A startup’s success is predetermined on many factors and one most important is the team. If all team members work with the same vision, then success is all but guaranteed. But hiring a good team is one thing and nurturing it is another. There are some golden rules that can be followed while building a winning team.
Hire First 100 People Yourself
It is always advisable to the founding members of the startup to hire first 100 people themselves. Nobody knows more about the startup than the founders themselves. They need to know who are the people who will work with them towards success. And in the end they should be the ones taking this responsibility. Founders should always look for the team who can fit in their startup culture rather than just focusing on skills. Skills can be honed with time but fitting in the culture is a difficult nut to crack.
Focus On People With Right Thought Orientation
The focus should be on the thought process of people who they are hiring. To judge the correct thought process founders can ask the potential candidates some questions that probe them to think. Giving some case studies and problem statements to solve can be a good approach to judge their thinking ability.
Provide The Hiring Team A Clarity On Your Expectations
It is very important for founders to provide clarity to potential candidates of what they are getting into. As the startup environment is very dynamic, unstructured and ever changing, it is challenging to work in a startup. Thus, communicating the same to the potential candidate and probing him on this skill is an important task. To test them in initial stages, give them varied assignments like making PPTs, coding some algorithms etc. Many people drop at the initial stage itself when they see the versatile work which they have to do but the ones who survive are real gems and worth a lot.
Check Interpersonal And People Skills Too
Building a startup is a team work and each member has to be in sync with other in order to succeed. Thus, it is mandatory to check the potential candidate’s behavior and people skills. Asking them questions about college life, past initiatives, past job experience and why he/she is leaving the job etc. Also, see that the candidate is the right fight with the team you are hiring for.
Hire Only When You Need
Most founders make this mistake of filling in good people without having prior objective of where they will contribute. It is necessary to have a small and sufficient team and then grow as per the requirements. In a startup everyone should be overworked. If not, then you are not working hard enough.
