What our clients say
“Ben helped us through several hiring pushes as we went through some very rapid growth periods both pre and post our Series B. What stood out about Ben was that he consistently sourced and put forward high-quality candidates that matched our criteria exceptionally well, which had a significant impact on our department's 'time to fill' and 'time to hire' metrics. We held a very high bar for software engineers at the business, and despite working with many agencies Ben was consistently the top performing when it came to sourcing bar-raising software engineers.
I'd attribute this mostly to his attention to detail, where he showed a unique willingness to really understand the specifics and requirements of each and every role. He'd consistently ask deep and probing questions to really help tune his search parameters, and the candidates he sourced consistently have skills and experience that went beyond the spec and augment our engineering capabilities in ways that helped to maintain our growth momentum.
I can't recommend Ben enough, he's honest, lacks ego, and is genuine in his desire to help grow your business and would be a great partner for any similar early stage companies wanting to build a strong team.”
Joel Summerfield
Partnered during time as Engineering Manager at Novata
“We've worked with Ben and the team at Zest from pre Series A through our Series B hiring push, and he's been an exceptional partner throughout every stage of growth. They're straight-shooters, highly responsive, and consistently maintains a very high bar with the candidates submitted, both culturally and technically. The candidates they've brought us have been significant value-adds, and they've been flexible and high-touch as our needs and process evolved.
Ben actually recruited me initially, so I can speak to his professionalism from both the hiring and candidate side. He genuinely acts in the best interest of the startup, is someone we trust deeply, and we're excited to continue working with him.”
Matt Pardee
Director of Engineering at Trunk Tools
“We worked with Ben at Novata since the start of our journey and he has been instrumental in helping us scale our team during a period where both speed and quality were critical. What we appreciate most is the trust we have in him and the fact that he consistently acted in our best interests. We always felt candidates were thoroughly screened, not only for technical ability but for cultural fit as well.”
Owen Riddall
Partnered during time as CTO/Co-Founder at Novata
“Working with Ben and the team at Zest has been great. They've been a huge asset in helping us scale our engineering teams. Since day one, the communications with Ben have been open and honest and I truly feel like we are on the same team. Zest is collaborative, open to feedback, and just pleasures to work with.
Startup life can be a little chaotic, but Zest is along for the journey and won't leave you hanging. I feel like they really understand what we're about as a company and are able to represent our work authentically to candidates. That is rare for an agency. Candidates seem to love working with them too! I'd recommend them to anyone.”
Shilpa Balaji
COO, Technology at Promise