Hiring for Startups

A discussion of lessons learnt hiring a development team for a startup. We talk about how to market to candidates, the kinds of people & attributes to look for & the difference in hiring for a startup. We also discuss the actual interview & hiring process including the checks & balances to ensure you hire the right people. If there's time we'll also discuss a transparent salary model.

Transcript

1. Hiring for Startups Tom Adams @tomjadams Lessons learned hiring a development team
2. Easier to Find work than good people Marty Andrews
3. Me • 15 years hiring, 7 companies, 2 universities, 3 startups • 6 years, co-founder & CTO Oomph • Team outperformed competitors 6x larger
4. tl;dr 1. Market your company 2. Culture 3. Motivators 4. People 5. Process 6. Package
5. Marketing • Always be hiring! • Nurture your reputation • Participate & sponsor • Lean on network
7. Words • Your words can (unintentionally) marginalise • “Commit”, “cracking hard problems”, “focus” • “Ninja”, “rockstar”, “gun”, etc.
8. Culture • CEO: vision, people, money • (One of) the most important things you can do • Open, inclusive culture • Values are critical • Technical staff are crucial to a tech startup
9. HIre smart people & get out of their way
10. Motivators 1. Has legs - vision, strategy, direction, etc. 2. Cool tech 3. Colleagues 4. Clear work direction 5. No interference 6. No bullshit 7. Pay
11. “entrepreneurial developers” • Won’t have your motivations • Limited appeal • Be clear on expectations • Hire BDM or marketing instead? • “Chance to learn” is not a motivator
12. Hire the wrong People
13. People • Look outside the toolchain • Generalising specialists, T-shaped • Opportunistic hiring
14. Culture is more important than tech
15. People • Hire the best people you can afford • Avoid (technical) outsourcing • Diversity • Say no • Key hires more critical
16. Cogent Process • Review/sanity check • Internal comms • Phone screen • Technical test • Technical interview • Culture & comms • Salary review & offer
17. Use different people
18. “Blackball” Model • Everyone has veto power • Current staff have to work with this person • Don’t piss off current staff to hire new staff • Remember, hiring is expensive
19. Responsive
20. Process tips • Reply to everyone • Communicate your process • Validate expectations early (forward load risk) • Don’t surprise the candidate • Don’t let HR hijack your process • Track progress • Don’t make a bad hire just because you need to
22. Package • More than money • Importance of the person within the company • Cover the things you expect them to have • Be clear about other benefits • Package • Money = salary + comms + laptop + profit • Learning = time + money + books • 20% time, hack weeks, Friday drinks, dinners, family Xmas
23. Salary • Be skeptical of salary surveys • Pay enough to take money off the table • Non-confronting salary process • Ask what they want • No surprises
24. ESOP • Limited understanding • A risk, not a perk • Cream on top • Be clear on risks if low cash
25. Further Reading • Stripe • http://firstround.com/article/How-Stripe-built-one-of-Silicon- Valleys-best-engineering-teams • https://gigaom.com/2012/04/28/6-secrets-for-building-a-super- team/ • Netflix • https://hbr.org/2014/01/how-netflix-reinvented-hr • Generalising specialists • http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/generalizingSpecialists.htm
26. Questions? Comments?
27. SPARE SLIDES
28. Startup vs. Big Co. • Can’t shoebox skills on latest hotness • No specialists • Do more than one thing • Grow with the company • Risk • No bureaucracy