What happens when a standalone ATS evolves into a fully integrated talent strategy? You get a platform that doesn’t just fill roles—it fills gaps in bandwidth, strategy, and execution.

Live from isolved Connect in Charlotte, Ryan Leary and William Tincup sit down with Bridget Fleagle to talk talent acquisition, product strategy, and how isolved Talent Services is reshaping support for small HR teams.

Bridget shares the real reason standalone solutions still matter, why some HR pros don’t even know what tools they already have, and how isolved’s services team quietly does the heavy lifting for businesses too small to build an HR department.

They also dig into the tension between adding features and killing them off—why product teams struggle to sunset, what "broccoli vs. chocolate" has to do with innovation, and how listening to customers is both a gift and a trap.

For anyone building product, managing people, or just trying to hire faster with fewer hands, this one hits home.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Live from Charlotte: regional events, live crowds, and podcast energy

00:49 — Bridget’s origin story: from ApplicantPro to leading TA at isolved

02:27 — Rebranding and integration: from standalone ATS to isolved Talent Acquisition

03:40 — Turning on tools customers didn’t know they had

05:17 — Smart upsells vs. feature frustration

06:14 — Real customer stories and the power of data continuity

07:01 — Why isolved TA isn’t just “another ATS”

07:48 — Deep integrations and strategy alignment

08:00 — Presentation breakdown: candidate experience and talent services

09:01 — How isolved supports small teams lacking HR resources

10:15 — Screening, video interviewing, and hiring assessments explained

11:03 — Why trades and sub-50 headcount companies benefit most

12:09 — Inside the isolved product roadmap process

13:48 — The balance of agility and vision in product planning

14:54 — Feature bloat, user adoption, and killing your darlings

17:50 — Why product teams resist removing features (and why they shouldn’t)

20:02 — A deleted feature no one noticed: when silence is insight

21:22 — Chocolate vs. broccoli: stretching users past what they think they want

22:14 — Competitor analysis and the trap of roadmap smoke and mirrors

23:19 — Real product = live software, not demo videos

23:48 — People Heroes defined: energy, advocacy, and showing up for humans

This episode was recorded live at isolved Connect on the UNC Charlotte campus.

The Heroes of HR podcast is a limited series sponsored by isolved. isolved is an HCM platform that modernizes HR, benefits, and payroll across Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more.

Learn more about isolved: https://www.isolvedhcm.com/

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  William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

  
  


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  Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

  
  

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