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The playbook for building high-talent-density teams | Adam Ward, Head of Talent at Cursor

9 Aug 2026 27 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Adam WardLenny Rachitsky

Claim mix

evaluation 12belief 8recommendation 3preference 3prediction 1

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The useful parts, with receipts.

27 published records

01 / recommendation

Likes High Growth Handbook.

“Yeah, this is super nerdy. So there's two. There's one that I read in undergrad that has stuck with me, and it's Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goldman. And it's the rise of EQ as an important piece of it. And I just feel like emotional intelligence right now more than ever is so important in this AI age. And so it was super transforming to me way back then, and I think is really important now. And the other one I love for founders is just the High Growth Handbook by Eli Gill. I'm a big fan of a book where you can just jump to a chapter and get an answer, and it's not this linear piece you got to work through. And so I think it's such a great reference guide on different problems. And for the most part, building companies, the components are the same. The core principles, even when that came out several years ago, I still think hold true, so I like the High Growth Handbook.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / preference

Yeah, I think so. And I don't think there's a lot of maxims or absolutes in this business, but I think for a lot of companies, it's hard to think of a better way than doing side-by-side real work to get those signals.

“Yeah, I think so. And I don't think there's a lot of maxims or absolutes in this business, but I think for a lot of companies, it's hard to think of a better way than doing side-by-side real work to get those signals.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / evaluation

Cursor is actually such a great example of exactly what you're describing because it feels like throughout the entire history of Cursor, it was always just like, how are they going to survive?

“Cursor is actually such a great example of exactly what you're describing because it feels like throughout the entire history of Cursor, it was always just like, how are they going to survive?”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

11 / belief

I think that makes it easy for the person to understand, but also easy for them to communicate that forward to maybe a different decision maker as well.

“I think that makes it easy for the person to understand, but also easy for them to communicate that forward to maybe a different decision maker as well.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / belief

I see over time different companies have done that. And I think what I respect about it is you make that call and you kind of stick with it and there's a commitment to it.

“I see over time different companies have done that. And I think what I respect about it is you make that call and you kind of stick with it and there's a commitment to it.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / evaluation

Yeah, some of it's a little fundamental, which is research has shown that work samples are the highest predictor of success at a company, but yet most companies are still spending a lot of time doing one-to-one across the table assessments. And so I think we are famously known for doing long onsite experiences for some of our roles where they do a project and they get work to side by side.

“Yeah, some of it's a little fundamental, which is research has shown that work samples are the highest predictor of success at a company, but yet most companies are still spending a lot of time doing one-to-one across the table assessments. And so I think we are famously known for doing long onsite experiences for some of our roles where they do a project and they get work to side by side.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / evaluation

I mean, if you think about this impact that they're having, and I feel like there's a supply and demand crisis around really strategic recruiters because of the somewhat transactional nature we've made recruiting over time.

“I mean, if you think about this impact that they're having, and I feel like there's a supply and demand crisis around really strategic recruiters because of the somewhat transactional nature we've made recruiting over time.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

23 / evaluation

One thing I learned is, at each place my team has looked different, because the company, how they think about recruiting or the product is different.

“One thing I learned is, at each place my team has looked different, because the company, how they think about recruiting or the product is different.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

24 / evaluation

The mistake that most companies make is they'll say, "Hey, Lenny, who's the best product engineer you know?" That is the worst question you can ask.

“The mistake that most companies make is they'll say, "Hey, Lenny, who's the best product engineer you know?" That is the worst question you can ask.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

25 / evaluation

" So you're trying to build this, hire someone who can also put in the right pieces to help scale out. And those are competing interests, because a person wants to come in and like just any new hire, they want to prove out, they want to make hires, but they might not put in the system.

“" So you're trying to build this, hire someone who can also put in the right pieces to help scale out. And those are competing interests, because a person wants to come in and like just any new hire, they want to prove out, they want to make hires, but they might not put in the system.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

26 / evaluation

And so talent density is actually a collective nature of individuals and humans. But we often, because you are recruiting one human at a time, I think sometimes we get overly focused on that specific 10Xer thing.

“And so talent density is actually a collective nature of individuals and humans. But we often, because you are recruiting one human at a time, I think sometimes we get overly focused on that specific 10Xer thing.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

27 / evaluation

Because I think you almost see this squeezing together of engineer product design in some ways where we would love a designer who could actually be more of a design engineer.

“Because I think you almost see this squeezing together of engineer product design in some ways where we would love a designer who could actually be more of a design engineer.”
Speaker
Adam Ward
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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