Chris Ahsing describes himself as a recruiting and data nerd. The Talent Partner of Dragonfly Capital has taken a data-driven approach to recruiting for his VC fund’s portfolio companies, and it’s been a resounding success. Thanks to Chris’s strategy, Dragonfly Capital has managed to triple traffic to the fund’s job board in one year, giving their portfolio of Web3 cryptocurrency companies a significant boost.

We sat down with Chris in a recent webinar, and he shared insight into how he increases job board traffic for his VC fund. 

Measuring Success: Quantitative and Qualitative Metrics

Dragonfly Capital measures the success of their talent strategy with a combination of quantitative and qualitative metrics. 

“We measure everything. Whatever thing that we do, we're thinking about exactly how to quantify it. Not necessarily to showcase what we're doing, but more so to understand: Are we effective? Are we putting our time in the right place? Are the things that we're doing actually impactful?” says Chris.

Here's how Chris evaluates Dragonfly Capital’s impact:

Quantitative Metrics

  • Speed: He assesses efficiency by tracking metrics like time-to-hire and time-to-fill.
  • Cost: Saving companies money is a priority, so he analyzes how Dragonfly can help portfolio companies reduce recruiting costs.
  • Quality: Dragonfly focuses on connecting portfolio companies with top-tier talent, especially when those companies lack brand recognition.
“One question we ask is, are we able to give portcos access to talent that they normally wouldn't have, especially if they’re a Seed-Stage, Series A, Series B, or Series C Company, and not a big brand? How do we get eyes on them? And this is where we found Getro to be incredibly helpful, just boosting some of those inbound channels and visibility,” says Chris.

Qualitative Metrics

  • Feedback: Chris ensures founders are satisfied with the support they receive from the fund. Positive feedback and referrals are indicators of success.
  • Coaching and Advisory: Dragonfly provides founders and talent teams with coaching and advisory services, building strong relationships in the process.
“We’ve found it really helpful to just be accessible to founders. A lot of times founders just want a gut check with you. So any kind of coaching we can do has helped us build strong relationships,” says Chris. 

How to Increase Job Board Traffic

Chris was able to triple traffic to Dragonfly Capital’s job board in just one year! So, how did they do it? By cleverly using social media platforms to find high-intent job seekers.

“We pay for LinkedIn job slots,” says Chris. He explains that this approach outperforms generic LinkedIn posts, which tend to get lost in the noise. 

Chris keeps the jobs featured on LinkedIn fresh by rotating them every two weeks. He uses data to select the listings that will perform best in a given market. “Getro has really helped us to assess where our portfolio companies are hiring and what types of profiles they’re hiring. We use that to educate ourselves on what will gain traction.”

He notes that Dragonfly Capital’s particular cryptocurrency space has been growing a lot internationally. “We really focused on expanding our network and our job slots into Europe and Asia-Pacific, so this increase in visitors is in part because we’re going into new markets where we haven’t been marketing before.” 

Chris also promotes Dragonfly Capital where Web3 talent congregates on Twitter. “It helps get the most bang for our buck with marketing,” Chris explains. “We're trying to find different ways to engage talent that seems low lift and not in-your-face, but allows for self discovery.”

Dragonfly Capital's Tech Stack

Managing talent efficiently requires a well-organized tech stack. Here's a glimpse of the tools Dragonfly Capital uses:

  • Greenhouse Applicant Tracking System: Dragonfly uses Greenhouse for internal and portfolio company hiring as an ATS, making it the central hub for their recruitment activities.
  • Gem: Dragonfly is partnering with Gem to design a new ATS that will provide an all-in-one recruiting solutionfor Dragonfly’s portfolio. With sourcing, CRM, ATS, and analytics on one platform, Dragonfly’s portfolio companies can address all their recruiting needs with one easy-to-use solution.
  • Getro: Getro plays a significant role in Dragonfly's talent strategy. They use Getro for hosting their job board, performing job board analytics, and tracking offers and hires. Dragonfly also constantly monitors new positions to determine how the fund can add value to portfolio companies. 
“We began using GetroJobs and the job board analytics when I first started at Dragonfly Capital. Now we’re exploring GetroConnect for tracking offers and hires, and looking into how we build a more self-serve talent network portfolio and dashboard,” says Chris. 

Data and Analytics Are the Key to Success

Chris’s thoughtful talent strategy and clever job board marketing tactics have allowed Dragonfly Capital to provide exceptional support to portfolio companies while also gaining attention in the industry. His achievement demonstrates the importance of measuring every action and iterating on learnings. It’s proof that being a recruiting and data nerd can be the best starting point for success. 

Want to understand more about the impact of your VC fund's talent strategy? Sign up for our next webinar, Measuring the ROI of Talent, with Melanie Blaine, Director, Human Capital at LLR Partners.