We live in an age of endless data and metrics, but there’s still nothing quite like a satisfied customer when it comes to making you feel good about what you do. One of those for us is MyFitnessPal, which has been the top downloaded app in both iTunes and the Google Play Store for the past three years, and was rated as the Best DIY Diet by Consumer Reports. We recently chatted with MyFitnessPal CEO Mike Lee to discuss MyFitnessPal’s recruiting goals, what he most enjoyed about working with Riviera, and how the recent placements are working out.
Riviera: Tell us a little about MyFitnessPal.
Mike Lee: The heart of what we do is help people track what they eat and the exercise they perform so they can make healthier decisions. Most people use it to lose weight and it’s incredibly effective. Eighty-eight percent of those who use it for seven days or more lose weight.
R: What are your main goals when it comes to recruiting?
ML: Hire amazing people of course! For us, we’re looking for people that fit three main criteria: skills, team fit and passion. These are critical for someone who hopes to succeed at MyFitnessPal.
R: What are some challenges you’ve faced in recruiting?
ML: It’s not that surprising: just finding amazing people is hard. There aren’t that many of them. And once you find them, it’s an incredibly competitive market out there. As a company, you want to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward.
R: What were the driving factors in deciding to work with Riviera?
ML: Riviera was referred to us with high recommendations, and we saw that they were the experts in what we needed. Riviera helped us with our VP of Engineering and Head of Data Sciences searches. We also used Team Services for some mid-level hires.
R: What are some of the benefits you’ve experienced?
ML: Obviously, there was a lot of value with the VP of Engineering search. Riviera really spent a lot of time trying to understand what we’re looking for and giving guidance around those. They’re great listeners but also asked some tough questions. What do we really care about? Do we really need this or that? They’d say a unicorn candidate is the only one that would meet all criteria, and that helped us understand what was most important and what trade offs we could make. As we were going through the process, you introduced a bunch of candidates, and they were really different types of people. That helped us callibrate what we really wanted and narrow in on what we really liked.
Also, Riviera is very consultative. It wasn’t just, “hey, here’s a ton of people to sift through.” Instead, they took our stage of business into account and what we really needed, and then honed in on the people who were really a good fit. This saved us a lot of time and helped us get more clarity on what we were looking for. And then when we honed in on the candidate we loved the most, there was help with reference checks, helped with the close process, and working what it would take to get this person on board. It was really an end-to-end experience.
R: What do you like most about working with Riviera?
ML: Riviera really feels like a partner. You don’t feel like you’re being sold to. It wasn’t just about finding a body, it was about finding the right person based on your culture and your needs, someone who would really fit in well. They put in a lot work working to help build out your team, and really act like an extension of your team themselves.
R: What results have you achieved?
ML: With the help of Riviera, we’ve hired a VP of Engineering, a Head of Data Science, and three mid-level people. They’re all extremely good fits, and are key parts of our team. These employees all help keep the business going.
