Case Study | Terminal49

Terminal49

THE ALL-IN-ONE SHIPMENT AND CONTAINER TRACKING PLATFORM

Industry

Supply Chain

Stage

Series A

Team

International, Semi-Async

Berkeley, CA

Investors

Initialized Capital, Stage2 Capital, Grand Venture Partners, Immad Akhund, James Tamplin, Kyle Vogt, & more

The Challenge

3x Terminal49's Team

Terminal49 is building software to automate global trade. Founder Akshay Dodeja had grown a profitable seed-stage company with concrete impact and enthusiastic users. His core team of 6 was small, but solid. They relied on contractors for short and medium term projects as needed.

Akshay was prepping to raise a Series A. His lean team was maxed out, and he knew they had to grow. Hiring via networks or opportunistically would no longer be sufficient.

No one on his team had direct experience in recruiting. Recognizing the bandwidth and insight required, he tested out partnerships with a few traditional agencies. Several unsuccessful searches later, he realized a different, more integrated approach was necessary.

That's where Sandpiper came in. Our goal was to build the foundation of Terminal49's hiring function and 3x the team as an embedded partner. Here's how we did that and much more:

"Sandpiper Talent was instrumental in growing Terminal49 from Seed to Series A. Caitlin brought leadership to crucial efforts that impacted all of our teams: Engineering, Product, Design, GTM, and Ops. In addition to recruiting foundational team members, she created a framework for hiring that kept us organized and made a big impact on our People & Culture initiatives. Her insight, enthusiasm, and expertise were invaluable. She is fun and easy to work with. I highly recommend Caitlin, and encourage founders and leaders to have a conversation with her."

— Akshay Dodeja

Founder & CEO, Terminal49

Case Study

The Timeline

Foundations

We began with a deep dive into Terminal49's market, product, and team. Immersion is the bedrock of our embedded recruiting services, enabling us integrate seamlessly with your workflows, build true to the core of your vision, and attract talent as a true ambassador.

Learned T49's industry, problems they solved and aspired to, why that matters to customers
Demo'd the product, reviewed customer stories
Got to know every team member 1:1
Observed the collaboration baseline: what was vital, what was missing
Defined company & team-specific values

Reviewed past hiring wins and misses
Planned hiring roadmap for the year ahead
Designed scaffolding for Terminal49's interview process and evaluation methods
Selected a tool stack suited to hiring goals, configured set up + integrations, and guided the team through onboarding

With a clear understanding on Terminal49's values and value proposition, we turned our energy outward to curate an employer brand that would attract the right talent and began hiring for their highest priority needs.

Revamped About Us page and created Careers page reflecting Terminal49's story, culture, and mission, fully integrated with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Created, claimed, and spruced up profiles on third-party sites candidates look to for context and credibility
Wrote templates for job descriptions, offer letters, and automated correspondence
Recorded and edited round-one video interview questions introduced by members of the team
Created interview scripts, evaluation criteria, and scorecards
Established sourcing channels
Began hiring!

Launch

Fully In-Gear

We refined with each rep, and within a few months we'd honed in on a process that worked for Terminal49. A few of the initial core became team leads. We upskilled the hiring managers and panel members in how to identify what they needed and interview accordingly.

Most importantly, we welcomed new faces across Product, Engineering, and Customer Success.

Next Level

As Terminal49 grew, we leaned into communications and culture to foster alignment across teams and tiers.

Added roles to the hiring roadmap to achieve new or expanded company goals
Upskilled managers in how to handle employee 1:1s and provide consistent, actionable feedback
Introduced additional scorecard types to assist hiring managers and panel members in evaluation
Harnessed new candidate pools via premium job boards and niche online communities
Created a referrals program to leverage new hires' recommendations and networks
Improved New Hire Onboarding by curating a Week 1 Experience including:
- Intro calls with each team lead to learn their part of the business and where to collaborate
- Regular check-ins with hiring manager and onboarding buddy
- How We Work guide bringing clarity to remote, asynchronous work across timezones and countries
- Supply Chain industry Learning Journey
Continued hiring across all teams

Offsite

Gathering in-person helps distributed teams reinforce relationships and fuel connected innovation. We coordinated Terminal49's first international summit in Sitges, Spain, bringing the team together from all corners of the world.

Led workshops to refine company values with team input and define leadership philosophy
Facilitated show-and-tell sessions by team
Hosted a 24-hour hackathon that resulted in multiple new features
Managed schedule and vendors so every team member and leader could be fully present in the moment
- shuttle drivers, villa staff
- private chef, restaurants
- tours, photographer

Wrap Up

After a strong growth spurt, Terminal49's next priorities were to focus on doing the work together as a team. We'd hired everyone from Staff-Level engineers to their Head of Marketing. The final stage of our engagement was to ensure that that all the processes we'd created were rigorously, clearly documented via Notion, Loom Videos, and Linear Templates before handing them off to the Chief of Staff.

As an embedded hiring partner, our efforts go far beyond recruitment. We equip our clients, leaving each one better able to achieve their future people goals because of the foundation Sandpiper laid.

Testimonials

Hear from Terminal49

"Usually the people I've worked with in recruitment are super machinistic about it. I’d just like to say you're doing an amazing job. I have never seen someone being this thoughtful with people and potential candidates."

— Mislav Stipetic

Product Team Lead at Terminal49

"Sandpiper Talent was an asset as we established key roles and built out People, Culture, & Communications functions. Caitlin was focused, dependable, and objectives-oriented. But what made her stand out was her understanding of people’s needs. Everyone working with her felt comfortable and heard. These are important traits within an early stage startup environment where change and challenges are constant. Caitlin’s can-do attitude instills positive energy in every team member."

— Kimmie Nguyen

Chief Operating Officer at Terminal49

"As someone who was recruited by Caitlin and worked with her to find more talent, I was impressed with her ability to communicate the hiring process, empathize with talent and make them feel like they know what is happening, and work tirelessly to find the people who would make great fits for the roles she is filling."

— Dylan Sewell

Customer Success Lead at Terminal49