I sat down with Katie Dubinsky recently. She's a licensed pharmacist who built PostGigs, a verified job platform for small businesses that uses AI to match employers with top candidates. She launched it about a year ago, she's working with venture capital, and her team is approaching ten. She also still runs her first company — Vitalize - a private label supplement brand.
When I asked her why she built PostGigs, she told me the idea was triggered through her experience in working in fast-paced pharmacies that were always hiring to stay up to speed with a high turnaround rate.
She noticed a gap in the hiring process. Small, local pharmacies didn't have a reliable system to go to for candidates and due to fees, they stayed away from larger platforms like Indeed. She got the idea to build a job platform for small businesses and individuals without the fees and that would include AI summaries of candidates to save time involved in resume sifting.
When I asked what's been her biggest focus in leading her team, she didn't hesitate. Communication and clarity.
"I realized that when you have a vision in your head where you want certain things done, people interpret it differently. So, you really need to communicate specifically so everyone is on the same page."
She gave me an example she had worked through:
"I gave them a very vague summary of what I wanted, and it was via messaging and email. That should have been a phone conversation. You can't assume that people will understand because you know it."
So she shifted. More substantial conversations got a call or a Zoom. And when something stalled, she stopped addressing it in team meetings and started going directly to the person on the project.
She went on to talk about what happens when communication breaks down even after you've addressed it.
"One of the main things we have as founders is making crucial decisions. If you've already communicated something several times or something is not working within your team, you have to really get down to each individual. I have to figure out who's working on this project, what's happening, and really talk to them direct one-on-one to fix the issue. Rather than just giving it to the manager and expecting that they'll just take care of it."
She also talked about momentum.
"Sometimes as founders, something is not working, and we just get stuck in it. We need to know how to just keep moving forward."
And she's found that when her team has room to think, they often come back with the answer on their own.
We also talked about what it takes to keep a team engaged.
"When I've led with honesty, compassion, truth, transparency, my team put in 10 times more work that I didn't even expect. If you don't care about your team, they do not care about you."
Her advice for founders:
"Keep moving forward. Don't get stuck. Learn how to pivot when you need to."
Are you a small business owner tired of losing good candidates to expensive platforms that weren't built for you?
Connect with Katy Dubinsky and check out PostGigs