Top Founders and Entrepreneurs Making Headlines in 2026

Nick Burns — A Recruiter Who Wanted to Change the Hiring Game

Nick Burns spent 15 years working in recruiting firms across Minneapolis. Long enough to understand what the industry does well and where it falls short.

Most recruiting is transactional. A position opens, a resume gets sent, a fee gets charged, everyone moves on. Nobody stops to ask whether the person actually fits the company's culture or whether the company is genuinely right for the candidate. Burns found that frustrating. In January 2026, after an unexpected layoff — the first of his career — he stopped waiting and launched TrustedHire.

The firm runs on one belief: skills can be taught. Culture can't. If the fit isn't there, nothing else holds.

500 Placements and a Different Way of Doing Business

Over the course of his career, Burns has made more than 500 placements across a wide range of industries and built a strong presence as a LinkedIn Top Voice with over 20,000 followers. Through TrustedHire, he focuses on recruiting for Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, and Operations roles, helping companies fill positions ranging from entry-level jobs to executive leadership.

What makes it different is that it's not trying to be everything to everyone. Burns runs it as a boutique by design. Clients get his direct attention and a recruiting process built around their actual needs, not a template. But he took that a step further with the recent launch of TrustedHire's Client Portal. When a client engages the firm on a search, they get real-time visibility into everything: candidate activity, feedback tools, interview scheduling, and direct chat with the TrustedHire team, all in one place.

Most recruiting firms don't offer anything close to that level of transparency, and that's exactly the point.

The Personal Brand Behind the Business

Outside of work, Burns coaches youth basketball and helps manage his kids' travel teams. In many ways, it's an extension of how he approaches recruiting — focusing on people, building connections, and showing up consistently. He also often mentions The Go-Giver, a book whose central idea is simple: help others whenever you can, and good things tend to follow. It's a mindset that has influenced both his professional and personal life, and one he tries to put into practice every day.