Most CEOs assume that hiring gets easier as the company grows. With more traction, more capital, and a stronger brand, it feels like talent should naturally follow.
Joseph Antoun, CEO of L-Nutra, found the opposite to be true. As he built a company around an entirely new category, nutrition for longevity, he quickly realized that the usual levers didn’t apply. There were no clear benchmarks, no obvious competitors, and no defined talent pool to recruit from. In many ways, he wasn’t just building a company. He was asking people to believe in something that didn’t yet exist.
That’s where the real challenge begins.
Because when you’re early, the question isn’t just whether someone is qualified. It’s whether they’re willing to take the journey with you.
Joseph captured this dynamic in a way that reframes how most CEOs think about hiring:
“The best people will come… The OK ones will not come.”
At first, that sounds counterintuitive. Most leaders are conditioned to think in terms of volume. More candidates should mean more options and better outcomes. But Joseph’s experience points to a different reality. Talent doesn’t sit on a single spectrum. It separates into very different mindsets.
Some people are looking for stability. Others are looking for something far less predictable, but far more meaningful.
What Top Talent Is Actually Looking For
Early in the company’s growth, Joseph knew he couldn’t compete with large organizations on compensation alone. That wasn’t a temporary constraint. It was structural. Companies like Lilly, where he had previously worked, could offer salaries and security that a young, category-defining startup simply could not match.
Instead of trying to close that gap, he chose to lean into a different value proposition.
“The best people have high good salaries… they have some cash cushion… they’re looking for a next journey where they can ride early, grow fast, have the best equity, and have a legacy.”
That statement highlights something many CEOs overlook. The strongest candidates are often not optimizing for immediate compensation. They already have it. What they’re evaluating instead is trajectory, both for the company and for themselves.
They want to know if the work will matter. If they will have ownership. If the experience will shape their career in a meaningful way.
In that sense, the hiring conversation shifts. It becomes less about what you can offer today, and more about what you are building over time.
The Role of Storytelling in Hiring
This is where Joseph’s approach becomes particularly important. He didn’t treat hiring as a transactional process. He treated it as a narrative.
“You got to interview with the best… and you’re going to have the best storytelling.”
When there’s no established category, candidates can’t rely on external validation. They can’t point to competitors, market size comparisons, or predictable growth paths. Instead, they rely on what the CEO communicates.
That communication has to do several things at once. It has to explain why the problem matters, why the timing is right, and why this specific company has a credible path forward. Just as importantly, it has to show the candidate where they fit into that story.
Joseph often framed the contrast in a way that resonated with experienced candidates. At a large company, your contribution is diluted. You are part of a much bigger system. At an early-stage company, your impact is visible and immediate.
“They’re not making the biggest difference at the multi-billion dollar company… but they’re gonna make the biggest difference for their life… and their legacy.”
That idea tends to land with people who are ready for a different kind of challenge.
Hiring for Belief, Not Just Skill
Because the category itself was new, Joseph had to go beyond traditional hiring criteria. Experience alone wasn’t enough. In many cases, the most important factor was belief in the mission.
He found that some of the strongest team members were drawn in by personal connection. Individuals who had seen the impact of chronic disease firsthand, or who were motivated by the idea of changing how healthcare operates, were more willing to take the risk.
That kind of alignment changes how people show up. It influences how they think about problems, how they collaborate, and how they persist when things become difficult, which in a new category is inevitable.
In practical terms, this meant balancing two things at once. On one hand, he needed capable people who could execute. On the other, he needed individuals who were willing to commit to a longer, less certain path.
That combination is harder to find, but far more powerful once it’s in place.
The CEO’s Shift From Operator to Builder
As the company grew, Joseph’s role evolved along with it. Like many founders, he had to move from being directly involved in everything to creating the conditions for others to succeed.
He simplified the business into two core elements: the people you bring in, and the value you deliver. Everything else, process, structure, execution, builds from those foundations.
But making that shift is not straightforward. Early on, progress often comes from personal effort and deep involvement. Over time, that approach becomes a constraint.
Scaling required Joseph to step back in certain areas, trust others to take ownership, and focus more on alignment than control. It also meant accepting that he would not have perfect visibility into everything, and that decisions would increasingly be made without him in the room.
That transition is uncomfortable for many CEOs, but it is also necessary.
Using AI as Leverage, Not a Crutch
Joseph’s approach to AI reflects a similar mindset. He doesn’t see it as something to adopt because it’s trending. He sees it as a tool that can amplify what the company is already doing.
“AI is your best cost saving and amplifier and business growth tool you’ve ever experienced as CEOs.”
Across the organization, AI supports a wide range of activities. It accelerates research, improves marketing efficiency, and reduces the time required for tasks that would otherwise be manual and time-consuming. In areas like creative testing and performance analysis, it allows the team to iterate more quickly and with better data.
At the same time, Joseph is careful not to treat AI as infallible. He pointed out that AI often reflects what is most commonly discussed, not necessarily what is most accurate.
“You got to filter AI… sometimes the wrong information is talked about the most.”
That insight reinforces the CEO’s role in the process. AI can surface information, but it cannot replace judgment. The ability to interpret, question, and refine what AI produces becomes a critical skill.
Extending AI Into the Customer Experience
One of the more interesting applications Joseph described is how AI can be used to better understand customers. Instead of relying solely on direct feedback, his team uses AI to analyze broader patterns across platforms where customers are already sharing their experiences.
This allows them to identify recurring themes. What people appreciate, where they encounter friction, and how they talk about the product in their own words. That perspective is often more candid and more nuanced than structured surveys.
From there, those insights feed back into product development. Adjustments can be made based on what customers are actually experiencing, rather than what the company assumes they need.
It’s a subtle shift, but one that can meaningfully improve how a product evolves over time.
Bringing It All Together
What stands out in Joseph’s experience is not just the strategy, but the underlying perspective.
He did not try to compete on the same terms as larger companies. He reframed the conversation. He focused on attracting people who were motivated by purpose, not just compensation. He treated hiring as an extension of storytelling, and leadership as an exercise in building alignment rather than maintaining control.
At the same time, he embraced tools like AI, not as a replacement for thinking, but as a way to extend the company’s capabilities.
For CEOs navigating growth, there’s a useful takeaway here. The constraints you face, whether in hiring, capital, or market definition, do not always need to be solved directly. In many cases, they can be approached from a different angle entirely.
That shift in perspective is often where progress begins.
I’m Glenn Gow. I coach CEOs who are navigating this kind of transition as their companies scale.
If attracting top talent feels harder than it should, it may not be a resource problem. It may be a clarity problem.
Listen to the full episode of The Scaling CEO here.
