Businessweek has a nice refresher on recruiting top management. While it primarily seems to be written for large companies, the lessons are equally relevant to startups. Of course, there are some additional points one needs to keep in mind when recruiting for startups:
- Sell a personal vision – not just of where the company wants to be, but also why the prospective candidate should get involved. Money? Significance? Career advancement? Broad-skilling?
- Build credibility – let others speak for you. Customers? Investors? Advisors?
- Prepare well – have a detailed view on why you need this person – is he going to feel overqualified once he comes in?
- Hire the best – this is a motherhood statement, but one which cant be emphasized enough, especially for startups.
Any others that have been useful in your experience?
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Most of the points are valid. Being an entrepruener myself, I have tried and tired of startups and funds, and more dearth of them, the cost implication would be a matter of concern.
It is alright to recruit someone with a high challenging appetite, who might also want some big dough! But he should sort of do some additional job, that you may not
Say you are hriing a CTO with 15 years experience, he or she should not only do the PM role, also the QM role as well and do a bit of AM with the clients, saving the cost involved.
So if you pay less, the guy gets dejected, lulls, switches the job. Period. You startup remains as “one”.
These are just experiences that I have personally gone thru. Feedbacks?
Harpreet, I am not sure if I buy into the strategy of hiring hard working people and magically converting them to being the best. Sure, there are the legwork pieces of the business where hardworking=best, but I am not sure that is true of most functions. Some things I would look for:
Vijay, the definition of best is subjective, but depending on the job role, one can come up with what are the key success drivers – benchmark with the best in industry. Especially in India, where competition is often not from other startups, but from corporates who have the ability to hire proven talent. I love passion, but I hate trading skills out.
Once the team grows it is difficult to have a consensus, as Druvaa seems to have.
The people who have enterprise vision if they come together initially it is good because everyone is Co-founder and team working is good, but if a person joins later the founders dont want more co-founders and the new entreprenual entrant does not find it lucrative anymore and prefers starting on his own.
You bring a new person, train him and then he leaves because he finds better pay for the improved skills!
I feel sorry for the entreprenuer who with less money…needs,
the best people, project a bright future and brand, train a new person and grow him into a good resource. Adding to complexity you have parents who recommend their children ,NOT to join startups.
Not sure what is more difficult for an Indian startup getting funding or getting good(best) people.
Perhaps, both are equally difficult.
Vyaas
I love the “build credibility part”. Noted.
It’s really tough for a start-up to get great people. Think about it, why should I go work for a startup, with an uncertain future and no brand ?
I think the best way to build a great start-up senior team is to bring on co-founders and not employees. There are lots of senior people who are just itching to give entrepreneurship a crack. Jaspreet, I think this is how you guys did it ?
Nice sense of Humor Jaspreet. And I agree.
Actually rejecting 9 in 10 is not bad. For one of the teams I am working with, we rejected 132 out of 140 candidates. Did the second round of interview for the filtered ones and gave an offer to two and hired one.
Painful, but that candidate is one super performer, cause he knows he was the “best” of the lot, and keeps up that image – atleast so far.
By the way, I strongly recommend a book titled “Peopleware” for people more interested in this topic. Fabulous book.