Kingsport-based Personality Pool prepares for fall fundraise following pre-seed success
“Resumes tell people what you've done. Personality Pool tells them who you are," said Glass-Mullins.
When we last spoke with co-founder Lauren Glass-Mullins in 2024, Personality Pool was a promising Kingsport startup exiting beta.
Two years later, the culture-first platform has become the hiring engine behind the rapid expansion of some of Knoxville’s iconic brands, including Cruze Farm, K-Brew, and now Sauna House.
Finding the ideal niche
Since Personality Pool’s initial investment from InvestTN, Glass-Mullins has focused on capital deployment to move past the “try-everything” phase of early entrepreneurship. This meant narrowing the focus to a very specific Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): hospitality, retail, and boutique wellness.
“As an entrepreneur, early on, you’re really trying a lot of things to figure out who the ideal customer is. We tried senior living, we tried to jump straight into enterprise,” Glass-Mullins said. “We did all these things, but they just didn’t make sense.”
By honing in on brand-centric organizations where team dynamics are the product, Personality Pool found its stride. Glass-Mullins, who describes herself as “obsessed with experiential marketing,” saw a gap in how these cult-favorite brands were hiring.
“If you just want a warm body in the building, this is going to waste your time,” she said. “But if team dynamics and how they treat your patrons is important to you, then this is for you.”
Quantifying culture through AI
With the target audience locked in, the company has recently launched the culture profile assessment to bridge the gap between a brand’s vibe and a candidate’s personality. The process starts with the employer defining their “hard nos” and what makes someone thrive in their specific environment.
“When we onboard a client, the first thing that they do is a culture profile assessment,” Glass-Mullins explained. “This assessment digs into what makes your culture great? What makes somebody thrive here? What’s a deal-breaker?”
Once the company’s profile is established, candidates record video responses to qualitative questions. AI then generates a scorecard based on the company’s specific needs.
Though she embraces AI, she still maintains an ethical boundary. The AI provides the data, but humans make the final call.
“We use AI to give you a scorecard and a personality assessment of the candidate, but we don’t let it weed anyone out.”
The “personality hire” as a professional asset
While the “personality hire” is being seen more and more as a punchline in corporate satire, Glass-Mullins views it as a vital metric for the service industry.
“When I graduated from college, I could not get a job. I kept thinking, if I could just talk to somebody, I’d get it,” she recalled. “There are a lot of jokes about the personality hire, but it’s important. We aren’t hiring doctors, where the credentials are critical. But when you’re hiring a barista, ice cream artists, or studio attendants, you do need them to be warm.”
Emerging as the voice of rural entrepreneurship
Glass-Mullins is also using her platform to prove that growth doesn’t have to originate in a big city. By staying in Kingsport, she hopes to shift the narrative around rural entrepreneurship.
“I’ve really leaned into building a business in a small town this year. If you have a good idea, you can build it from anywhere,” she said. “I will stay in Kingsport. We will always be based in Kingsport. And it’s exciting to me to think that it only takes one business to change the whole vibe of a city.”
Her advice to other entrepreneurs in rural East Tennessee? Be scrappier, be prepared to travel more, and don’t be afraid to create your own content to build your personal brand and get recognized by the right people.
Looking toward the fall seed round
Having closed a pre-seed round of just under $1 million, Personality Pool is now prepping to raise a seed round this fall. As the company looks to expand its market, Glass-Mullins is seeking strategic partners rather than just capital.
“This time around, we’re looking for strategic investors that have experience in our specific verticals that we work in,” said Glass-Mullins.
Stay updated on Personality Pool’s growth.
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