In this episode of Whispered Hiring, Andy Mowat speaks with Vikas Bhambri, CRO at Rasa, about the hiring frameworks he has built across some of the most demanding AI-native go-to-market environments. Drawing from his experience at Kustomer, Regal, and Yellow.ai, Vikas brings a people-first philosophy that runs from the moment you inherit a team all the way through panel discipline and decision ownership. His approach challenges how most GTM leaders think about assessments, sourcing, structured interviews, and what coachability actually looks like under pressure.
Topics discussed:
- Inheriting a team you did not recruit or onboard
- Why holding people to unmet standards is bullying, not management
- Setting expectations when your team already knows change is coming
- Why CROs cannot throw talent sourcing over the fence to recruiting
- LinkedIn as a deliberate sourcing network, not a rolodex
- Standardized interview questions as the foundation of fair evaluation
- The opening question Vikas asks every single candidate
- Why hijacking an interview is a non-starter
- Exercises as a coachability test, not a credential showcase
- Why AI does not kill the exercise
- Hiring panels as a privilege, not a checkbox
ABOUT YOUR HOST:
Andy Mowat has built GTM engines for top companies throughout his career. He led Revenue Operations and Demand Gen at four unicorns, including scaling from $10M to $100M ARR at both Upwork and Culture Amp, and helping guide Box and Carta through IPO scale. With a passion for connecting people, Andy has advised executives on their careers for years and launched Whispered to make searching for executive roles less intimidating.
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