Hiring For Startups: New Age, New Rules
Think about your culture
The first hires of a startup have an important impact on the company culture, simply because they make up a significant part of the organisation. The company culture is largely based on the behaviour of the company founders. Employees will tend to mimic the founders' attitudes and behaviour. For example, a founder working during weekends will tend to create an environment where employees will feel they need to put in the extra hours, regardless of the agreed conditions.
Hire people you understand
Almost by definition, the first hires of a startup will have areas of expertise different from the founders. A successful team is made of people with different skills and personalities, working together towards a common goal. The role of the founders is to ensure that everyone can work effectively together, while completing their individual responsibilities.
When interviewing new hires, make sure they can help you understand the complexity of their job and that they can understand the needs of your business. Not only is hiring for startups key, but finding the right people who suits your business best is pivotal when it comes to being successful. On paper, you could hire the most brilliant software developer in the world, but if you are not able to understand each other, this can turn out to be a disaster.
Focus on people, not roles
It’s important to keep a high degree of flexibility when hiring for the key roles in your startup. While you might start interviewing with a plan of roles and responsibilities, be open to change your mind based on the people you meet and the skills they have.
Especially in the early stages of a startup, everyone needs to wear different hats, so be ready to embrace the skills of the people you meet and to build roles around them. Don’t try to fit or push people into predetermined positions.
Hire full-time collaborators
As a startup founder, you are constantly offered part-time collaborations from a wide array of experts and consultants across disciplines. Given your likely financial restrictions, hiring talent for just a few hours or days a week can be tempting. While there are some areas where this approach can work (for example, you might not need a full-time accountant or a system administrator), very often this ends up in an unsatisfactory situation.
Everyone knows that building and launching a product requires a lot of effort. The secret to success is getting the right people in place to build your business and make it successful. If you hire a junior person who has the desire and motivation to excel then they are likely to succeed more than someone who is hired at the highest pay level possible.
Embrace remote working
The last few years have proven that people can be productive without spending 8 hours a day in the same building. Working remotely is en route to becoming the global norm. Software development improved communication between colleagues that can be miles apart. Hence, to find talent all you need is an internet connection and a shared language.
However, building a distributed organisation requires more than a Zoom account. You will have to create a truly asynchronous work environment, one where your team can effectively collaborate in different environments, time zones and contexts. This means relying more on written documents and transparency, avoiding real-time communication tools and giving agency to all members of your team.
Luckily you will find advantages in this approach not only from an HR point of view, as it will help you create a more scalable and resilient organisation.
Your first hires are critical for your startup growth. So determining when and who to hire is an important decision in your startup journey. At Activate, we provide you with experts in different fields so you can have hands-on support in the beginning of your journey. As investors, we will be your business partner and help you navigate through every step of your journey including hiring. Meet our team here.
About the author:
Paolo Valdemarin is the Managing Director of Activate.