a16z Podcast · Podcast summary
Building a Team at AI Speed | Harvey’s Maggie Landers
Maggie Landers, VP of Talent at Harvey, shares how the company hires and scales culture at AI speed while transforming the legal industry.
Listen on the show ↗Key takeaways
- ⚡Employees at Harvey do more in a month than they might in a quarter elsewhere due to rapid iteration.0:00
- 🚀Harvey’s valuation grew from $3B to $11B in just over a year, reflecting explosive growth.1:45
- 🎯Harvey hires for comfort with ambiguity, strong judgment, and alignment with core values.5:49
- 🤝Collaboration and teamwork are emphasized despite the intense, fast-paced environment.9:23
- 👥Founders Winston and Gabe are highly accessible and involved in daily operations.12:43
- 📈The talent team grew from 16 to 80 people in a year to support hiring 2,000 employees.28:40
Chapters
- 0:00🚀 Rapid Growth and Startup Mentality
- 3:00🎉 Celebrating Wins While Moving Fast
- 4:00👥 Hiring and Onboarding at Scale
- 12:00🧑💼 Leadership Style and Founder Involvement
- 19:00💼 Why People Join and Leave Harvey
- 27:40🤝 Team Growth and Resourcing
- 29:10📝 Values-Driven Hiring Process
- 35:00🔑 Trust as the Foundation for Speed
- 37:00🌍 Global Offices and Local Nuances
The digest
The Challenge of Scaling Fast in Legal AI
Maggie Landers, VP of Talent at Harvey, describes the unique challenge of rapidly scaling a company that is transforming the legal industry with AI. Since joining just over a year ago, she has witnessed Harvey grow from a startup of a few hundred employees to a company projected to reach 2,000 by the end of the year. This explosive growth is accompanied by a valuation that skyrocketed from $3 billion in early 2025 to $11 billion by March 2026.
Despite this rapid expansion, Harvey maintains a startup mentality focused on experimentation, fast failure, and continuous learning. Maggie emphasizes that employees at Harvey do more in a month than they might in a quarter elsewhere, reflecting the company’s breakneck pace and ambition to build something unprecedented in the legal space.
Keep reading in The Digest
The full 4-minute article, 8 more sections, and every new episode from a16z Podcast and the creators you follow.
- Maintaining Culture Amidst Hypergrowth
- Leadership Style: Accessible, Detail-Oriented Founders
- Hiring for the Right Fit: Values and Judgment
- The Intensity and Reward of the Work
- Global Expansion and Local Nuance
- Why People Join and Sometimes Leave
- Maggie’s Personal Journey and Team Growth
- The Future: Trust as the Foundation
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