Behavioral AI and the compatibility advantage with Sarah Lucena, Mappa

This season on Build Mode, we’re breaking down what it really takes to build a world-class team and that starts with hiring the right people the first time. 

This week, we’re joined by Sarah Lucena, founder and CEO of Mappa, a behavioral intelligence platform that uses voice AI to decode human behavior in under 60 seconds. After rebuilding teams over and over again early in her career, Sarah set out to answer the question: why do “great on paper” candidates fail to flourish after their hired? 

In this episode, she explains how Mapa analyzes thousands of voice biomarkers, from speech patterns to linguistic signals, to build behavioral profiles and match candidates based on compatibility, not just the on-paper credentials. They help their clients make the right hired the first time, saving crucial time and money. 

She breaks down: 

• Why most hiring decisions are still a gamble 
• Compatibility vs. similarity (and why it matters) 
• How voice biomarkers reveal behavioral traits 
• How to reduce bias without lowering the bar 
• How founders should think about building aligned teams 

Whether you’re hiring your first employee or scaling a fast-growing startup, this episode will change the way you think about talent, team dynamics, and what it really means to be a “fit.”  

Chapters: 

00:00 – Why great hires still fail 
00:47 – Meet Sarah Lucena (Founder & CEO, Mappa) 
01:39 – What Mappa does: voice → behavioral intelligence 
04:22 – Why voice (not video) is the best signal 
06:03 – The proprietary dataset & real-life outcomes 
12:30 – Mapping companies, not just candidates 
14:27 – Compatibility vs. similarity 
16:10 – Bias, diversity & better hiring signals 
23:53 – Expanding beyond hiring (VCs, finance, insurance) 
30:16 – Using Mappa to evaluate investors 
33:02 – Building Mappa’s own team 
35:49 – Founder advice: patience, compatibility & lawyers 
39:16 – Startup Battlefield experience 
41:29 – Outro 

New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.