Episode 232

232. Building a Mission-Driven Team with Rachel Lauren, COO of Debbie

What does it really take to build a team that believes in your mission…. and sticks around?

In this episode of World’s Greatest Boss, I sit down with Rachel Lauren, the co-founder and COO of Debbie, a platform that flips the script on financial rewards by helping users earn points for good money habits. Rachel and her team have grown Debbie from zero to 70,000+ users and just as impressively, from 2 scrappy co-founders to a 12-person, mission-driven team.

We talk through the real decisions startup leaders face when hiring: when to buy vs. build talent, how to manage performance without overcomplicating things, and why frequent feedback actually improves employee output.

You’ll walk away with ideas to put in place right now whether you’re managing one person or a small but mighty team.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

[1:00] The backstory behind Debbie and how rewards for good financial habits work

[3:30] Why mission alignment matters—and how it helps attract great talent

[5:05] Build vs. Buy: How they developed interns into leaders

[10:20] A refreshingly simple performance review cadence (and why it works)

[18:45] When and how compensation conversations happen—and why they keep them separate from reviews

[22:00] Setting promotion expectations, especially with Gen Z team members

[25:45] Rachel’s surprising inspiration for leadership: the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders documentary

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Jackie Koch

Hey, I’m Jackie Koch. I have over 15 years of experience prospecting talent and building teams for Fortune 500 companies, startups and small businesses in all types of industries.  Technically, I have an MBA from Concordia University, although I’d argue I learned more about growing and scaling a modern business over the last 5 years in the LA tech start up scene. There I built out recruiting and People Operations teams for high growth tech start ups. I love entrepreneurs and being one at heart, I started my own business during the pandemic. I’m the founder and CEO of People Principles where I help founders scale through fractional recruiting and people operations services.