Christine Fok

In every product leadership role I’ve taken, my key to success was spending as much time on recruiting as I did on product. Great teams build great products. I believe building teams deserves the same craft and intentionality as building the product itself. And with AI giving teams unprecedented leverage, teams that hire top talent faster will emerge as the winners. Given how much I value recruiting, it’s fitting that Paraform was the first investment I led at Felicis. Paraform is an AI-enabled, recruiter-first marketplace that helps companies hire 3x faster and helps recruiters earn 3x - 5x more than traditional recruiting roles. Their marketplace and tools give elite recruiters more speed, leverage, and time dedicated to helping companies hire their hardest-to-fill roles. The traction to date speaks for itself. Companies like Palantir, Ramp, Rippling, Cursor, Windsurf, and Decagon all rely on Paraform to help them hire the best people. Some recruiters have already earned $1M on their platform, and Paraform’s pace is accelerating. I’m so excited to partner with John Kim, Jeffrey Li, and the entire Paraform team on building the future of recruiting. Read more about why we invested here: https://lnkd.in/g6zb8ZrY

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High-performing teams aren’t built through comfort. Like it or not, friction is the currency of building a talent-dense organization, especially one in hypergrowth. When I was at Coinbase, talent density was a constant focus. Now at Engine, I see how that same principle comes to life in new ways. Raising the bar isn’t just about better performance. It’s about creating a culture where peers, managers, and direct reports all push each other for more and better. That can feel uncomfortable, especially for people who haven’t worked in an environment where expectations keep rising. But that discomfort is what growth feels like. The right kind of friction shows who leans into challenge and who prefers comfort. I see it in hiring too. When there’s some friction in the process, you uncover grit and conviction. Discomfort isn’t the goal. It’s the natural result of ambition and accountability coming together. Friction is how talent density grows. And it’s how great cultures stay great. 💪

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Honored to have been invited to fal and Henry Shi’s Lean AI Leaderboard Celebration Dinner, celebrating some of the leanest and fastest-growing startups in SF. Here are some of the most overwhelming trends that were discussed among high-growth companies working with small, high-output teams: 1/ Headcount is no longer used as a success metric. As Henry Ward said, “Hiring means we failed to execute and need help.” Headcount is not a flex measure anymore. People aren’t asking “How big is your team?” anymore. They’re asking “How many customers do you have?” 2/ They're finding ways to leverage AI across every function. Every engineer uses Cursor or Windsurf. Every GTM leader is in Clay. The most efficient teams are built AI-first across the board. Thank you to Henry Shi, Burkay Gur, and Gorkem Yurtseven for putting this all together!

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In a recent article, I shared Zendesk's approach to AI governance—grounded in education, transparency, and principles-based frameworks. With AI evolving faster than regulation, companies need to start building governance now to empower employees and protect customers. https://lnkd.in/gZcttNQH

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