Who We Are

Nikke Hardson-Hurley is a Forbes 30 Under 30-recognized startup founder and an expert in the hiring space. She co-founded Byteboard, a recently acquired startup incubated within Google’s Area 120, designed to make technical hiring more effective, efficient, and equitable. Byteboard’s platform emphasized identity-blind assessments, focused on real-world engineering skills to provide a fair evaluation process for all candidates. As a founder, Nikke not only helped companies like Lyft and Figma build strong engineering teams— she also experienced firsthand the challenges of hiring the right people to bring a vision to life and is passionate about helping others navigate that journey.

Obasi Shaw is an experienced tech leader and hiring expert with a proven track record in building fair and effective hiring processes. He has years of experience leading the development of innovative technical assessments at Google and was Head of Assessment Development at Byteboard, a technical hiring startup recently acquired by Karat. As a startup executive who wore many hats, including hiring manager, he’s been in your shoes — he knows the unique challenges of small-scale hiring, and the importance of getting it right the first time.