Dare to Disrupt Episode 2 – A Pioneer in Tech: Building the Interviewing Cloud with Mo Bhende

Inspired by his love of hiring, Mo Bhende built Karat to unlock opportunities and transform the interviewing process by conducting highly predictive technical interviews for clients. In this episode, Bhende talks about his international travels, how he took advantage of Penn State resources, lessons learned while working for Microsoft Xbox, and how all those experiences led him to creating a business that would turn the agonizing interview process into an enjoyable one. 

At the end of this episode, Bubune Owusu, a senior in the College of Engineering and founder of Be Your Best Clothing, a clothing brand made to inspire others to look within themselves and to make use of their maximum potential, joins us to talk to Bhende about how to lead with both courage and confidence while also managing your priorities as a founder. 

Episode Chapters

• 0:00 – 8:00 Journey from pre-med to economics
• 8:00 – 12:29 Completing a Gates Fellowship, Launching a magazine company
• 12:29 – 17:10 Pivoting to work at Microsoft
• 17:10 – 19:34 Working as head of product strategy at XBox
• 19:34 – 25:02 Experiencing the pain of hiring engineers, inspires idea for Karat
• 25:02 – 29:31 Division of skills and roles between Mo and his co-founder
• 29:31 – 34:07 How Karat is improving the process of hiring engineers
• 34:07 – 36:33 The future of interviewing
• 36:33 – 41:23 Mo’s experience raising capital, thoughts on becoming a unicorn
• 41:23 – 52:42 Student section

Download full episode transcript

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Dare to Disrupt is a podcast about Penn State alumni who are innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders, and the stories behind their success. Learn more.

About Mo Bhende

Mo Bhende graduated from Penn State with honors in 2001 with degrees in math and economics.