Why would you go this route instead of hiring, say, an agency or something to do the initial work for you?
Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
111–120 of 164 posts
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
To take the proposed model to it's logical extreme, what if you only want 3/10, 2/10, 1/10? Now you're suddenly back to hiring individuals again. The whole point of hiring a team is that you aren't evaluating individual performance or skills; you're evaluating the groups' performance and skills. If the team is good, the people who can't immediately be helpful will re-train so that they can provide skills that are use…
Right, only wanting to hire 7/10 means the company thinks they're better at evaluating team members in a single interview than the team is at evaluating its members after working together. Or they just can't afford a team that large, and it's not the right one for them.
Add a filter for team size? That way you're not looking at teams that are bigger than you can afford.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#113You can't validate an idea by posting on HN and decide what to do by reading the (overwhelmingly negative) comments alone. You would get the same negative responses if you were Travis Kalanick ("hey guys what do you think of starting a ride share app") or Brian Chesky. You have to "get out of the building" (Steve Blank) and talk to your potential customers.
While you may not get validation, you will get a critical analysis of your idea from multiple perspectives. I've already seen some responses with amazing insights that would've taken an inordinate amount of time to gather.
The shortcoming of that analysis (and I've commented here) is that my comment is based on what I imagine the service to entail rather than what the OP imagines it to entail. Part of that is that the description is thin and could probably use more work at least in the form of diagrams showing the mechanism. But most of my imagining is a bias when I see the word 'platform' toward assuming the premise is "If I build it, they will come" without talking to "they".
I mean, the odds that I would use the service are less than the odds that I will be hiring a team in the near future and the odds that I will hire a team in the near future are approximately zero. So yeah I've got a thoughtful analysis but not from the point of view of a potential user.
Or to put it another way, an inordinate amount of time talking to possible users is much more productive than a few minutes talking to non-potential users or several months building a proto-type. It is also much much harder.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#114I've almost hired full teams for my clients a few times as a recruiter. There tend to be a couple issues with this model. For one, what if the hiring company interviews the team and wants 7 of the 10? The team has to make a decision to either look for work where they can all be on the team, or abandon members. The other issue is timing. The team members need to all be available at (or around) the same time, and they…
> There tend to be a couple issues with this model. For one, what if the hiring company interviews the team and wants 7 of the 10? The team has to make a decision to either look for work where they can all be on the team, or abandon members. Exactly. We've been approached a few times by intact teams all wanting to join. My approach has always been that I love talking to people in this situation, but that our contract…
If Alex, Becky, and Charlie have been working with Dave for some time and think he's just fine, you might consider that your short interview appraisal of him might be flawed.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#115Hiring teams will also mean they would be leaving together. If that is unplanned then your project(s) could really be in a pickle. Cheaper to have backup for individuals as opposed to teams.
But that's the originating company's problem, not that of the individuals in a team. If anything, if a company endures an overnight exodus of talent it should probably review how it's paying and treating its existing employees.
Yeah, but when the team moves on from this new position, now that's the problem of the company that hired the team.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There tend to be a couple issues with this model. For one, what if the hiring company interviews the team and wants 7 of the 10? The team has to make a decision to either look for work where they can all be on the team, or abandon members. Exactly. We've been approached a few times by intact teams all wanting to join. My approach has always been that I love talking to people in this situation, but that our contract…
If Alex, Becky, and Charlie have been working with Dave for some time and think he's just fine, you might consider that your short interview appraisal of him might be flawed.
That's possible (and we'd take that into account in interviewing, as would any sensible company).
It's also possible that he's a "really nice guy" and close friend of theirs and they're blind to his weakness.
It's also possible that he's a very strong contributor in a domain and skillset that the hiring company simply doesn't need.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#117Wouldn't that typically be a digital agency?
Permanently and exclusively?
Hire the agency to provide a team. Request that the team work onsite. After a while, offer people to jump ship to your company. If there is a clause in the contract preventing poaching, consider that financial penalty a commission.
Happened to an agency I once worked at. We sent 6 people (4 were full time, 2 were contract) to a client to work on their project. After a year, none of the 6 people were still with the agency. The contractors were let go after the contract expiration, 3 of the 4 full timers took jobs with the client, and I left for another company.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see your point: people who market themselves better do better, regardless of their skillset to back up their claims. Which happens a lot everywhere, not just with programmers. But it should be relatively easy to beat the scammers, learn how to market yourself properly, get testimonials to back up your claims, build your marketing message to answer questions and problems that your potential customers have. In other…
Yes, but then you are in the game. And soon you spend more energy and time in building your marketing instead of the things which made you a good developer... It is the market logic which drives us to solutions which aren't really one (but we think we are forced to).
I'd say to people though, if you're not interested in playing the business game, probably best to be an employee instead. You even make more in the short/medium term.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There tend to be a couple issues with this model. For one, what if the hiring company interviews the team and wants 7 of the 10? The team has to make a decision to either look for work where they can all be on the team, or abandon members. Exactly. We've been approached a few times by intact teams all wanting to join. My approach has always been that I love talking to people in this situation, but that our contract…
If Alex, Becky, and Charlie have been working with Dave for some time and think he's just fine, you might consider that your short interview appraisal of him might be flawed.
It's also possible that while dave is great, your team doesn't need a dave regardless of how good he is.
Re: Ask HN: What about a platform for hiring teams instead of individuals?
#120> a platform where recruiters can search and hire teams...
If your team is any good -- you're likely on Talent Acquisition's radar screen already. Relative to an actual platform to enable these deals, it would seem that the enthusiasm for "Aquihires" has piqued > > https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/acquihire/