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Hi, everyone.

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Welcome to the next episode of

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the Bay Street capital holdings

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podcast titled, How do you do

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it? And why should I care? This

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series aims to highlight women

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doing amazing work in various

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industries. So today, we are so

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lucky to be joined by Megan gow,

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who is team member at Humu. Hi,

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Megan, lovely to have you on the show.

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Thanks for having me.

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So I guess we can start off with a quick introduction as to who you are.

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And perhaps the main answer to

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the question, which is, how do

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you do it and why should I care?

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Yeah, totally. So my

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name is Megan. Currently, I work

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at Humu, which is an HR tech

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startup in Silicon Valley. My

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background, so I grew up in

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Canada. And then I studied

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psychology at Harvard. There, I

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did a lot of research with

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different industrial,

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organizational and leadership

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professors. And then I heard

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about Laszlo Bock, who led

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people operations at Google and

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made it the best place in the

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world to work. So I really

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wanted to go and learn from him.

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He started his own company,

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which is Humu. And so I joined

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that right after school. And

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yeah, have been able to work

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with the company ever since. And

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it's like, yeah, marrying a

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bunch of my interests, and just

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like, data, and science and

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tech, and then also with like,

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the human side of just like,

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trying to make HR and work and

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human capital better.

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That is awesome. So

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of I guess my next question that

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begs to ask me, What inspired

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you to join the HR industry

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specifically was a specific

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moment in your life or a series

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of experiences?

1:34

Yeah, totally. So the

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whole premise behind Humu is

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that we spend so much of our

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time at work, we spend at least

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eight hours every single day at

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work. So it's such a big part of

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our lives. But it's one of my co

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workers phrase as like, it's

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this like forgotten problem of

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like, how do you make this part

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of people's lives better? So,

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yeah, it's been really hard, I

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think, in the past to be able to

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know how to even make that

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better. But now we have all

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these tools with data and

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science and all these different

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things where we can actually

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concretely find ways to make

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work better experience for

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people.

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That's great. And

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what would you say were the best

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resources to help you along in

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your career journey? Because I

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know that you're fresh out of

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college, and you know, your

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first role. So what kind of

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helped you, my guess transition

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into this role?

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Yeah, so the question

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like helps just like know how to

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work or like fine jobs, or

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just sort of like

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the help to kind of in your HR

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journey and working for a

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startup specifically, as well,

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any resources that you use?

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Yeah, totally. So one

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thing that piqued my interest in

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HR was Laszlo his book. So

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Laszlo had brand new book, it's

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called work rules. Shameless

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plug. But it's just about, like,

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how important work is and all

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the things that he and his team

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did at Google, to just like,

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make work a better experience

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there. So that was the book that

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really got me interested in HR.

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Um, yeah. And then in terms of

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just like, going to work at a

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startup and everything. So I had

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lived in Canada, my whole life,

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I'd like never been to the Bay

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Area, or like, no, ITT Tech was

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or anything like that. And the

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best thing was just like

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connecting with different people

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who have that experience. So I

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just like cold reached out to

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people who had went to law

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school that I went to, or I

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don't know, or family, friends

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or whatever, just to like, yeah,

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get a sense of even just like

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things that I don't know, things

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I had to learn for just like

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what a startups like, like, what

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or even just like the different

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jobs that have started up and

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like, how do they interact with

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each other? So connecting with

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people was like the thing that

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most helped me in kind of that

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journey.

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Yeah, that's great to hear. And it seems like your network really helped to when

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you were first getting this job,

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but I'm curious, what were some

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lessons or what was the lesson

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that you wish you would have

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known before joining the startup

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ecosystem?

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Yeah, that's a good question. I think it's that like, you

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learn everything on the job.

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Like there's I studied

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psychology and like all these

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things in undergrad, but to

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actually know what it's like to

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work at a start up and to like,

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work with customers and how to

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solve different problems in a

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startup. It just comes with

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like, having the experience so

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yeah, like, the most helpful

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thing for me was just like, get

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my foot in the door and startup,

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just like it like start being

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immersed in that ecosystem. And

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once you're there you can learn

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so much just by like spending so

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much for your time a day I guess

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at work like you were saying

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before, just like being in the

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system in the in the ecosystem.

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Unlike learning day by day by

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experience,

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most of us get to

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where I'm thinking about the

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font of your career, actually,

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what would you say this failure?

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And what did you learn from it?

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Seeing? Yeah, when I

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was applying for jobs, I just

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like kept on getting rejected

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from all these companies and

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everything. And yeah, I think

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like, that was, yeah, a really

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good lesson is just like, like

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being persistent. Like, there is

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a job out there. And like, I

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don't know, just have to, like,

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keep on trying and like, keep on

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applying to different. It's like

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a numbers game. Exactly. So just

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like not being afraid of like

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applying for your dream job. So

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like, who was my dream job from

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the start, but I like never

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thought I would be able to get

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in. But someone just encouraged

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me just like, email them and

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see. So just like not being

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afraid. And just like putting

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yourself out there. And just

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like going for it was yeah,

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really helps me in the end?

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Yeah, that's really

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helpful piece of advice. I think

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throughout this conversation, you've been dropping some really great pieces of advice. So what

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would you what would you say to

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somebody who is wanting to

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pursue a career in the startup

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sphere, no matter what kind of

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industry but any advice for

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them?

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Yeah, totally. I

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would say that. Yeah, networking

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is super helpful. Just to like,

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get both learn, like what's out

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there and like, what you might

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be interested in? And then also,

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just to like, help get your foot

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in the door? And then yeah, kind

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of what I was mentioning before,

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like, it's really hard to know,

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like, what the perfect role is

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for you, unless you just like,

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go and start working at a

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startup and to see like, what

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roles are available. So just

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like whatever you can do, just

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like get your foot in the door

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and just like start learning.

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And like getting that exposure

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is really helpful. And then

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yeah, just like not give up.

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Exactly, exactly.

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And then, obviously, I feel like

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there's a lot of hype around the

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startup sphere at the moment. A

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lot of people are talking about

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it. But what is one common myth

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about the field that you would

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like to debunk right here right

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now?

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Yeah. Yeah, I would

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say that, yeah, one common thing

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that people think about startups

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is that you have like, no work

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life balance, and it's like,

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super stressful, and everything

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like that, I would say, totally

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depends on the startup. So the

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startup I work for, like,

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really, really cares about that

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kind of stuff. And the bonus of

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working in your startup is that

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you have like, so much ownership

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over, like what you do, and a

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lot of like independence, which

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is like, really, really

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satisfying. But you can still

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get that in some places, while

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like still having that work life balance.

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Definitely. And

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then, um, you alluded to one of

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your favorite books a bit

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earlier in our conversation, but

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what have you read or listened

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to recently, this really

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inspired you?

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I would say it's just

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talking to different people at

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the company I work for who like

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working different functions, if

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that answers the question, but

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lately, yeah, I've been able to

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just like, learn, just like how

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other people like designers see

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the world. And like, what they

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care about, and just like the

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wisdom that they have. So just

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like talking to different folks,

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has been really helpful.

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Definitely. That's

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awesome. And you touched upon

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the power of the network, but

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earlier, and especially in the

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startup sphere, but I'm curious,

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who was three people in your

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life who have been the most influential to you?

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Yeah. Yeah, I would

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say one is a woman who I had

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cold reached out to on LinkedIn,

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to get career advice, and then

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she kind of took me under her

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wing. And that was when I was my

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last year of college, just to

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mentor me and helped me. And

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she's the person who like told

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me that I should just apply for

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Whoville if it wasn't for her,

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like I would have never gotten

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here. So that was huge. Yeah, I

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think like, yeah, we, yeah, like

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the, some of the people that I

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met who move so I'm like,

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personally, I'm really interested in like product design. And that's like, the

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field in the startup that I want

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to go into. And yeah, just

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talking to them. They like

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really helped me know, just

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like, what product design is and

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just like all these new things I

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need to know about before. Yeah,

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and then yeah, last one.

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Probably. My dad the most cliche

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che one who really instilled

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just like, the mentality of just

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like, keep, keep going and like

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don't give up Just like, stay

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encouraged and see resilient.

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Well, Sam

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Well, I'm so glad that you're surrounded by such encouraging people. And then

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finally to sort of round off our

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conversation, what is one piece

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of advice that you wish you gave

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yourself at any point in your life?

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Yeah, I would see.

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Everything's gonna work out and

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it's all good. And the most

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important thing is to the most

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important thing that lasts is

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like the relationships Yeah,

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that have with other folks and

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like not to take that for

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granted.

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Definitely. Well,

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yeah, what a lovely way to end

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our conversation. So thank you

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so much again for taking the

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time speak with me today.

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No problem.

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Thank you. Bye bye.

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Cool.