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Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

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Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#61

Post by olegp »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #57
olegp wrote: post #44

My advice would be to find advisors who are experts in these skills and have them screen for them, while you do everything else. Pay them for their time in cash or options. Make sure to hire senior level people first and then have them screen for these skills in subsequent hires going forward. Finding external recruiters that are able to screen for these skills is another option, but such recruiters are few and far b…

So now we get linkedin spam on hackernews, nice!

What is it about my comment that made you classify it as such? The link to the blog post I wrote or something else?

I'm genuinely curious.

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#62

Post by pleoxy »

louison11 wrote: post #51

Something obvious I didn't understand at first: the earlier stage you are, the smarter the people you need. They need to be autonomous, flexible, but above all brilliant at what they do. If you get "average" employees who just wants to follow the specs and receive their salary, they will most likely cost you more to manage than they will create value. In early stages, you're probably still trying to answer complex qu…

The word you are looking for is responsible.

Someone who will take burdens from you and go handle them themselves and don't need to be cajoled, directed every step, motivated, managed, etc.

There is crossover with smart, but that's just a nice to have - responsible is the primary attribute you need here.

Plenty of smart or even brilliant and still lazy people out there that will not fit here.

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#63

Post by seanthemon »

olegp wrote: post #44

My advice would be to find advisors who are experts in these skills and have them screen for them, while you do everything else. Pay them for their time in cash or options. Make sure to hire senior level people first and then have them screen for these skills in subsequent hires going forward. Finding external recruiters that are able to screen for these skills is another option, but such recruiters are few and far b…

Yep, a strong technical recruiter can make a world of a difference

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#64

Post by twicetwice »

ativzzz wrote: post #60
Woshiwuja wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are a startup which deals with highly complicated technologies and algorithms you don't need the smartest people around.

I think in this case "smart" is equivalent to independent, self-directed, hard working

Yes, but I think that's a poor choice of words; those are not the same thing. There are lots of smart people who are not independent, self-directed, or hard working! My manager was just saying to me yesterday, "we need smart people who know how to get shit done—just hiring smart people isn't enough."

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#65

Post by codegeek »

louison11 wrote: post #51

Something obvious I didn't understand at first: the earlier stage you are, the smarter the people you need. They need to be autonomous, flexible, but above all brilliant at what they do. If you get "average" employees who just wants to follow the specs and receive their salary, they will most likely cost you more to manage than they will create value. In early stages, you're probably still trying to answer complex qu…

"the type of people you need at this stage are the type who could be almost be startup founders themselves"

Pretty much. I run a bootstrapped SAAS and built a small team over the years. I havae made so many mistakes when hiring the early employees. So many. The biggest mistake: Hire someone who will be a good fit in a larger team/corporate where they have structure and are told what to do. Do not hire those people as your early employees no matter where they come from or how smart they are in general.

You need people who are "almost" entrepreneurial but cannot do their own thing. They love to own things, have autonomy and can wear multiple hats. They are willing to experiment with you and most importantly, move the needle. Very difficult to find especially when you are a nothing startup.

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#66

Post by benjaminwootton »

codegeek wrote: post #65
louison11 wrote: post #51

Something obvious I didn't understand at first: the earlier stage you are, the smarter the people you need. They need to be autonomous, flexible, but above all brilliant at what they do. If you get "average" employees who just wants to follow the specs and receive their salary, they will most likely cost you more to manage than they will create value. In early stages, you're probably still trying to answer complex qu…

"the type of people you need at this stage are the type who could be almost be startup founders themselves" Pretty much. I run a bootstrapped SAAS and built a small team over the years. I havae made so many mistakes when hiring the early employees. So many. The biggest mistake: Hire someone who will be a good fit in a larger team/corporate where they have structure and are told what to do. Do not hire those people as…

I think this is the top hiring mistake for startupS - hiring the big cheese from BigCo who turns out to be a total culture clash.

I do however disagree with your final paragraph. We had a few wantrapreneurs who were usually moonlighting and clearly didn’t want to be there.

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#67

Post by epolanski »

By having a good business, giving good equity and salary and hiring top talent.

Realistically, early stage startups have a person do all of these things together and learn, they have no budget to hire talent in those roles.

If you're business is that successful without any of it..you may actually not need these people.

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#68

Post by evntdrvn »

twicetwice wrote: post #64
ativzzz wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think in this case "smart" is equivalent to independent, self-directed, hard working

Yes, but I think that's a poor choice of words; those are not the same thing. There are lots of smart people who are not independent, self-directed, or hard working! My manager was just saying to me yesterday, "we need smart people who know how to get shit done—just hiring smart people isn't enough."

“very competent experienced pragmatic X” is a good target for early employees

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#69

Post by vsareto »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #55
louison11 wrote: post #51

Something obvious I didn't understand at first: the earlier stage you are, the smarter the people you need. They need to be autonomous, flexible, but above all brilliant at what they do. If you get "average" employees who just wants to follow the specs and receive their salary, they will most likely cost you more to manage than they will create value. In early stages, you're probably still trying to answer complex qu…

Totally agree with that. This will play into your mental health as well. The more weight other people can carry, the less you have to do. Don't underestimate having to feed the brains of 10 people constantly when they can't/won't think for themselves.

This just sounds like someone who can't write good specs

Re: Ask HN: As a first-time solopreneur how would you go about hiring the first team

#70

Post by rcyeh »

Echoing several of the comments here about learning by doing, I think Ben Horowitz’s “Hard thing about hard things” may recommend that too. See section (and blog post) “If you’ve never done the job, how do you hire somebody good?” with pitfalls:

https://a16z.com/hiring-executives-if-youve-never-done-the-j...

“The very best way to know what you want is to act in the role. ... In addition, ... bring in domain experts.”

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