We are building Jest based on the following key principles:

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We believe that the key to Jest’s success is to recruit and empower a world-class team

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Recruit

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Recruit True Owners

• Owners take full responsibility for their part of the company: figuring out what matters, setting the right goals, choosing the best approach, delivering results, and communicating clearly.
• Ownership isn’t just about raw talent - it’s about the right person in the right role at the right time. Fit matters more than fixed traits.
• Owners can be found anywhere, which is why we’re building Jest as a distributed company from day one. </aside>

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Recruit by Working Together

• We’ve conducted thousands of interviews at prior companies and learned a simple but painful truth: traditional interviews filter out bad fits but rarely reveal great ones.
• The best way to assess fit is to actually work together - on a real project, in real conditions, with real feedback.
• No process is perfect, so we keep the bar high. When it’s not a match, we part ways with clarity and compassion. </aside>

Empower

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Divide and Conquer

• To make ownership work, we collaborate through clear interfaces so handoffs between people and teams are smooth and intentional.
• We practice “disagree and commit”: share your perspective, then support the final decision as a team.
• When things go off track, a manager may step in - but that’s a signal we need to zoom out and resolve a deeper misalignment. </aside>

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Lead with Purpose & Context

• Empowerment only works when people understand both why we’re doing something and how we’re doing it together.
• That’s why we default to async communication, invest in a single source of truth, and work in the open.
• The goal: Owners that can stay aligned and move independently - making decisions without being blocked by someone else. </aside>