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Hiring 10X People Will Not Give You a 10X Company with Colby Nesbit
5th September 2026 • FNDN Series • Matt McFarlane
00:00:00 01:00:49

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Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we dive into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world.

In this episode, Matt McFarlane speaks with Colby Nesbitt about the “10X employee” and whether hiring exceptional people is really the key to building high-performance companies. They explore power laws, performance, compensation, AI, skills-based pay, and how changing technology is reshaping the way companies think about talent and work.

They also discuss AI layoffs versus redeployment, team-based rewards, the future of job structures, and why building a great system may matter more than simply hiring great people.

Chapters:

01:09 Guest Introduction: Colby Nesbitt
02:45 The Power Law and the 10X Employee
06:19 Performance, Compensation and 10X Pay
10:54 AI and the Future of Management
14:30 The Problem With Traditional People Analytics
18:45 AI, Skills and Career Progression
22:37 The Shelf Life of Skills
28:36 Why the Spreadsheet Never Tells the Whole Story
32:15 Redeployment vs. AI Layoffs
34:56 Building a High-Performance System
43:16 What Sports Teach Us About Talent
45:32 Team-Based Performance and Rewards
50:29 AI and the Future of Work
55:26 The Future of Jobs and “Tiger Teams”
59:39 Final Thoughts

Follow Colby:
https://linkedin.com/in/colby-kennedy-nesbitt-ph-d-0824b979/ 

Resources Mentioned:

Colby Nesbitt Article: Variance, Explained: https://varianceexplained.substack.com/p/performance-is-not-a-power-law

Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock
https://hachettebookgroup.com/titles/laszlo-bock/work-rules/

Radical Candor by Kim Scott
https://radicalcandor.com/the-book


More FNDN Episodes:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GeBIeZOKrFxG1oiiPxmiM
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fndn-series/id1794263484

PowerLaw, 10XEmployees, HighPerformance, StartupCompensation, PeopleAnalytics, PerformanceManagement, FutureOfWork, AIAtWork, AICompensation, TalentStrategy, OrganizationalDesign, CompensationStrategy, TeamBasedRewards, MeritPay, SkillsBasedCompensation, WorkforceAnalytics, EmployeePerformance, TalentManagement, StartupLeadership, PeopleOperations, AIWorkforce, FutureOfCompensation, WorkRedesign, CareerProgression, OrganizationalPsychology

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