Smart people will have social skills. You build your network.
Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#12I’m not sure I’d look for someone talented. I’d look for someone who’s done it before. Early stage software development is tricky, but not unique. I think someone who’s done the role before would be more valuable than someone smart. They are also easier to find and screen.
I a tech-type and multiple founder I second this. A good software dev at Google or Amazon is likely not great for early stage. Basically, early on you have to load up tech-debt just to ship something (it's the one you'll throw away) and that's hard because it works against the discipline of the trade.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#13right here! lol
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#14Go to local events, hackathons, etc. Don't just stick to the first level of your network, ask for "friend of a friend" type recommendations. Find out if any of your contacts know any hyper-connector "knows everyone" types.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#15Might not really help if you are short on time and need someone quick. When I started my first startup (working on POC before even registering the startup), I was hanging on ultra niche internet pockets. Forums/reddit/niche twitter and having conversations there about where the industry was heading, what was happening, trends etc. And that is where I found my cofounder. We did some private dms, got on a call and then decided we wanted to build this thing. Started the company, scaled it, ran it for 4+ years, got acquired and exited.
Another thing you can do is go to the hackernews algolia and search of posts in your industry/domain. Find some of the smart answers with people who understand the domain deeply etc. Go to their profile see if they have some link to their twitter or something and connect with them. Again not super helpful if you are short on time. But leaving it here, for those who might like me want to find someone not in their network for some future collaboration.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#16I’m not sure I’d look for someone talented. I’d look for someone who’s done it before. Early stage software development is tricky, but not unique. I think someone who’s done the role before would be more valuable than someone smart. They are also easier to find and screen.
I'd second this.
I'm actually the type of person that you'd want, but I'm not looking for work.
You want someone that can deliver product, and that type of person does not grow on trees. Experience will be the main factor. Maybe not as old as I am, but I have known a lot of folks in their late thirties and early forties, that have the requisite experience. These folks are the ones that are finding themselves frozen out of the job market, these days, and would probably be open to the relatively unstructured environment of an early startup (when, previously, they were not, but mortgage payments have a way of opening us up to compromise).
Unless, of course, your "product" is the company, itself. In that case, someone that plays to investor preconceptions may be more along the lines of what you want.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#17[dead]
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#18This is a lot easier in 2024 than it was in prior years due to all the layoffs. Make sure your job application is appealing, and post it in the usual places. You will get quality applicants mixed among the flood of lower quality ones.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#19LinkedIn mostly, you can use the free version, but it's easier if you use Recruiter for much more precise filtering, and/or set up a job post.
You could try looking for related projects in GitHub if that makes sense for your project. Or going to local meetups. But it can be hard to find people that are open to switching jobs unless you have a very attractive offer. It's more efficient to explicitly target people looking for a job: again mostly through LinkedIn.
There's plenty of recruiting firms out there that can help if you have the budget, and some SaaS-like databases of pre-filtered candidates, often for remote work, depends on the region.
At the end of the day, recruiting is not much different from sales. You need a proper pipeline of leads and interview many people so you have real options to choose from. It's a numbers game, there is no real substitute for a proper multi-stage interview process. You can get recommendations from your network, but it's not very scalable or objective.
Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?
#20I was head of engineering at a YC funded startup for a few months. You should be laser focused om what this person needs to do for you not what shape they might come in or where to find them. For example, you may say "we need someone to do everything tech" which I would frame as laser focused on a generalist and then write down the attributes of someone that would fit that and start sharing it. We used angel list job…
Hey!
This is great advise, thank you so much this this! I'll ping you so that you can educate me more!