April Hoffbauer (she/her)

April is the VP of People at Maze, “which is just a fancy way of saying I lead the entire people function”. April was the first People hire at Maze, and that was really exciting for her given how much they intend to grow.

When she first interviewed at Maze, April was looking for an early-stage startup with an incredible product that she could be proud of. “I could feel the culture of Maze during the interview process and knew it was meant to be”.

April has had a diverse career, which she credits for giving her a well-rounded foundation for the People function.

“I started at a large US electronics retailer and gained business acumen, customer service, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment and real business ownership as a General Manager; plus I always had early access to the latest tech.”

After that April worked at a traditional HR office for a university. It was a small team where they did some of everything, including payroll, benefits, recruiting, and employer relations. She was also particularly focused on learning and development and adopting technology.

“Then I joined a global all-remote unicorn startup. It gave me the tech environment I crave, it was an iterative environment and I was focused on talent acquisition. It really gave me a chance to build out people practices that could scale because by the time I left we were 1300 people in 68 different countries. Because of the open-source, collaborative environment, I got to work in all areas of the people function even though I was focused on TA. For an extended period of time we were hiring 100 people a month!”

In her personal and professional life, April believes in transparency, equality, empowerment, and kindness.

“I strive to create an environment where people feel valued not only for what they know, but also for who they are; not in spite of their differences, but because of their differences. Thankfully the culture at Maze was already aligned with this, I love what the co-founders created and plan to just iterate and make it better! ”

April also doesn’t subscribe to the term “culture fit”. She wants people who are aligned with their values and who add to our culture with diverse thoughts, backgrounds, and careers. April also has a different philosophy on managing work and life.

“I don't believe in the term "work-life balance", I think it's setting you up to feel like you are always failing. You can't expect someone to shut off one part of their life or the other, it's too intertwined. I fully embrace a non-linear workday and love working aysnc and remotely so I can manage my time as needed. For me, there is nothing better than taking my laptop to a baseball or basketball game and getting some work done. I've also taken some zoom calls from some crazy places; a volcano in Hawaii, a golf cart on the course, a beachside cabana, lots of meetings from a moving car. I try to take full advantage of working remotely and the power of the digital nomad lifestyle. Outside of traveling, my family and dog are the focus of my time. We love to go kayaking, hiking, or on road trips.”

When asked about something that would surprise you about her, April said, “I delete things from my brain. I check things off my to-do list or mentally check them off as done and I forget them a moment later. This doesn't mean I don't care about things, or it wasn't important. My brain is always going a mile a minute - I'm very strategic - so I can't afford to think about things that are done in my mind. If we are talking about things from a historic perspective I may need help remembering the situation.

Additionally, I'm never satisfied. I’ll celebrate success/wins but I’ll always ask, what’s next? Literally, in the next sentence, I'll ask what's next. It's perfectly fine if people want to sit in their success for a bit, but I'll be on to the next thing already.”

You should reach out to April if you want to talk about all things people, startups, tech and remote work. April has the pleasure of advising a number of people and she’s a lifelong learner so she’s always eager to connect with new people.