Jake Huber

Venture Scaler

Rent hourly recruiters from Uber, Lime, Dropbox, Instacart, Spotify, etc.

Our expert recruiters run the full recruiting process for you and give you time back to grow your business. Instead of charging 25% commissions on salary, you only pay hourly for the recruiter’s time. 

We’re on-demand and can flex up & down as your needs change. There are no big contracts, commissions or hidden fees.

📈🧠 Scale Smarter. Rent a Recruiter: https://venturescaler.com

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Highlighted Client Results:

→ 𝟰𝘅 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲: UpSmith was searching for their first sales hire for 5 months, and we closed the stalled search in 5 weeks.

→ 𝟲𝘅 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀: Veho saw a +495% increase in inbound applicants in 6 months after they started working with us.

→ 𝟵𝟬% 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: Honey Homes’ cost per hire was 1/10th of what a traditional agency would have charged them in commissions (see case study ↓).

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🏆 CASE STUDY: How We Saved Honey Homes $230k in 2 Months

In 2 months, our expert recruiters sourced, screened, interviewed & hired 13 new employees:

→ 2 Sr Managers at $110k salaries
→ 9 Managers at $75k salaries
→ 2 CSRs at $50k salaries

If Honey Homes worked with a traditional recruiting agency instead, they would have paid an industry average 25% commissions on first-year salaries, totaling $250,000 😱

But by working with Venture Scaler on our flexible hourly plans, we saved them over 90%, helping them reduce monthly burn while scaling their team 🙌 

“We were up and running with an incredible recruiter within a week and they completely exceeded our expectations. We wrapped up our hiring sprint ahead of schedule and with higher quality candidates than before. 

Additionally, the cost per hire was about 1/10th of what a traditional agency would have charged. I can't recommend Venture Scaler enough for the quality and value they provide."

~Jeff Kreutter, Head of Operations at Honey Homes

Founder

Scale OS

OS + newsletter for founders designed to help you scale your teams and yourself.

Startup Advisor

"Jake is by far one of the best advisors and mentors that I have worked with." 
~Tyler Morgan, Founder & CEO of UpKid

“Jake has been an absolute game-changer for our startup.”
~Sophie Smith, Founder & CEO of College Contact

"Jake is the mentor and advisor every startup entrepreneur needs in their life." 
~Eli Chmouni, Founder & CEO of Neon

“Jake played a pivotal role in the success of my company." 
~Anitra Davenport, Founder & CEO of Inkzup

"Jake sees how to make a process better and playbooks every step of the way." 
~Blaine Light, Co-Founder & COO at Qwick

📈🧠 Scale Smarter. Work with Jake: 
https://founderscaler.com
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What I’ve done:
→ Grew a marketplace $0→$50k/mo in <1yr
→ Built 10 marketplaces worth over $300M
→ Scaled 3 unicorn marketplaces: Uber, Uber Eats & Veho

Now I work with early-stage founders on scaling their marketplaces and finding their own “founder scale.”

I've worked with 15+ marketplace startups on Talent Acquisition, Product-Market Fit and Go-To-Market:

📦 Veho - last-mile delivery marketplace

👶 Upkid - staffing marketplace for daycares

👨🏻‍🎤 Inkzup - B2C marketplace for tattoo artists

💇‍♀️ Upgrade - B2C marketplace for hair stylists

🎓 College Contact - marketplace for college student advisors

🏠 Hubster - real estate investor marketplace

👚 Haulsale - B2C marketplace for resellers

🏥 Nurseio - staffing marketplace for nurses 

🩺 Medplace - medical expertise marketplace

🐤 Yellowbird - EHS staffing marketplace

🦘 Notaroo - on-demand notary marketplace

🍟 Qwick - staffing marketplace for restaurants

👷 Hardhats - construction staffing marketplace

☎️ Priizm - marketplace for therapy coaching

🛠 Steady Install - commercial furniture installation marketplace

🚚 Relocity - relocation concierge marketplace

🚜 Tillable - farmer & farm landowner marketplace 

🖥 Neon - digital OOH advertising marketplace

Talent & GTM Consultant for Marketplace Startups

Coplex - Venture Studio

Worked with founders to build a portfolio of 40+ startups worth $500M.

Led product, growth and business design teams to build new tech startups.

I also worked with executives to design and launch 3 new corporate venture studios: 

🧬 Healthworx Studio (HealthTech studio by Blue Cross Blue Shield)

🔬Roadrunner Studios (DeepTech studio by America’s Frontier Fund)

🏥 Phoenix Children’s Venture Studio (MedTech studio by PCH)

Coplex was named a Top 7 Startup Accelerator by Entrepreneur Magazine and one of Inc Magazine’s Best Workplaces in 2019. Coplex has been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, VentureBeat, Inc, Forbes, NPR and Entrepreneur.

My Roles at Coplex:
→ Managing Partner (July 2021 - Present)
→ Advisor & mentor while I was building a new IoT Innovation Studio at ASU (Sept 2020 - July 2021)
→ Startup Studio Director (Oct 2018 - Sept 2020)

Highlighted Portfolio Companies:

😁 Smile Virtual (Acquired in Dec 2021): SaaS platform connecting patients to dentists for personal consults. "Coplex helped us reach $35k in MRR and prepare for a seed round within 9 months." ~Jenn Rhoades, CEO of Smile Virtual

🍟 Qwick (Raised $60M): On-demand staffing marketplace for restaurants and hotels. "Coplex successfully helped us take our concept to over $50k in monthly revenue and to seed round in 9 months." ~Jamie Baxter, CEO of Qwick

🖥 Patient Signs
🐤 Yellowbird
🦘 Notaroo
⛑ Happy Hired
🏥 Nurseio
🏢 Particle IQ
👨‍💻 BPR 360
🌿 Thalo
🦷 MiniDentist
📈 Sigma401k
🚍 Lynk Bus
🛠 Steady Install
🍞 RaisinBread
💬 Insurmi 
🏦 Clever Finance
💾 Rubix
🍽 Servd
👯‍♀️ Kikstylist
🥚 Exitnest
🚘 Falcon Line
☎️ Priizm
📝 Punctual
🏠 Dealty
🐧 Peck
🤼‍♂️ Rivals Media
💳 950 Credit
💵 Stabl Pay
🛒 Savvie
🐦 Kanary
🚰 Three Good
👷‍♀️ HardHats
🚧 Contracker
🃏 CardSeer
🩺 Medplace
⌚️ Heads up Health
💸 Cala Lending
🧘 Spiritual People
🏗 Innovative Construction Technology

Managing Partner & Startup Studio Director

Veho

Grew team 4X from 70 to 285 employees & increased applicants by +495%.

Advised and worked with CEO on hiring, people ops strategy and employer brand:

→ Helped hire the VP of People Ops and build People team
→ Provided recruiting/interview support from 2 of our recruiters
→ Hired across multiple depts, including Ops, GTM, Eng & Product
→ Refreshed employer pages: LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Crunchbase, etc.
→ Published 10 employer brand blog posts to increase inbound volume
→ Audited 30+ job descriptions for gender bias to improve DEI
→ Applied for and won Top 50 Seed Co’s Award for Veho

👏 Highlighted Testimonials: 

👉 Itamar Zur, Co-founder and CEO:

"Jake and the Venture Scaler team have been HUGE for us. As we were starting to grow like a rocket ship we needed smart professionals who can help us ramp up employer branding, hiring, and interviewing. 

Venture Scaler created a 'machine' for us in those areas. They got us amazing recruiters to help with hiring across all positions in the company, and they became our de-facto head of recruiting for executive roles, especially in HR. 

They've systemized our company blog to tell the Veho human story week in and week out, which helped both attract talent and also lift the team's morale. Shortly after we were named a 'top 50 seed stage company to work for'. I can't recommend Venture Scaler enough!"

👉 Joe Walsh, Veho’s 1st Recruiter (started March 2021):

"Jake and his Venture Scaler team took Veho from a company where there were very little systems and processes to a company that was set up to scale from 70 employees to nearly 300 in a short time frame. They were essential in setting up a number of the people ops, human resources, and recruiting processes Veho needed to scale in a compliant way. 

Veho trusted Jake and his team to build the foundation of our people team and employer brand. I highly recommend them. Veho would not be where we are today without the fantastic work of his team.”

Fractional Head of Talent

Industrious

Launched 10 markets, doubled revenue and grew team to 30 people in < 1yr. 

Managed ~1/3 of locations at Industrious (valued at over $1B). Grew the Western U.S. region (7 states) over 3X to 13 locations in 2018. Owned the region’s P&L and increased revenue +115% to an annual run rate of $12M. 

Scaled the customer experience and improved the Western U.S. region’s NPS scores +20% from 70 in Q1 2018 to 84 in Q3 2018 (for reference, Apple’s industry-leading NPS score is 72).

Additionally assisted with city launches and expansions in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Boulder, Portland, Orange County and Salt Lake City.

Regional General Manager - Western U.S. | City Launcher

Uber

Grew team from 0 to 50+ people to scale driver and restaurant onboarding. 

We generated an +18% improvement in 14-day conversion rates for the top 20 U.S. and Canada markets, leading to $8M of implied sign up cost savings.

Additionally, I built teams that helped grow and scale Uber Eats restaurant operations by:

→ Optimizing the enterprise restaurant onboarding process to reduce average time in funnel 6x from 45 to 7 days for national partners like Arby's, Denny's, Five Guys, Hooters and TGIFriday's.

→ Piloting the innovative “Virtual Restaurants” program to test its scalability, which later became the biggest growth driver for Eats in 2018.

👏  Highlighted Recommendation:

"I worked with Jake at Uber while he was leading our Supply Ops team... I’d recommend working with Jake to anyone: he was a great partner, and he and his team had a significant impact on the business... He took the time to get to know our needs, worked with my team and I on what markets to target, and how we’d like to report on progress. And he reported regularly on progress and roadblocks his team was seeing.

His team dramatically impacted Courier conversion in markets we worked with him. By applying his trained concierge to acquisition funnels, we saw conversion increases of 15%+, saving a significant amount of money in top-of-funnel referral and paid media spend on new partners.

Additionally, I was continually impressed with Jake’s ability to convey complex topics clearly, and with effectiveness to functions throughout the organization. The work done on budgeting and ROI for his team was some of the best I saw across the organization and made it easy for our team to get buy-in to expand the program."

~Christopher Ager, Head of Uber Eats Restaurant Operations

Head of Supply Operations, Uber Eats (U.S. & Canada)

Led driver referrals for U.S. & Canada and supply growth for the West Coast.

Designed a new driver 'referral guarantee' reward structure that increased conversion 15% and was adopted as the global product standard for U.S./Canada, EMEA and Uber Eats. 

Developed national referral campaigns for the U.S. & Canada and acquisition forecasts & growth strategies for 40+ West Coast markets.

👏 Highlighted Recommendation:

"I had the great pleasure of working with Jake at Uber in Los Angeles. From the moment I joined the team, Jake did an amazing job of helping me feel welcome, while expertly passing on helpful pieces of advice along the way.

During my time working with Jake for a full year, three things stood out to me in particular:

1) Jake is an AMAZING manager. He is able to motivate and inspire his team while earning their respect. Furthermore, Jake received amazing results from his team as he empowered his direct reports with step-up opportunities.

2) Giving feedback is a difficult skill to learn, and Jake is excellent at doing so. His ability to deliver constructive feedback while making his coworkers feel appreciated and respected is an asset that any team would be lucky to have.

3) Jake brings a calm presence to everything he does, and as a result that makes him incredibly easy to work with. We fought many fires together at Uber, and Jake maintained an even-keeled calmness that disseminated out to the rest of the team. I will miss working with Jake and his ability to bring a sense of calm on a hyper-growth team.

I highly recommend Jake as a manager, coworker, and an all-around incredible asset to any team."

~Oliver Davies, Senior Central Operations Manager at Uber

Regional Operations Manager

Led supply growth operations and launched 5 new markets in AZ, NM and NV. 

Built & managed a growth team in Phoenix from 0 to 30 people to increase supply +300% YoY. 

Additionally, I trained & managed the first dedicated team of 15 support representatives in Phoenix.

Additional growth initiatives:
• Built & grew a new driver acquisition program +250% MoM from 1 to 45 cities nationally.
• Executed A/B tests to optimize incentive ROI; scaled to region & saved Uber over $15MM/yr.

Promoted from Operations Coordinator in 2015.

👏 Highlighted Recommendations:

"Every company needs a Jake. In my two years working with Jake at Uber while he was an Operations Manager, I always felt like our Uber team had won the lottery when he came onboard. The way Jake assesses an issue, turns it into an opportunity, and tells the story of the impact that was made by his actions is second to none. 

Jake’s attitude and constant great energy in and outside the office make him an irreplaceable part of the Uber team. His mind always thinks of how to get around an issue and make the best possible outcome and then quickly switches to “how do I teach this to others and scale this.” These attributes and more are what made Jake so valuable his first two years at Uber and are what will make him successful his whole career."

~John Hamby, Operations & Logistics Manager at Uber

"Jake has done a fantastic job being a thought partner and leader on the on the US West New Supply team. I regularly leaned on Jake to help lead and motivate the team and quite frankly asked him to take on the most difficult projects related to New Supply for one of Uber's highest priority regions. Jake is clearly a team player and leader who is constantly motivated and executes flawlessly regularly. I hope I get to work with Jake again."

~Amr Alshihabi, Senior Operations & Logistics Manager at Uber

Operations & Logistics Manager

Helped launch Uber and the uberX product in 5 new expansion markets, including Las Vegas, the largest launch in U.S. history and the fastest city in the U.S. to reach profitability.

→ Conducted city research to understand regulations and market opportunity for Uber.
→ Developed supply projections based on demand forecasts & creating acquisition plans.
→ Designed the pre-launch comms strategy and drafted copy for comms (email & SMS).
→ Sourced mechanics and negotiated terms for state-required vehicle inspections.
→ Hosted on-site interviews & in-person onboarding sessions to build initial supply for launch. 
→ Executed local marketing strategies to encourage user adoption and market penetration.

Launch List:
• Las Vegas, NV 
• Reno, NV
• Las Cruces, NM
• Flagstaff, AZ
• Yuma, AZ

City Launcher | Las Vegas + 4 More Cities

Boost VC - Startup Accelerator

Boost VC is a startup accelerator and early stage venture capital firm with $200M AUM.

Entrepreneur In Residence

Stealth Tech Startup

Founded a tech startup that was accepted into Boost VC, a Silicon Valley startup accelerator that only had a 4% acceptance rate (for reference, Harvard’s is 5.6%). 

Designed and launched first product MVP, acquired first customers, achieved revenue. Raised early equity investments and non-dilutive grants. 

Did everything except code: product management, marketing, sales, business development, customer support, etc. Had lots of fun, and learned a ton.

Founder & Chief Operating Officer (COO)

U.S. Small Business Administration

Business Analyst

Scaled 3 unicorns🦄 & teams from 0→250+ | 125+ founders read my newsletter to scale their teams smarter 📈🧠

At Uber, I scaled my team from 0→50 people <1yr.

Now I help Seed & Series A+ startup founders scale their teams. Here's how ↓

There are a lot of systems that go into hiring and scaling an A-player team at that speed. 

I also learned how valuable it is to work with an in-house recruiter.

I saw the same thing at Industrious where I helped launch 10 locations, hired the teams at each new office, and grew my team to 30 people. 

I couldn't have done it without the same systems or our recruiter.

And again at Veho, I helped their team grow 4X from 70 to 285 employees and increased their candidate pipeline +500% in 6 months. 

We built the systems to scale from the ground up. That's also where I created my "rent-a-recruiter" model that we use at Venture Scaler today.

But before I did all that—10 years ago—my first startup failed...

I made so many mistakes as a first-time founder.

I didn’t know how to build and scale my team. I never hired, trained or managed anyone before. 

I wish I had someone like ‘Present Jake’ to go back and show ‘Past Jake’ how to avoid all those mistakes.

That’s why I started Venture Scaler and my free Scale Smarter Newsletter:

📈 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥 📈

I developed a new model to help founders with hiring by letting them “rent a recruiter” hourly (no commissions).

We provide access to world-class recruiters that have worked at high-growth companies like Uber, Spotify, Lime, Amazon and Dropbox. 

Our clients have seen some impressive results:

→ 𝟰𝘅 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲: UpSmith was searching for their first sales hire for 5 months, and we closed the stalled search in 5 weeks.

→ 𝟵𝟬% 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: Honey Homes’ cost per hire was 1/10th of what a traditional agency would have charged them in commissions.

→ 𝟲𝘅 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀: Veho saw a +495% increase in inbound applicants in 6 months after they started working with us.

Need hiring help? DM me!

Learn more: https://venturescaler.com

🧠 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 🧠

Your people are the most important part of your startup. But building and scaling teams as you grow is hard work.

Each issue I share ways to scale your teams (and yourself) — all stuff I learned working at high-growth startups like Uber and Veho. 

Try it free: https://jakehuber.com

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P.S. Outside of work and scaling startups:
👯‍♀️ I’m a girl dad x2
🏕 A backpacker/camper
🎭 Trained at UCB in improv comedy
💍 Secretly proposed to my wife using Uber: https://youtu.be/uRi_B5CxWZ8

Startup Mentor

“Jake is an incredible sounding board that provides tactical tips, resources and introductions to help navigate crisis’ and challenges. He has an innate ability to level with you on any subject. During my three months with Jake I looked forward to every call as we hashed through 5-10 topics at a time spanning from affiliate & growth strategies to recruiting and mindset.”

~April Dominguez, CEO & Founder of Handsome

First Round Fast Track by First Round Capital matches seasoned startup leaders with early-stage founders and team members within a unique mentorship community. First Round Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on building a community of technology entrepreneurs and companies.

Wennovate Consulting

As the Managing Partner of Innovation and Technology at Wennovate Consulting, I lead strategic innovation advisory services, guide organizations in business model innovation, and design innovation workshops to build capabilities within client organizations. My focus on digital product management and technology implementation has resulted in successful product development initiatives leveraging AI/ML, IoT, and API integrations.

Managing Partner, Innovation and Technology

CRWN.ai

Senior Machine Learning Engineer

The University of British Columbia

Managed a research project investigating wireless localization for tire pressure monitors, valued at $90,000.

Developed a Deep Learning-based model for predicting the position of tire pressure monitoring sensors, reducing sensor position calibration time from 6-24 hours to less than 10 minutes, with an accuracy of over 80% over a Bluetooth network.

Performed Data Wrangling on a 40 GB dataset and prepared it for training a Deep Learning Model for predicting the modulation scheme of radio signals with over 70% accuracy.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Data Science)

Covenant University

Managed a research project focused on developing a conversational AI chat bot for providing first responders with medical guidance for administering first aid, capable of reducing mortality rates by up to 50%.

Investigated deep learning models for classification of wireless signals, with accuracies of over 70%. 

Curated radio frequency datasets and implemented best-practice-based ETL data pipelines for implementing deep learning algorithms for Bluetooth-based localization.

Lecturer and Research Fellow

Hactiv8 Labs

Led design thinking sessions for the discovery of customer-centric product features, and A/B experimentation for assessing desirability, feasibility and viability of product features, leading to 25% improvement in the prioritization of features that met customers’ needs and aligned with business outcomes.

Developed product vision and roadmaps for 5+ SaaS products, each with multiple epics and 150+ features, in collaboration with client cross-functional teams.

Implemented data-driven strategies for optimizing product discovery, validation, and implementation, leading to a reduction in product development costs by 20%.

Effectively managed 5 teams of product designers, software developers, product owners, business analysts, and DevOps engineers, with up to 15 personnel per client engagement  using agile project management principles, improving team productivity by 25%.

Led innovation sprints, customer pain-point discovery, and minimum viable product development for multiple fintech and blockchain-based product ideas among others, for clients.

Managing Consultant & Product Lead

Technology Innovation Labs (Bells University of Tehnology)

Led and executed the design of the innovation lab vision and strategy for Nigeria’s first private university of technology, for the commencement of operations of their digital innovation research lab and startup incubator, leading to the spin out of multiple startups from the venture incubation initiatives.

Led design thinking and innovation sprint sessions to explore the solution space for addressing social problems, leading to buy-in and $ 20, 000+ funding from external stakeholders including ExxonMobil and IBM USA to create smart farming and smart energy management minimum viable products, among others.

Co-led a 6-week design-thinking-inspired innovation sprint in partnership with an innovation team from MIT, and participation selected from 10+ universities. Two companies emerged from the innovation sprint and a cross-border collaboration on venture building between Nigeria and India.

Led 2-day product innovation hackathon events that leveraged the lean startup methodology, with participation culled from multiple regional universities, leading to the creation of 10+ minimum viable products across fintech, healthcare and education verticals.

Founding Director & Lead, Innovation Programs

PD Technologies

Developed and led the implementation of digital innovation roadmaps for financial and educational services companies, increasing their visibility by 30% and increasing operational efficiency by 50%, respectively.

Led the design and implementation of process automation software products and websites for multiple clients which led to 10-30% increase in cost savings and improved customer conversion rates.

Proposed and implemented the end-to-end digital infrastructure for applicant screening examination for a university, which reduced the application processing time by 30%.

Technology Solutions Consultant

Bells University of Technology, Ota

Teaching, Department of Physical Sciences

Deep Tech Venture Builder - Technical Project Management, Product Management, Deep Tech Consulting

I am a visionary digital innovation leader and venture builder who transforms ambitious ideas into market-ready solutions. With over a decade of experience bridging corporate innovation consulting, venture building, and deep tech development, I bring strategic insight and hands-on implementation expertise to every project.
Currently serving as Managing Consultant at Wennovate Consulting, I guide organizations through comprehensive innovation journeys, specializing in AI, IoT, and blockchain solutions. My proven track record includes leading Hactiv8 Labs, where I drove multiple successful innovation sprints and SaaS product roadmaps, delivering 25% improvement in feature prioritization and 20% reduction in development costs.
My venture building expertise spans financial services, healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, and transportation sectors. As Founding Director of Technology Innovation Labs at Nigeria's first private university innovation lab and startup incubator, I helped secure over $20,000 in external funding for student teams building MVPs and for innovation sprint programs. At the University of British Columbia, I led a $90,000 industry-sponsored research program, delivering predictive models that achieved 80% accuracy and reduced process times by 80%.
I combine battle-tested innovation methodologies with deep technical expertise, as showcased in my recent work at CRWN.ai, where I spearheaded AI strategy development and implemented groundbreaking approaches to predictive analytics. My background as a former professor and researcher in wireless networks and IoT provides me with unique insights into emerging technologies and their practical applications.
Whether you're an established corporation seeking digital transformation or an early-stage venture aiming to disrupt traditional markets, I offer comprehensive expertise in:

Deep technology consulting, with a focus on AI and IoT
Business model validation and innovation strategy
Customer acquisition and MVP development
Cross-functional team leadership
Data-driven decision making
Strategic partnership development

My approach consistently delivers measurable results that drive business growth and market success. I specialize in helping organizations navigate complex innovation challenges while maintaining laser focus on customer needs and business outcomes.
Ready to transform your innovation journey? Let's connect and explore how I can help bring your vision to life.

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