Do’s and Don’t For Start Up Hiring

The Dos and Don’ts for Start Up Hiring Right Now

Hiring right now is hard AF. There is now way around it. The challenges are even more compounded if you are an early-stage company with an emerging, but largely unknown brand. We don’t have some magic formula (okay maybe we do, but I can’t share it 😉), but we have been doing this for a long time and wanted to share a few “Do’s and Don’ts” in this market that should yield to better hiring results.

DON’T: Solely Focus on Hiring The “Been There, Done That” Executive

Most growth companies don’t have a crystal ball that can tell them what’s going to happen. Because of that, they often fixate on wanting to hire somebody who has been down a similar path. While it is possible, there are some things you should consider before venturing exclusively down that road.

Hypothetical: You are a $5M ARR company that projects to be at $20M inside of 4 years (50% growth YoY).

If you hire the person who has done this before, you will be paying for a $20M ARR leader at your $5M ARR company. In cash compensation, this person could command $50k-$100K more than a stage appropriate hire, which means over four years you could be overpaying $200k-$400k alone.

The average tenure for GTM leaders at startups is roughly 17-24. When you factor that in, odds are they won’t even get back to the level you are paying them for. Factor in ramp time, odds are you’ll get just north of a year worth of actual value from your $20M ARR executive, which at a $5M company, can cause a big problem financially.

DO: Strive to Find the Up and Comer

There’s a LOT of talent out there and many capable people waiting to move from lieutenant to captain so to speak. If you find a strong lieutenant, you will likely get somebody who is hungry to prove themselves, still very much capable, and can grow alongside the company. Best of all, they will be more in line with your budget and the stage appropriateness of your company.

When looking for this person, make sure to focus on functional leaders for the biggest need on the team. For example, if customer acquisition is your focus, aim to hire a demand generation leader for your VP of Marketing spot. If you’re a mid-market solution, try to hire the mid-market sales leader for the VP of Sales role. In both the demand gen and mid-market cases both people will most likely report to the VP/CXO at their current organization but will make for VERY viable VP candidates at your earlier stage company.

Aside from being more in line on stage and budget, they should be an easier lift from their company as you will be giving them something they can’t get at their current job; upward mobility! 

DON’T: Require Anybody to Work in the Office 5 Days a Week

Really? Is this still a thing? Tech companies are supposed to be forward thinking and early adopters. Expecting a leader to be in the office 5 days a week will drastically limit your talent pool. Even your leaders who are “okay” doing this will know how hard it will be to hire a team in the office and it could be a major turn off. 

DO: Offer Flexibility

It’s completely fine to try to hire in a certain time zone or region and ask people to come in when needed (big pitch, investor meeting, company outing etc.). If the new employee is a few hours away from the home base this can be done with minimal headache and lead time.

Offering flexibility opens your hiring pool immensely and could also lower the price for talent, as candidates who live further away from major tech hubs (NY and SF) could be equally as strong but command much less due to cost of living.

DON’T: Put Candidates Through a 5-week 14 Part Interview Process

The name of the game is hiring, not American Ninja Warrior. You should absolutely vet candidates out and make sure they are capable strong culture fits. However, with the hiring frenzy that we are seeing that 5-week process opens a LOT of outside influence at their existing company and other would-be hiring companies. When hiring takes that long it gives those candidates some concern as to the decision-making process within the company they would be joining. If you need to pause on hiring and map out a process or scorecard before meeting people that’s fine. Just know that when you meet the “one”, you’ll need to move quickly, or they can very easily become the “one who got away”.

DO: Vet Your Candidates Quickly and Keep Them Engaged Throughout

We tell our clients that the time from resume presentation to first interview should be 72 hours or less. From there, every interview should have an action item inside of 48 hours. If it’s a pass, let people know. If they are of interest, schedule them quickly. You should aim to wrap up a process inside of three weeks once the person has been identified.

During the search process and even after the offer is accepted every possible stakeholder needs to reiterate their enthusiasm and stay in contact with the would be hire. More candidates are accepting counter offers or reneging on offers than ever before. You’ll certainly get bonus points if the Founder, CEO or other senior executives take them to dinner, send a swag bag, or even just send a thoughtful email or text letting them know how excited they are for them to potentially join the team.

I’d like to reiterate that the process is NOT DONE when the offer is accepted. The offer is final when they show up and do the job.

Happy hunting out there folks!!