Driving America Forward with Joe Ahn
“It’s not just about hiring smart people; it’s about finding people who can actively shape and contribute to our culture. And because we’re growing so quickly, we need people who can take ownership of their function and really drive innovation and results.”
Joe Ahn
Tech Recruiting Lead
Zum
Joe Ahn is a Tech Recruiting Lead at Zum. Prior to joining the company, he worked many years in enterprise software sales, before switching to the world of startup recruiting. Immediately before joining Zum, Joe ran the executive search function for a boutique talent search agency. Joe is passionate about growing exceptional teams and helping candidates find opportunities that advance their careers, and finds joy in seeing his colleagues succeed and contributing to Zum’s long-term culture.
In your role at Zum, how do you think about innovation?
This is a tricky question. In recruiting, you’re not the hiring manager, and you’re not on the tech team driving product innovation. But we can still contribute in a meaningful way if we find and hire great talent. Zum’s recruiting team here is constantly finding ways to raise the talent and culture bar.
It’s an exciting time for us here. We crossed two major milestones when we became a unicorn company a few years ago, and in 2025, we became profitable! As the company levels up, the recruiting team needs to keep innovating, too.
That means raising our standards. It’s not just about hiring smart people; it’s about finding people who can actively shape and contribute to our culture. And because we’re growing so quickly, we need people who can take ownership of their function and really drive innovation and results.
We’re also using the latest technology to streamline our processes to scale more efficiently. But for us, it’s not just about using AI and having strong processes. It’s the focused intent to build a long term, powerful culture that lasts. That’s how recruiting can help drive innovation forward.
From your perspective, at a company-wide level, how is Zum driving American innovation forward?
I think the same thing applies to Zum at the company level because we’re innovating through technology, tools, and intention.
The whole industry of student transportation has been stagnant for decades. The yellow school bus has been around forever, and many of the transportation providers were just content to keep things going the way they were. Then Zum came along and changed all of that by providing a technology that didn’t exist before, and a new intention: our mission to make student transportation much safer and more efficient.
The same principles of innovation apply at the individual and team level as at the company-wide level.
When you think of the future, what role do children/the next generation play, and how can we set them up for success?
I’ve been thinking about this because I have two young kids.
Of course, every day Zum is literally helping the next generation by getting thousands of kids safely to and from school. More than that, though, when it comes to setting kids up for innovation, I think establishing a safe and reliable learning environment is critical. Zum supports that by working with schools to get students to class safely and on time; because we partner with school districts, students are on time more frequently and have safer transportation.
Students are also smart: they’re always watching to see how we adults act and solve problems. When they look at us, they see we’re willing to challenge the status quo, instead of just accepting, “That’s how it’s always been done.” Zum has the mindset of, “We can do way better”—and that mindset can have a positive effect on students.