Finding the Right People for Your Company

Once your startup is off the ground and running, there are many hats you’ll wear. One of the most important is that of recruiter and hiring manager. If you have ten roles to fill, you never just hire the first ten applicants. You have to do a thorough, intense search to find the right people for your company. The people who make up your company determine how successful your company is.

Why finding great partners and employers is so vital to a startup

Look at the most successful Information Age companies, like Google, Microsoft, or Facebook, and you’ll notice that at the heart of each company lies a very important business partnership between individuals. The fact is that to build a truly remarkable company, you need to create a partnership in which the partners share the same core philosophies on business and life, yet have differing – but complementary – personality traits.

My partner, Chris, and I share an obsession with business; we’re both frighteningly ambitious, but we have complementary outlooks and focus. While Chris is more fascinated by the technology side of business, I’m more intrigued by the relationship aspect. It’s a fantastic blend, because it’s as if we pass every strategic concept we develop through two filters, and what comes out the other end is all the more powerful as a result.

How to find employees with the right attitude and outlook

In the early days of Microsoft, Bill Gates and Paul Allen hired their close friends and associates. Mark Zuckerberg chose his partners among the group of friends he hung out with at Harvard. Even after they started to expand and their VC funding came in, they still began recruiting staff by hiring people within their social circles, or people who were recommended by their existing staff.

This is essential to ensure that you attract people whose attitudes and outlooks match the company culture. When we first started our company, Chris and I were part of a group of like-minded people who met up. That was our social, intellectual, and spiritual group, and from that group sprang several connections, some of which led to meeting people who are now part of our team. Look close to home when finding people for your startup, and build from there.

Seek out qualified people who are interested in the entrepreneurial lifestyle

The whole concept of “qualifications” is awkward because, while most companies consider paper qualifications, we focus on having the right attitude and skill. In our hiring, we’ve never looked at what the individual has in terms of formal qualifications; we’ve always looked for people who love the Internet and have a passion for building an online business.

In our industry, we also work with a lot of freelance professionals, such as designers, programmers, writers, and virtual assistants, and we find them on freelance platforms like Elance.com and Guru.com. When engaging these people, we have very little interest in their formal qualifications; all that matters is whether they have the skills needed to do the project. Their past work, their feedback ratings, and their communication skills are far more important than any standard qualifications they may have. In fact, whenever we scan through a prospective freelancer’s résumé, our minds are conditioned to see real-life demonstrations of what they can do.

Most of that comes across in their responses to emails, their timeliness, their general communication, and, most importantly, a sample of their work. Most of the time, we’ll ask them to submit a small snippet of the project we want them to complete and, based upon that snippet, we’ll decide whether or not to work with them. It’s much easier to find people who are interested in the entrepreneurial lifestyle when you stop focusing on traditional qualifications and instead focus on finding people who love what they do. These people are self-motivated and already work in an unconventional way. They will be the best fits for your startup environment.

How to sell future employees on the entrepreneurial lifestyle

The key is to make your role fit what they love and are already doing. The modern business world is becoming less about regimented roles, and more about flexible and fulfilling projects. Working in our industry has been a blessing because we work with so many freelance professionals that we’ve learned a great deal about matching people to projects they love.

For example, if you want to hire a designer, instead of being rigid and looking for someone who has to clock in every day, why not find someone who has a passion for the job, but may live in a different city or country? As long as the person can deliver your project when you want it, it really shouldn’t matter where he’s located. Online platforms like Odesk.com makes this possible, as you can hire people in any country and still be able to monitor their work, without stifling them. This allows truly great people who have a passion for what they do to work for you – while delivering what you want.

Finding the right people for your company is extremely important. Seek out individuals who have a passion for what you are doing, and you’ll develop a committed and dedicated staff. Don’t just hire a résumé; hire a great person who fits your company.