What was the catalyst for launching Adaptor?

The launch of Adaptor stemmed from a recognition the that traditional recruitment agency model was not fit for purpose,  especially for the ever-evolving needs and challenges faced by both startups and scaleups.

Tell me about the business - what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?

Adaptor is a plug-in internal recruitment team for tech startups and scaleups. We help build businesses from the inside, by embedding our experienced Heads of Talent to cover all hiring and talent acquisition.

By understanding the unique needs of our customers – whether they are looking to save resource, time, or money - we flex our working model so that we are the most competitive, well-rounded embedded recruitment solution for our customers, enabling them to grow and scale successfully to achieve their goals.

How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?

The business has evolved drastically since its launch 3 years ago - from our headcount to our culture. Most notably, we have refined our business-wide approach over the years to ensure we are always focused on building deeper, long-term partnerships; we want to feel like extensions of our clients’ teams.

Tell us about the working culture at Adaptor?

The culture at Adaptor is one we’ve shaped as a team over the years. We ensure we genuinely enjoy what we do and take pride in our day-to-day. We learn, listen, and grow from those around us and embrace change and while the latter isn’t always easy, we show tenacity and work together to overcome any knock backs. We encourage diversity of thought, and everyone’s ideas are always welcomed.

How are you funded?

We are privately held.

What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?

The recruitment sector often comes with a negative stereotype – it’s impersonal, solely commission-based, and excessively time-consuming. At Adaptor, we’ve had to cut through this noise proactively and show how our embedded recruitment model is totally different.

How does Adaptor answer an unmet need?

Hiring is often time consuming, pulls on internal resource and is costly. We wanted to put forward a solution which is much more adaptable to the needs of startups and scaleups. We embed our experienced Heads of Talent into a business to become their internal recruitment team. Our service offering is tailored to the needs of customers, flexing, and changing to ensure clients’ needs are met – regardless of whether they’d like to make 10 hires to set up internal recruitment processes from scratch.

What’s in store for the future?

Growth – for our customers, our partners and ourselves.

What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?

Learn how to sell and know that you have to. If you build an amazing product or service, it’s worthless if you can’t sell it.

And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?

That’s the beauty of what we do – no day is the same. Our routines are being routine-less. We get to meet amazing clients and candidates every day and work based off their requirements.

Ross Summers is the Founder & CEO of Adaptor.