OUR TEAM
Building connections that strengthen communities.
Lea Engelhardt
Founder & CEO
Lea brings over a decade of experience from top VC firms and tech companies. She excels in building high-performing teams through strategic recruiting and performance management.
Lea began at Benchmark, before scaling Gusto from 25 to 2,000 employees. In 2021, she built the HR infrastructure for fintech company Pagaya ahead of its IPO. Now, she collaborates with firms like Base10, Tribe Capital, and Google Ventures on talent acquisition and development.
Maryann Shangkuan
Talent Partner
Maryann has over a decade of talent management experience with companies like Unity, Meta, and Amplitude, from seed stage to IPO. She excels in building high-performance teams and leading recruitment across Engineering, Product, and Design.
She managed Engineering recruitment at Amplitude, optimized operations at Unity, and scaled Collective from 100 to 250+ employees. At Paine Ventures, Maryann now focuses on enhancing recruiting efforts and supporting clients.
OUR
VALUES
Integrity
It’s not just what we do, it’s how we do. We believe in honest communication and delivering on our promises, providing practical and effective talent strategies that clients can trust.
Empathy
We prioritize human connections, ensuring our clients and their ecosystems feel valued, respected, and understood—balancing empathy with directness to make tough decisions.
Impact
We prioritize meaningful, lasting results over sheer outputs, driven by curiosity to create work that makes lasting impact.
Commitment
We are dedicated to our clients and our growth, striving to understand their unique needs and deliver optimal solutions. We get things done.