Ramp CEO says teenage side projects can beat elite résumés

Ramp cofounder and CEO Eric Glyman said he gives more weight to demonstrated ability than to polished résumés or elite academic credentials. His view matters because Ramp, a fast-growing corporate card and expense-management startup, is using that approach to recruit engineers before more conventional employers spot them.

Speaking on David Senra’s podcast in an episode published Sunday, Glyman said he is “far more interested in proof of work” than a candidate’s résumé. He described that proof as visible evidence that someone has already built, learned or pursued something with unusual intensity.

Ramp provides corporate cards and software that automates business spending. The company says it serves 70,000 customers and has passed $1 billion in annualized revenue; a company funding announcement valued Ramp at $44 billion. Forbes estimates Glyman’s net worth at nearly $2 billion.

Teenage projects as a hiring signal

Glyman told Senra that Ramp has found engineers through communities built around Minecraft, including people who spent extreme amounts of time on the game as teenagers. He said some created private servers that attracted other young players, showing both technical skill and a drive to build for users.

One engineer, Glyman said, turned that interest into a business early enough to help cover college costs that ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said the example showed the kind of self-directed effort that may not appear in a traditional hiring screen.

Glyman said conventional filters could miss candidates like that if they lack a degree, a familiar résumé path or a broad set of credentials. In his view, the better signal is focused effort that pushes technology beyond its usual use.

Ramp now looks for that type of signal more deliberately, Glyman said. He told Senra the company searches places such as GitHub and unusual online communities, and it relies on referrals from people who have direct knowledge of how a candidate works.

He also questioned how much a long interview process can reveal. Glyman said that even a 15-hour interview loop can show less than spending two business days working with someone.

Recruiting before the market catches up

Glyman said early-career talent can be overlooked before a candidate has the résumé that draws attention from major employers. By a student’s junior-year summer, or after several years of work experience, he said Ramp may be competing with quantitative finance firms and AI labs willing to pay heavily.

If Ramp identifies a strong candidate earlier, such as during freshman year, Glyman said the company can build a relationship before the market has fully recognized that person’s ability. He said Ramp tries to give those hires substantial responsibility when it sees signs of aptitude, drive and performance potential.

Glyman said motivation is another part of his hiring process. He told Senra he spends time trying to understand what a candidate wants over the next five, 10 or 15 years, and whether those goals connect with Ramp’s work.

If that overlap is not clear, Glyman said, the company should not spend time pursuing the hire. He framed the issue as fit between the person’s ambitions and the company’s direction.

Other executives have made similar points

Glyman compared his approach with Elon Musk’s hiring views, saying he agrees with Musk’s focus on finding very smart people as a way to spot undervalued talent. In a podcast appearance with Stripe cofounder John Collison and Dwarkesh Patel, Musk said his aspirational hiring advice is not to focus on the résumé and instead to ask for evidence of exceptional ability.

Musk also said he evaluates talent, drive, trustworthiness and whether a person is good-hearted. Fortune has also reported that Kurt Alexander, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts, asks candidates about the rough edges in their personalities, arguing that such answers can reveal more than a polished résumé.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.