How to recruit a start-up company

More than 10 years ago, first Round capital partner Rob Hayes began investing in early startups. Based on experience, he summed up the core elements of startups into three: get the right people, don't burn the money, and have vision goals like Polaris. The first thing about how startups recruit, the following are Hayes recommendations:

Recruiting good people is one of the most difficult things a founder will encounter, but it is also a key factor in changing the company's business, and if you don't spend 50% of your time in hiring, you're on the road to failure. But that said, I still see too many entrepreneurs evading this responsibility as much as possible, and then, because of procrastination, it bites the corporate business process.

Recruiting is really disgusting, it takes a lot of time and you don't have the energy to do what you think should happen right away. Often, "focused hiring" makes founders feel like slamming on the brakes, delaying business, and likely to find a dozen undesirable people, for two reasons the founders struggled and felt terrible.

At this point, you have the most likely choice is: to hire individuals into the company, or no longer want to spend any time on the recruitment, you think, then I will not recruit, I want to start developing products, I now the first priority is to focus on customers and so on.

But in fact, you're making a bigger mistake.

I often encounter founders who suddenly stop recruiting because of frustration, and I would advise them to talk to the founders who have successfully crossed the threshold. Often, they will quickly talk about what it means to "win scale," and then understand that performance growth is actually about recruiting people who can bring you potential energy, so simple.

If you find it difficult, start by recruiting part-time staff

I suggest that a reluctant founder can start by recruiting part-time employees. A person can spend a few hours a day on the job, and CEOs must be aware that if they are inefficient, they are consuming the company, so think about the role of those who are both suitable for this and lower cost.

In addition, I suggest that the founders take one months to recruit. For the long business process, one months will not let you die, on the contrary if the process of harvesting the people you need, then from today's three months, you will see a completely different company.

In addition to recruiting difficulties, there are some founders who fear that the people who are recruited are better than themselves, and that the idea is dangerous. You should be aware that if you surround yourself with smart people, you can actually make you look smarter.

I further explain this problem from the perspective of leadership. If none of the people you trust around you can do the right thing, you can't really be a leader. Of course, it also means that certain competent people do not always do things the way you do, but in the premise that they can do things well, the management is not your job, your job should be to find these excellent people, and get the best from them, even if sometimes the situation may make you uncomfortable, But you will find that the real good is beginning to happen.

If a founder is afraid of recruiting, I suggest: the next recruitment as much as possible to narrow their focus, think carefully: what is currently the company's most critical mission.

It could be some engineer, or something else, but that is, so you will know what you need and spend all your time to recruit such a person, and once the founder in a role to recruit a good person, usually also smoothly into the recruitment model, because he will see changes happen soon, just put in time to do the right job , you will find the feeling.

Don't hire the best people, hire the best people for you.

You should find those who are especially suitable for your company, whether it is appropriate or not, he is suitable for your company's corporate culture, management mode and other decisions.

But there is a situation where you find someone who meets the standards, but you may somehow be able to set your own limits. Many of the founders I worked with had come to talk to me about a problem, saying they found someone they liked, but then they said, "I will never hire this person because he won't come to work for me." ”

If you can't believe that a good person will work for you, it will be a big problem.

If you really think you're incapable of hiring a talent, think about what kind of company your company is. You may answer: "At this stage, my company is not as good as any other company, or I offer these people the conditions, not their current working conditions." "If you think so, who will come and work for you?"

By the same token, if you find that you can't convince a person to work for your startup because of conditions, you should turn around and find someone else to do it. Many founders like to obsess about the competitive salary they offer to others, but this idea will actually stop you from finding the right person: If a person thinks that a start-up with an unknown future is more likely to stay in a company with less-than-risky Google, it's certainly not the person you're looking for. Let him go.

Hire him before you need him.

When I heard that Matt Van Horn from DIGG, I immediately contacted him through Frist Round and introduced him to Dave Morin of Path. At the time, Dave's first reaction was: "I like this guy, but I don't need a BD for the next 6 months." ”

I didn't give up, I told him that you will go far in the future, and then you will not necessarily find such a wonderful person. I mean, I've seen too many people who are limited by some standards and lost potential opportunities in the future.

In fact, when you start thinking about recruiting for the future, you'll find it worthwhile to pay a couple of monthly salary in advance to those geniuses who will have unlimited potential in the future, and as soon as this person arrives, you'll have to start the project in time you knew you'd have to.

In that case, later Morin hired Matt to be VP of the company, and it proved the right choice. In other words, when you meet a good person, do not be affected by the current Schedule, make you think next March will not need this person. Hire them now, because you'll be able to earn all the time you need for your future recruiting.

First and foremost.

Remember, once you hire a group of senior people, you no longer need to recruit others yourself, and you let the group of senior people recruit themselves to build a team.

Once my subordinates told me they needed to find three customer service reps, but what was my first thought? Why don't you hire someone to run the group? In fact, if you do this, you can only spend time trying to recruit a person, rather than taking the time to recruit three people.

By the way, if you hire these three people and then give them a boss, the likely conflict is that they think the manager you're looking for is unnecessary.

For founders, once you have a core leader in every area, what you need to do is ensure that you are supporting them, including resources and all the help they need to build a team.

You need to keep an eye on the company's recruiting process and stay in touch with the people who are hiring, but in the meantime, you don't have to do it and have time to focus on other things that are desperately needed.

So if you're tired of recruiting, then hire top people right away and let them do the rest.

Of course, it's very likely that one or more of your deputies will leave abruptly, but it's unlikely that they'll all happen at the same time. So when one of these departures happens, you just have to find someone to replace them, instead of looking for 15 people to come back. My advice: Find some seasoned deputies and try to avoid relying on an experienced deputy.

Also, don't be afraid to "downgrade" early in the business, if a person really cares about your company and your company to give him the opportunity, he will not care about some nominal level.

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