Pressing pause on the talent war Signs of the talent market easing are re昀氀ected in founder sentiment on their experience of acquiring new talent. The share of founders that perceive the acquisition of talent to have eased in the past 12 months in- creased this year to 30% of all respondents, a material increase from 25% in 2022 and, in particular, from 15% in 2021 at the height of the overheated talent market. That said, for some founders it is still proving challenging to attract the talent they need. 35% of founder re- spondents said hiring conditions have become harder over the past 12 months, though this is down from 49% of respondents in 2021. Compared to 12 months ago, how easy or di昀케cult is the acquisition of new talent now? 2023 2022 2021 Significantly harder Somewhat harder Unchanged Somewhat easier Significantly easier 0 10 20 30 40 % of respondents Notes: Founder, C-level, and Department head respond- Sources: ents only. Respondents who selected "I don't know" or "No opinion" are excluded from the data. | 168