High Conviction

How VC backed startups assemble teams, hire outliers, and compete globally. Blogs, guides, memos, videos and more - created by Matt Cook, Co-founder of Scouut.

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High ConvictionBlog
How To Save Your Scaleup

How To Save Your Scaleup

Applying timeless scaleup principles to a brand new world.

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High ConvictionMemo
Scouut's Mid-2026 Startup & Scaleup Market Memo

Scouut's Mid-2026 Startup & Scaleup Market Memo

How AI-native companies are approaching work, roles, teams, talent, hiring, compensation and capital.

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Matt Cook × The Startup PodcastCollab
Avoiding 'team debt' by building small and smart

Avoiding 'team debt' by building small and smart

Matt joins The Startup Podcast to go deep on startup teams and outlier hiring.

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High ConvictionGuide
The Unsigned Team

The Unsigned Team

How the best startups hire 90% of their people without weeks of searching.

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High ConvictionBlog
Paying for Outliers

Paying for Outliers

How the best startups think about compensation and employee value to secure outlier talent.

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High ConvictionBlog
The Factory That Builds The Software

The Factory That Builds The Software

Why setting up production lines is the new job for software engineers.

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High ConvictionBlog
AI-Native Confusion

AI-Native Confusion

What it actually means to be AI-native, and why most startups and scaleups are far from it.

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High ConvictionGuide
How to hire AI-augmented software engineers

How to hire AI-augmented software engineers

What you need to know about evaluating engineers in the age of AI-assisted software development.

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High ConvictionBlog
Team Debt

Team Debt

The biggest trap facing startups today, and how to reduce the risk of it accumulating.

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Matt Cook × The Startup PodcastCollab
Recruiting the best AI engineers

Recruiting the best AI engineers

Matt joins The Startup Podcast to go deep on startup teams and outlier hiring.

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