Warm Intro #05 - How Atticus found a fit for their Head of Growth
We spoke with the team at Atticus about hiring a best-in-class growth marketer, and how they used Liftoff to help
We’ve heard from so many of you who are curious about stories of successful hires on Liftoff: “How does it work? How are people using it?” So we’re excited to share a particularly great story of how Julie Bain-Kim, VP of Marketing at Atticus, found an amazing fit with her new Director of Growth Marketing, Sebastien Damas.
👋 Meet Atticus, a Series B, 150-person B Corporation on a mission to make it easy for any person in crisis to access the life-changing aid they deserve.
To get the backstory, we chatted with Julie, Sebastien, and the Connector who introduced them: Priya Prasad, VP of Marketing & Growth at Trellis Health, a longtime friend and colleague of Sebastien.
Priya uniquely knew what Sebastien had been looking for in the next phase of his career, so she was able to spot the perfect role for her friend in a sea of possibilities and share it with him. She used Liftoff to share her endorsement of Sebastien and helped Atticus quickly discover what made him such an incredible fit.
They moved from introduction to offer in just two weeks, and the rest is history. We’re so grateful to Julie, Sebastien, and Priya for sharing how their connection unfolded, and we hope you enjoy their story!
— Eleanor
Hiring Manager: Julie Bain-Kim, VP of Marketing at Atticus | Formerly LegalZoom, Electronic Arts
Set the stage for us. How did you feel going into your search for a Director of Growth Marketing?
Julie: When I came to Liftoff, I thought we had tried everything. I remember saying we will be lucky if we give someone an offer in six months.
A few years ago, we tried to hire a Growth Director and failed after six months of really hard work. We actually ended up closing the role entirely. So when I came to Liftoff, I thought we had tried everything, and that’s why our experience was a true surprise and delight. We went from first touch with Sebastien to offer-in-hand in less than two weeks.
We've interviewed a ton of amazing candidates for this role over the years. But what we do is so mission-focused and highly sensitive — we take that responsibility really seriously and have an incredibly high bar. Hiring is difficult at Atticus because we are looking for people who not only have an excellent track record professionally, but also have a demonstrated interest in social impact, and what we call “spark” — something that makes them extraordinary in a way that a startup of our scale can bet on to have a 10x impact.
When I describe people at Atticus who demonstrate that spark, it can seem random — for some it’s volunteering or political activism; we have Olympians and Teach for America alumni. The commonality is that they are dedicated to making a positive impact in the world and believe in themselves to contribute to it. That factor can be hard to spot on a resume.
Given what we had experienced with this role in the past, finding Seb through Liftoff was a completely wild and unexpected success for us.
How did Liftoff facilitate the introduction to Sebastien?
Julie: What was helpful about Liftoff was having a short link I can send to people in my network — not a long job description, but a concise paragraph, with a very clear reward.
I think the $10,000 incentive really helped. When you ask people for recommendations, everyone will say, “I’ll keep an ear out,” but not a lot of people think very carefully about it. Once I put together the profile on Liftoff and began to share it, people started to recommend candidates left and right. I got recommendations from people I haven’t heard from in years.
What was interesting was that I hadn’t met Priya, but she saw the Liftoff link on LinkedIn through a 2nd- or 3rd-degree connection and recommended Seb right away. On paper he was absolutely perfect, then he went through our three infamously tough interview rounds within a week and passed with flying colors.
How did Priya’s Connector recommendation play a role in identifying incredible fit?
Julie: Priya was able to give color commentary on her experience knowing Seb over 10 years. Having someone who could be a character reference and share insight beyond the resume was invaluable.
When we work with recruiting agencies, we can give them a checklist and get candidates who check boxes on paper. But Priya could paint a bigger picture of how Sebastien is personally interested in the growth space, because he and Priya have had tons of conversations about the growth landscape over the years.
Priya also mentioned that Sebastien has always been interested in social impact through his previous roles and volunteering. There was enough signal to know he’s not just someone who’s good at buying media and leading growth marketing teams — that came through in her recommendation on Liftoff.
Connector: Priya Prasad, VP Marketing & Growth at Trellis Health | Angel Investor & Advisor
What led you to recommend Sebastien for this role?
Priya: Because I didn’t know Julie, the referral incentive drove me to do more.
I saw Julie’s post with the Liftoff link because mutual connections had interacted with it on LinkedIn. I’ve hired for this role before, and there was alignment with what Sebastien had done in his last role in terms of strategy and execution. I texted Sebastien that he’s perfectly suited for it, and it would be fun to refer him. Usually when I make intros, they’re very short and brief. But in this case I wanted to go above and beyond.
One thing Julie did well in her post was to provide brief color on Atticus and its company stage — Series B, growing 2-3x. There were 2-3 people I could have recommended, but the additional context helped me realize it’s the perfect role for Sebastien. I knew he wanted to build a collaborative mentorship relationship with an experienced marketing leader, and Julie seemed like an incredible fit for that.
Hired: Sebastien Damas, Director of Growth Marketing at Atticus | Formerly Welcome Tech, Vivino
How did Priya’s input shape the way you thought about Atticus?
Sebastien: Priya has worked with so many companies that she could cut through the noise pretty quickly and point me in the right direction.
I will always listen to and appreciate anything that Priya shares because I trust her in everything marketing- and career-related. It’s like having an aide in your search. A recruiter can often be that aide, but they’re incentivized differently. Priya’s incentive is mostly to help her friend find an amazing job. And there’s no way for a recruiter to have as much background knowledge on me that Priya has. So I value her opinion considerably more.
How do you think Liftoff helped you and Atticus discover the fit?
Sebastien: With Liftoff, there’s a way to tell a story that you just don’t get on LinkedIn or their resume — it really starts to deliver who this person is.
One of the main things I loved about Liftoff’s process is how detailed the referral can be. I’ve known Priya for over 10 years, so I value the ability to be transparent and share those stories. Typically when someone gives you an internal referral, it’s often just, “Hey, here’s my friend’s resume, can you have a look?”
But [with Liftoff], having Priya be able to vouch for me in a structured way was key — and the ability [for Atticus] to see that she has worked at so many great places, that she knows and has hired amazing talent, so her opinion is truly worthwhile.
The job application space is such a black hole, but I think there’s this amazing ground here where you can build on community — you can share within your network, personalize recommendations, and share in incentives so we’re in it together, especially now.
Julie, how has this fit affected your business and what advice do you have for others who need to make a critical hire?
Julie: My only advice is don’t settle.
Sebastien’s fit was clear from the get-go. I’ve also been really impressed with how he has affected our hiring. It can be hard to describe “spark” and what social impact can look like on a resume, but he can spot it, and we have a great pipeline of candidates now for that reason. We can hire better and more senior people because he’s such an impressive growth individual.
Seeing how well it can go has shown me it’s possible for other roles. We have a ton of hiring to do this year and are about to use Liftoff for several more roles; the fact that Sebastien was such a great fit has helped us hone in on this path.
When you open a new role, especially at a startup, it’s such an exciting thing to be able to bring in another person who believes in your mission. Having that positive energy has been amazing for us, and we can’t wait to find more people as we grow our team this year.
Learn more about Atticus and its mission at atticus.com.
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