I recently went one on one with Jamie Baxter, CEO of Qwick.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Jamie: Prior to Qwick, I led an international team of over 300 people at Willis Towers Watson, an insurance brokerage and advisory firm. There, I brought six HR technology products from concept to revenue and worked hard to equip team members with the leadership skills, tailored advice, and appropriate support they needed to thrive. While this was extremely rewarding, it wasn’t as personal to me as my journey with Qwick has been. As an HR tech veteran, my passion for Qwick comes from my love of building technology products, assembling amazing teams, and helping change the way thousands of individuals on the Qwick platform work.

Like many businesses in the hospitality industry, COVID-19 hit Qwick hard. In March 2020, revenue dropped 80% overnight and I was tasked with laying off 70% of the team I had worked so hard to build. After two grueling rounds of layoffs, there were only 19 employees left. Morale was low, as members of the Qwick team watched our co-workers lose their jobs on top of the already unpredictable pandemic. As a final life-line, Qwick employees were asked to take a 25% salary cut in exchange for equity in the company – some chose to take up to a 70% cut. To stand with my team, I took a 100% salary cut. I was terrified, but knew that I had to keep morale high to keep Qwick alive. Then things took a positive turn – my team and I worked hard to secure a 4.3 million dollar funding round that helped us to lengthen our runway and propel us into the growth we experienced in 2021

Since then, the company has brought the employee count from 19 to over 200 total employees (full and part time) and Qwick’s success has continued to skyrocket. Inc. Magazine recently recognized Qwick as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. We were ranked #32 on the Inc. 5000 list due to our more than 10,000% growth over the past three years.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Jamie: In 2017, hotelier Chris Loeffler and I were discussing the pains of finding and retaining good housekeeping help firsthand. Inspired and looking for our next venture, Chris, marketplace veteran Blaine Light, and I founded Qwick to remedy this issue. 

Originally, the platform was designed to help hotels find housekeeping staff and was beta tested at a number of Chris’ hotels in the Phoenix area. It soon became clear that there were substantial obstacles that would diminish the effectiveness of tech innovation in the housekeeping sector. 

I decided to pivot, moving away from housekeeping and focusing on innovating the food & beverage industry, bringing freedom and flexibility through high-quality, reliable staffing in real-time. Now, Qwick benefits all types of hospitality businesses including restaurants, catering companies, hotels, golf courses, stadiums and more.

I saw the potential success of this change and championed this mission. I was confident this was the best move for my company and was committed to doing what was right, regardless of the tough calls or hard decisions ahead.

Hospitality is plagued with low retention rates, low wages and poor management and working conditions. Recognizing that traditional staffing platforms focused on the speed of filling shifts, rather than the quality of service, Chris and I saw an opportunity. 

Qwick, a Phoenix-based on-demand staffing platform for the hospitality industry, was born – bringing freedom and flexibility through high-quality, reliable staffing in real-time. The platform connects hotels, catering companies, event venues, restaurants and other businesses with the staff they need to fill shifts in real-time with a 97 percent average fill rate. Through this model a catering manager can staff a last minute banquet server to show up and work an event in just a few clicks. 

Since the platform’s launch in 2018, over 500,000 Professionals have signed up across the US in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and more. Heading into 2023, Qwick plans on continuing to grow its team and the number of Professionals and Partners that use the app.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Jamie: I recognized the problem with both sides of the coin: the hospitality industry needed some serious support in the staffing department and, for change to occur, the concerns of frontline workers needed to be addressed and remedied.

To solve this specific problem, Qwick was designed with a unique algorithm that matches highly skilled Professionals with available shifts. Businesses no longer need to rely on traditional staffing agencies or their own list of on-call staff to fill last-minute needs or take on business opportunities. On the flip side, Professionals are able to create their own schedule and receive a livable wage (about $9 above minimum wage) per shift.

I saw the potential success of this change and championed this mission. I was confident this was the best move for the company and I was committed to doing what was right, regardless of the tough calls or hard decisions ahead.

Some advice I have on testing a business idea is that your original idea may not be your best idea, and that’s OK. It takes a lot of trial and tribulation to get to where you want to be, but there are so many valuable lessons you’ll learn along the way. For example, Qwick was originally designed as a platform for hotel managers to find short term housekeeping shifts, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated. However, through that process the leadership realized that Qwick was a very effective platform for food and beverage shifts in hotels, event venues and restaurants. This realization came with the reality that Qwick needed to essentially start up again with new marketing, new Professionals and new Business Partners.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Jamie: Something we do at Qwick–and that I advise others to consider doing–is defining a unified North Star Metric. In adopting a North Star Metric, we’ve built a structured process that drives us towards a meaningful shared goal. Our North Star Metric is aligned with our company values and provides a clear path to long term growth. 

There are a few necessary steps to find your own North Star. First, define your vision by thinking carefully about your purpose. Our vision at Qwick is that we want to help the food and beverage industry flourish by matching the best Professionals and Business Partners. Next, determine your path by understanding what you’re marching towards and what your timeframe is. Our mission at Qwick is to match 3 million Professionals in 30 U.S. cities by the end of 2024. Then, outline your success pillars by specifying what needs to happen to achieve your mission. At Qwick, we’ve set annual targets for specific metrics and measure our progress every single month. Next, remember your why. Why does this metric matter? Why should it happen in this time frame? Lastly, make it meaningful. When we accomplish our North Star Metric, we’ll know we’re on the right path to creating prosperity in the food and beverage industry for Professionals and Business Partners.

When everyone works towards a common goal, we’ve found that individuals are more creative, engaged, and excited to pour their all into their efforts. 

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Jamie: Reach out to your consumers. It’s easy to make assumptions about how people use your product but you’ll devise better marketing strategies by paying attention to their needs. For example, at Qwick, we talked to our Partners about how valuable it is for them to be able to hire our Professionals full time without fees. Hearing that made us rethink how we talk about our value propositions and create our messaging.

Social proof goes a long way, if you are building high-quality offerings that your customers love, start there. Pleased customers can be great brand ambassadors and potential customers are always interested in knowing how products are working for their peers. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Jamie: Since the beginning of Qwick, I’ve provided technical leadership and strategic vision for Qwick on its mission of offering freedom, flexibility, and financial autonomy to professionals and partners alike. As an HR tech veteran, I’ve discovered that assembling an amazing team is critical for being an effective leader. Taking good care of one’s team members, or embodying the servant leadership method I ask of my employees, I believe in leading with the carrot rather than the stick. I saw an opportunity to be a leader in the tech and startup spaces in the Valley, and often take speaking and mentor opportunities to share my experience with local entrepreneurs and students.

I became interested in this people-first leadership style after reading “The Orange Revolution,” by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick. The book explores how to build trust while empowering individuals to think creatively and set clear goals. It also encourages leaders to reward team members for their good work. This approach really resonated with me, and it still influences my daily business decisions.

Guided by a people-first mentality and a focus on clear communication, our team has formed valuable, long-lasting relationships with our professionals and partners. Their success is our success. That’s been especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leading with the people-first mentality, we’ve been able to build a team of talented, creative individuals who are constantly striving to give 110%. Through this approach, we’ve created a culture at Qwick that isn’t about ping pong and beer on tap – it’s about trust, honesty, learning from your mistakes, believing in what you do and working hard for it.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Jamie: Never give up. This is one of Qwick’s core values and I think it is the most important part of entrepreneurship. Most entrepreneurs and businesses fail because they gave up and didn’t face the challenges or near death in front of them. If you are resilient and push through those hard challenges, outlast your competition, and don’t take no for an answer - you will ultimately succeed.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Jamie: Be ready to work harder than ever. The job will consume you, especially in the early stages, but remember, this is a rollercoaster.  The emotional peaks of entrepreneurship are high, but the lows are just as low. It’s important to keep pushing forward and fight self doubt.

Prepare for tough decisions. Some of the decisions you’ll have to make can significantly impact the lives of your employees and your company. Being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and no decision can be taken lightly.

Shoulder the blame and share the glory. My tactic is accepting the blame when something goes awry. As a leader, it’s my responsibility to motivate team members, recognize their contributions, and share accolades with the teams that help you succeed. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Jamie: I have received so much great advice over the years but the best and most central piece of advice to me is from my dad. He used to say “niche to rich.” The idea is that you have to stay laser focused and not let yourself be distracted by shiny objects. It’s much more likely to be successful by narrowing in your focus and becoming a true expert, the very best, at just one important thing instead of trying to be something to everyone. As a business leader I implement this by doing my best to hire people smarter than me, experts in specialized parts of the business. This allows me to delegate and let go of some things so I can stay focused on my responsibilities, and it gives my hired leaders the freedom to fully own and manage that which is within their niche expertise. Qwick operates this way all the way up to our actual services and offerings. We are a shift staffing innovator and we’ve developed a marketplace to match businesses and professionals on demand. What we’re proud of is that Qwick operates exclusively within the hospitality, food and beverage industry. We are the best at staffing F&B shifts because we only staff F&B shifts. We could quite easily apply our tech and processes to expand our marketplace and capture more business types and professionals of different industries, but we don’t want to be everything to everyone. We want to focus on our niche and continue to match experienced chefs, cooks, bartenders, servers and dishwashers to restaurants, caterers, bars, event venues, and hotels to provide our network of hospitality businesses and professionals the very best and most specialized services in staffing. 


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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