Elio Narciso is the co-founder and CEO of ScaleStack, an AI-powered go-to-market infrastructure layer powering billions of data points for enterprise customers, and the host of the Revenue Engine Masters podcast. Before ScaleStack, he spent four years at AWS running their global startup program with front-row seats to hundreds of companies building revenue engines, became a certified Amazon Bar Raiser with veto power on hires, and built two prior companies including one that cleared $50M.
In this episode, he breaks down the Bar Raiser system, the follow-up question framework that exposes BS candidates, and why AI has raised the hiring bar so high he wouldn't hire his own past self.
- Why lowering the hiring bar at Amazon during COVID created cascading effects, including missing the AI wave entirely
- How the Amazon Bar Raiser program works and why veto power changes hiring behavior across an entire org
- The follow-up question method that breaks down rehearsed answers and AI-assisted interview scripts
- Why Elio flips the interview by making candidates ask him questions first, and what their questions reveal about curiosity
- The "what did the customer say?" question that exposes whether a candidate is truly customer-centric or shallow
- Why ScaleStack shares interviewer feedback before debriefs, breaking from Amazon's protocol
- How to evaluate a co-founder using complementary skill sets, kindness in failure, and humility in success
- Why "AI slop" first drafts are an instant red flag and what real upleveling looks like in 2026
- The closing rule for founders making their third or fourth hire: be your own bar raiser
Timestamps:
00:00 Cold open: scripts, agents, and rising expectations
01:00 From AWS to a third startup: what changed in hiring
03:30 Becoming an Amazon Bar Raiser and how veto power works
06:30 Follow-up questions that kill rehearsed and AI-assisted answers
10:50 The ScaleStack interview system and cultural fit values
13:50 Flipping the interview to test for curiosity
17:30 Pre-briefs, live docs, and debrief structure
21:50 "What did the customer say?" and exposing BS candidates
24:50 Choosing co-founders you actually know
35:50 "I wouldn't hire myself two years ago" in the AI era
40:00 Final advice: be your own bar raiser
Where to find the guest:
Elio Narciso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elionarciso/
ScaleStack: https://scalestack.ai
Revenue Engine Masters Podcast: https://scalestack.ai/podcast
Where to find Luiz Cent:
Website: https://latamcent.com/
Who We Hire: https://whowehire.org/
