • 01Player-less IPTV changes the bill of materials: endpoints shift from “screen + player + mounts + power” to a single managed display, which can compress install labor and reduce failure points.
  • 02The phrase “thousands of displays” (PR Newswire) is the right scale test: if the CMS and network design cannot handle a four-digit endpoint count, this architecture won’t match the promise.
  • 03Sony’s display governance is expected to change in 2027 under the TCL-led Bravia Inc. venture (invidis). For deployments that will still be operating then, teams should address it now as part of contract terms.

Sep 1, 2026

AIMS adds Bolin Technology and ITDev to advance IPMX implementation

AIMS adds Bolin Technology and ITDev to advance IPMX implementation

Bolin Technology, a PTZ camera maker, and ITDev, an FPGA design firm, have joined the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) to support IPMX and open AV-over-IP interoperability. AIMS leadership says the additions ground IPMX work in real-world implementation, from endpoint hardware to the FPGA IP used in gateways and processing nodes.

  • 01Bolin Technology and ITDev joined AIMS in late August to support IPMX and open AV-over-IP standards.
  • 02Bolin supplies PTZ cameras and AV-over-IP products supporting NDI, Dante AV, and Fast HEVC; ITDev is an Altera and AMD FPGA design services and IP partner for IPMX, SMPTE ST 2110, and video processing.
  • 03The article advises buyers to ask vendors how IPMX support will be provided (native silicon, FPGA, gateway, or software stack) and to make certification and interoperability testing part of acceptance criteria.

Aug 29, 2026

Explore More Professional AV Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Professional AV.

Browse Professional AV Hub

About the Expert

BS
Business Services

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Professional AV and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512