[EO Chicago] Reshaping Hiring Through Technology and Personal Grit With Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth is the Founder of Simpalm and Ducknowl, where he provides AI-driven remote staffing and digital solutions to help businesses scale using top talent, particularly from Latin America. Under his leadership, his companies have helped US enterprises — including Fortune 500 clients such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Best Buy — hire tens of thousands of employees and improve their talent-assessment processes. What began as an internal tool, Ducknowl is now a widely used SaaS platform.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [03:25] Vikram Seth talks about what they do at Simpalm and Ducknowl
• [06:38] How Ducknowl helps companies see candidates beyond the résumé through video and skill assessments
• [09:40] How AI proctoring works to prevent cheating and maintain integrity in candidate evaluations
• [11:00] Why standardized screening questions and documented scoring reduce hiring bias and improve fairness
• [12:58] The biggest hiring mistakes and why companies lose great talent when searching for perfection
• [17:41] How a pizza shop owner transformed operations using Latin American virtual staff recommended by Vikram
• [22:01] Where Vikram’s journey began in India, and how a move to Tanzania opened an unexpected door to the US
• [44:41] Why Vikram says necessity and the encouragement of others fueled his drive to push past obstacles in the US

In this episode…

Hiring has always been a mix of intuition and imperfect information. Résumés rarely tell the full story, and interviews often reward confidence more than competence. So how do you really uncover potential in a world where traditional hiring signals keep failing?

According to Vikram Seth, a longtime builder of technology and global talent pipelines, the answer starts with giving people a fair chance to show who they are. He believes many great candidates are overlooked simply because their résumés don’t “speak their language,” a challenge he understands personally. Drawing from years of helping companies hire at scale, he explains how video screenings, structured assessments, and clear data can cut through the noise and reveal true ability. He also points out that hiring isn’t just about tools — it’s about patience, context, and understanding that new talent needs time to settle in before they shine. The result is a process that’s more humane, more accurate, and far more effective for long-term growth.

In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz is joined by Vikram Seth, Founder of Simpalm and Ducknowl, to discuss reshaping hiring talent through technology and personal grit. They explore why traditional screening fails modern talent, how structured assessments can reduce bias, and what companies misunderstand about finding the perfect hire. Vikram also shares his remarkable journey from washing dishes to Georgetown — and the mindset that carried him forward.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• EO Chicago
• EO Accelerator
• Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
• John Corcoran on LinkedIn
• Dr. Jeremy Weisz on LinkedIn
• Rise25
• Vikram Seth on LinkedIn
• Ducknowl
• Simpalm
• “[AI Series] AI Tools That Transform Your Business With Nicole Donnelly” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “EO Arizona | How To Transform Your Marketing Fortunes With David Anderson, CEO of Off Madison Ave” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “EO Atlanta | You Can Have It All With Ethan King, Co-Founder of Zeus’ Closet” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• Piyush Jain on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments

• “Sometimes a résumé doesn’t speak much about your skill set.”
• “When you have nothing to lose, you have you, you have to play your cards right.”
• “Within a 30 minutes, you will able to understand whether you want to go with this candidate or not.”
• “When you hire somebody, you gotta need to be patient enough…the first month is going to be the storming phase.”
• “EO actually gave me the opportunity to meet people with similar mindset.”

Action Steps

1. Build a structured, merit-based screening process: Standardizing interview questions and assessments ensures every candidate is evaluated fairly and consistently.
2. Use technology to validate skills early: Incorporating tools like video responses and skill tests saves time and highlights true capability beyond résumés.
3. Shorten hiring cycles with pre-vetted talent pools: Maintaining a dynamic database of strong runners-up allows faster fills and prevents losing momentum on critical roles.
4. Set realistic expectations for new hires: Understanding the storming, forming, norming, and performing phases helps teams support employees through their ramp-up period.
5. Delegate operational tasks to free leadership bandwidth: Offloading repeatable work enables founders and managers to focus on strategy, growth, and higher-value decisions.

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Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:02

Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:12

Jeremy Weisz here, Founder of InspiredInsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Vikram Seth. You can check him out at SimpalmStaffing.com and Ducknowl.com

It’s duck the letter N and then owl.com and Vikram, before I formally introduce you Vikram has a fascinating background, fascinating journey which we’re going to dig into. Before I do, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast that people should check out. There was a really good one with Nicole Donnelly. She talked about different AI tools, and Vikram and I know each other through EO. 

 And so Nicole is a fellow EO member. Another one that was interesting was David Anderson, the CEO of Off Madison Avenue, also in EO, and just talked about vision and the company and kind of how they grew their business and Ethan King of EO Atlanta and he’s got a couple companies and so check that episode out as well. And this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. 

 We do that in a few ways. Number one, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, accountability, and the full execution and production. Number two, we’re an easy button for a company’s gifting, so we make gifting and staying top of mind for your clients, partners, prospects, even your staff. Simple, easy and affordable. 

 You just give, give us a list and we do everything else. It’s not less of like one off. We like to send a campaign of gifts. So think every four months for 4 to 5 years, right? You know, for me, Vikram, I think much like yourself, you know, the number one thing in my life is relationships. 

 I’m always looking at ways on how I can give to my best relationships, and I found no better way over the past 15 years than to profile the people and companies I admire on the podcast, and also send them sweet treats in the mail. So if you have questions, go to rise25.com or email support@rise25.com I am really excited to introduce Vikram South. He’s the Founder of Simpalm and they create niche digital solutions for companies. 

 They also have a staffing solution where they’re focused on Latin America, a virtual assistant staffing company, which we’ll get into. He’s also if he wasn’t busy enough with that. He’s Co-founder of Ducknowl, which is a talent screening and assessment platform. So basically the platform helps you to save time, reduce cost and screen the best talent. And the two companies help us businesses scale through technology and top talent through Latin America. 

 And his journey is very interesting. It’s really. You know, Vikram, I think you agree. The American dream of hard work, grit, washing dishes to Georgetown, to building global teams. And I’m excited to have you. 

 So thanks for joining me.

Vikram Seth: 03:10

Well, thank you very much for having me. And, you know, thank you very much for all the kind words.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:15

You know, start off, we’re going to get into your background journey and how you got here. But just give people a simple overview of Simpalm and then Ducknowl.

Vikram Seth: 03:25

Sure I mean like Simpalm has been started almost like over a decade before me and my partner named Piyush Jain. I mean, when actually he started this company with a vision of, you know, like that technology on the palm, right? What does that mean is if you see the name of the symptom, he was having a vision sim sim sim card on your palm so that you know the custom solution, the mobile apps and everything, that actually that’s the vision of the, you know, the company, the technology side. When I join him actually as a partner then actually obviously. I mean, my whole background of my entire life story is all about the people connection, relationship.

And I brought the, you know, like the people part into it, you know, where actually we got heavily involved in technology stuffing. You know, we’re actually we work with a lot of enterprise clients here in the US, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Best Buy, all those type of, you know, the enterprise client while working in the technology and staffing industry for almost like a seven, eight years, we realized that there are some issues in the process. You know, there are some issues in actually assessing the talent as well. So then actually we ended up creating another SaaS product called Ducknowl.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:35

I guess this makes perfect sense. You’re like, we have a staffing. Yes. Right. And we you know, you provide the, you know, some niche digital solutions for companies.

You’re providing staff. And now you have to screen them. And that’s you’re spending a lot of time on that.

Vikram Seth: 04:51

No 100%. And Jeremy I mean there is a there is a there is a funny story behind it. I mean, like we didn’t have the intention to create doc and all as a SaaS product when actually me and Piyush, we developed this product we developed to use this product internally. I mean, you know, so that our process can get better. I mean, you know, like when actually we submit the candidate to our enterprise client because you know what?

Overcome you know, our competitor was bigger companies. You know, other staffing companies, there were a lot more bigger there were a lot more workforce. Only edge that we have was, you know, the technology background. So that’s exactly what we did. I mean, rather hiding a lot of like the army of the people, which anyways, we couldn’t afford it. 

 We ended up, you know, creating that technology, that technology can actually help us to get into the front of those hiring managers. So the entire doc and all idea was just to use the product internally. And I was lucky enough, you know, when actually we created this product. I mean, you know, like a lot of our clients started asking, hey, by the way, what product that you guys are using. It’s a great product. 

 So this happened with us 4 or 5 times. And then I was lucky. I mean, I was surrounded with like, you know, great minds like you, you know, and they told me like, hey, maybe this is the time for you guys to create another company and make this product a SaaS product. So no more secret sauce anymore. So then actually, you know, like me and Piyush, actually, we came with a decision that, okay, you know what? 

 We should actually make Ducknowl as a SaaS product. And then actually we should start, you know, writing other staffing companies or even the companies to know that, you know, this is the right way to do assess the talent. So that’s how the Ducknowl came into existence.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:29

What were the key features, Vikram, that you built into that for yourself, that you found maybe weren’t in other solutions or there was just important in this process?

Vikram Seth: 06:38

See, I mean, the Ducknowl is also a Ducknowl is very close to my heart also because it also tell a little bit of my story as well. What happened? I mean, not necessarily. I mean, I personally feel like because I have an experience with that. I mean, sometime résumé doesn’t speak much about your skill set, right?

You know, specifically, I mean, or especially I mean, like, I’m talking about, like, you know, before AI before ChatGPT, you know, at that time when I was actually looking for, like, a job. I mean, I was not very good in writing the résumé, but that doesn’t mean I’m not good at it. You know what? Actually, I was good at it, but I never get a chance. What Ducknowl does is. 

 I mean, obviously, I’m, you know, like a duck. And I’ll give you a fair chance to showcase your skill set in a video format. So if you are not good in writing the résumé, you will get another chance to present yourself in a video, right? And I’ll also give you a chance, you know, to showcase your skill set in a in a multiple choice question format where actually if you are a strong candidate, your skill set actually will be displayed in your test result, right? So with all that data that I actually have, I mean, whether actually, you know, analyzing your communication skill set via video or, you know, like checking your skill set via multiple choice question test. 

 I mean, that actually make you, you know, I think competitive candidate in front of like a lot of other candidates. So basically, I mean, the Canal sees the candidate beyond the résumé. You know, I hope I answered you.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:08

Yeah. Talk about the name.

Vikram Seth: 08:10

Okay. The name. Well, I mean, the name is a funny story. I mean, obviously, I mean, when actually we were brainstorming the name, you know, we we want to have some name that actually has some sort of the, you know, like the reasoning behind it. If you see the Ducknowl, if you have ever seen the duck, duck is trying to find the food from the mud.

So Ducknowl actually has to go through a lot, you know, to find the food from the mud. So exactly the same analogy. I mean, like when the résumé touches a Ducknowl, so Ducknowl, if the if the 50 people apply for the same job, Ducknowl can tell you that who are the prioritized résumé? Which résumé that you should go first to the recruiter. So basically you know what duck analogy come from there. 

 You know what? Try to find the best résumé out of like you know, hundreds of résumé. And the owl part comes from like all is a symbol of wisdom in a lot of different cultures. You know, the owl part also come with over cameras. You know, you are on a video camera. 

 You know, if you try to cheat. We have a AI proctoring as well. We will we will actually we will let recruiter know that you are trying to cheat, you know, and our whole video aspect actually come from and also we have over 350 different tests that covers technology non technology psychometric test. You know so that’s where the Owl part comes. And if you combine both. 

 So we came up with the name Ducknowl.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:35

You mentioned it could help catch cheaters. How does that work.

Vikram Seth: 09:40

Well I mean like for example I mean if we have seen that in the past when we were working in a technology side, if you send somebody a, you know, a test, you know, via link. Anybody can do that test. I mean, like if you are sending that test to me, I mean, my friend sitting in India, they can do that, you know, to stop that or to minimize that. Actually, you know, what what we did is we bring the concept of like a AI proctoring, for example. I mean, if, you know, AI proctoring, if you try to if, for example, somebody else is taking your test or even you are taking your test, we take the random picture during the test.

And also if you try to navigate away from the screen, we record your screen, right. And all that information is going to recruiter and, and also I just want to mention one more thing. We are not doing anything without telling the candidate. Candidate is a fully aware of this functionality. Right. 

 So this actually will minimize, you know, the situation or the scenario where actually, you know, like a somebody else is pretending you.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:42

I noticed on your site there’s a couple features as far as you know, your screening candidates in a in a specific way. And I know companies have been sued for biases. Can you talk about how your software relates to that?

Vikram Seth: 11:00

Correct. I mean, you know, as I said earlier, I mean, like, you know, like in our case, I mean, if any candidate apply, everybody get like, you know, the video screening request and all the candidates will get the same set of the questions, right. You know, if all the candidates get the same set of the question, then actually the second round is we actually invite them for the technical screening where every candidate received the same set of the multiple choice question test. Definitely. I mean, our entire hiring is based on the merit.

You know, the first is, you know, like how you are actually articulating, you know, the how you are articulating yourself on the video. The second is, you know, your result in the test and all the data is actually all the data is documented. So if anybody want to see that, why actually you give it. Why you give a chance to Jeremy or Vikram. You know, we have the proof for that. 

 Hey, you know what? Jeremy made a great score, and Jeremy answered all the video questions in a very structured format. That’s why the Jeremy got the interview request or where. Actually, we invited Jeremy for the final round of interview with us. So in in my experience, that makes entire process, you know, the data driven, you know, and the bias free. 

 And in addition to that, I mean, like sometime we have noticed that in our field where actually, you know, Jeremy is a great candidate, but then there is a Vikram is the second best candidate, but we only have one job, right? But now we have this dynamic data. If tomorrow, I mean, I have a same job pop up before even opening up the job and spending money on indeed or LinkedIn. I will actually call Vikram first because I know that Vikram was my second best candidate when actually I was working for this job, you know, a month before. So basically, you know, Ducknowl helps you to create a dynamic library of the candidates.

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