Hire right. Move fast. Don't compromise.

I'm Joel. I help startups hire the right people and build hiring that scales. I work as an extended member of your team, joining your Slack and Notion, not from a distance.

JOEL KINNUNEN Talent Operator & Founder, Growico · Helsinki Book a chat

What I do

I believe founders must always have a strong grip on hiring, but that doesn't mean doing it all yourself. I help you hire the people who move the needle and build a hiring process that gets faster and more consistent as you grow. Working with me typically costs thousands, not tens of thousands.

01

Headhunting, without the agency markup.

The people you want to hire might not know you exist yet, or aren't looking actively. That's the problem I solve.

I identify the right people, get them to a first conversation, and stay close through the process. Interviews, offer, close. As involved as you need me to be.

No month-long retainers before you see a single name. No three generic CVs and a big invoice. We move together, day by day, until the role is filled.

In practice
Engagement Full search for a Senior Account Executive
Actions Defining and aligning on the profile, reaching out to 200+ candidates, securing intro calls, joining selected interviews, sparring with the hiring team
Result Offer accepted in 34 days from zero
02

Stop reinventing hiring every time you open a role.

Freestyling in hiring works until it doesn't. A missed step, an inconsistent interview, an offer that takes too long. You lose the talent.

We build your hiring playbook together. I facilitate and coach, your team makes the decisions. A practical guide you can hand to any hiring manager and run with from day one.

I'm available for ongoing coaching and iterations as your team grows.

In practice
Engagement Building a hiring playbook with the team
Time 1 workday from the team
Result A comprehensive playbook covering your full hiring process, interview structure and scorecards, candidate experience, and how you make and close offers. Ready to use from day one.
Bonus Can be implemented as a Claude skill, so your team has an AI hiring assistant built on your own process.
03

Turn your team into a talent magnet.

Your team is building something worth talking about. Most startups just don't talk about it.

When your team writes about their work in their own voice, it's authentic, it builds trust, and it attracts both talent and customers. No outside content production needed.

This doesn't have to be a big project. It can start with one person posting once a week. I help you set up a simple structure, keep the barrier low, and build a rhythm that sticks. Including the incentive mechanics, if you want them.

The sooner you start, the stronger it gets. Reach and credibility compound over time.

In practice
Engagement Building in public sprint with the team
Actions Defining themes and posting practices, setting up peer support and tracking, drafting first posts together with coaching
Result A team that posts regularly in their own voice. A talent (and customer!) attraction channel that runs without a marketing budget.
04

When hiring gets bigger than your capacity.

Sometimes hiring just gets bigger than your capacity overnight. A new funding round, a sudden push, a team that needs to double. I step in, work inside your team, and get things moving.

Filling roles through headhunting, handling incoming applications, building hiring practices, setting up tooling, training the team. Whatever needs doing.

The value doesn't come from the hours but from the results.

In practice
Engagement 2 days per week embedded with a growing team
Scope Headhunting for selected roles, keeping the pipeline moving, coaching the team in hiring
Result Roles filled. Hiring habits that stick after I'm gone.

Cases

Bahn Express
StageSeed (€5M) Team30+ employees Hiring inFinland, Germany, and Denmark Backed byNode, Innovestor, Trind, Wave Ventures, and angels

We wanted to get better in hiring so the team spent a day with Joel on building a hiring playbook. We learned a lot, had great time, and found some 10x things to improve in our hiring.

Joel also helped us finding an experienced Sales Executive to join our German team, in 34 days from zero to accepted offer.

Matias Blomberg
Co-Founder & CEO, Bahn Express

About

Ten years in recruitment. Next: all in on startups.

About ten years ago I was building my own sales team and ended up doing a lot of the hiring myself. I got hooked.

Since then I've worked in recruitment full-time. Hundreds of hires across companies from 5 to 2,500 people. In 2025 I started Growico to do it on my own terms.

The clients I get most excited about are founders and their teams. Smart, ambitious people solving real problems, without the politics and without the bullshit. That's the world I want to spend my time in.

LinkedIn profile →

Get in touch

Hiring in the
next 90 days?
Let's talk.

No pitch, no pressure. Just an honest conversation about where you are and what you need.

Book a chat
Location Helsinki, Finland