Season 9 | Ep19 Avetis Antaplyan on how he spent millions protecting his team (they still left anyway)

In 2022, Avetis Antaplyan was absolutely flying...

HIRECLOUT, his global recruiting firm with 30 employees across the US, Colombia, Armenia, and India was breaking record after record.

Two-time Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company, his best year ever and he felt everything was working.

Then when the market hit hard in 2023-2024 and every other founder was doing layoffs, Avetis refused to cut people.

Instead, he took most of his profits out of the business to keep his team employed through the downturn.

He genuinely believed loyalty would be returned. That when things turned around, they'd kill it together.

It didn't work that way.

"Those were the first people who resigned when we put some pressure on," he admits. "All it did was burn my profit."

For two and a half years, he broke even. The money was gone. The people left anyway. But that failure taught him something most founders never learn: protecting average people doesn't build loyalty. It destroys capital.

Now he's building the opposite.

His new obsession: take exceptional people (circa $500-600k billers) and use AI, systems, and tools to turn them into $1m producers.

He's recently hired a principal on executive search, a director of business development, and is planning a head of consulting…. Serious hires for a new phase of growth.

In this episode, we cover:

- Why he chose loyalty over layoffs (and what it cost)

- Two and a half years of breaking even

- The moment he realised protecting people was destroying capital - How he rebuilt with "bar raisers or nothing"

- Building AI to turn $600k billers into million-dollar producers

- Why he's never burnt out (and why most founders do)

This story highlights a founder who made a decision based on loyalty, watched it blow up in his face, and chose to learn instead of blame the market.

If you've ever wondered what happens when you prioritise people over profit, this episode may change how you think about loyalty. __________________________________________

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