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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?

#21

Post by nerder92 »

andy99 wrote: post #9

Offer market pay. "Smart" people are smart enough to know their value, and unless you're looking for a cofounder you need to pay properly. If that's met, just do some advertising - I've found LinkedIn is useless, indeed.com gave better candidates, I'd try other "real" job sites like that. Depending on your needs, consider part time as well which may be more attractive to some people. One thing I did that worked was c…

I'd avoid part-time as at this time we are looking for very committed ppl that can help us doing the 0 to 1. We have a product with users and paying customers but we still need to find explosive PMF.

I'm trying LinkedIn and i'm impressed by the amount of application I've received so far

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#22

Post by nerder92 »

FigurativeVoid wrote: post #7

I’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.

Yes, this is exactly my feeling. I've chatted with talented and smart people but the always miss something, and that something is probably what are you describing here.

Where do you usually look for this kind of ppl?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#23

Post by Russelfuture »

Sort of an off-the-wall idea: Do some kind of event, maybe a promotional thing connected with the business model of your intended product. Or maybe a hackathon or competition of some sort with a cash prize. It can let you find people who are keen, willing to get out there, and you can interact with them to try to ensure a good fit. Most startups fizzle out. In any early-stage thing, you need some initial folks with open-ended skills - willingness to work hard to learn new tech, and ability to see thru the clutter to get to a working result. Virtually any code you need can be found now on github, right? So for your first guys(or gals), you want folks with a prospectors mindset. And that means you will have focus now on prospecting also. Since everything is changing fast now, the town or city you are in can help - people in same profession tend to cluster. Figure out where the clusters are (Universities, big shared workspaces, etc.) and put the word out and describe what you are looking for. And remember that randomness is a good friend. If one looks at success stories, random contacts - at conferences, coffee-shops, etc., often figure in the process. Best of luck!

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#24

Post by nerder92 »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #5

This isn't a complete answer, but HN's next "Who's Hiring?" post is in about a week. That might be a good starting point. Although if you're dealing with out-of-network candidates, you probably have the daunting issue of effective screening.

> you probably have the daunting issue of effective screening

Exactly how I'm feeling right now, i've started to job posts in some slack/discords for devs and LinkedIn, but it's very difficult to screen as we don't really have a process in place or anything structured.

We are looking for someone which is interested in our mission and would love to build it with us for $ and equity

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#25

Post by jokethrowaway »

It depends if you are building something technologically hard or the usual CRUD API + frontend, which is 99% of startups.

1. Hard tech: - Go to tech events in major cities (or local if you can't afford that), look out for good speakers who talk about something tricky / obscure

2. Not super hard tech: - Go to startupper events and look for the 2-3 developers among the sea of business people

In general when hiring software engineers:

Try to avoid professional employees like the plague, especially the coasters who did FANG work or anyone involved in some form of activism. You need people who gets stuff done, not talk politics (whether in the company or in the real world).

If you are going for employees, look for the ones who worked in early startups: no matter how small the startup, they must have solved the problems you'll face and hopefully they haven't been brainwashed with useless corporate crap.

When I hired for my startup employee n1 was incredibly talented - and he definitely changed the course of the startup, so pick carefully. He came from my network but it fit the startupper profile who already launched a few online businesses before.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#26

Post by CoastalCoder »

nerder92 wrote: post #21
andy99 wrote: post #9

Offer market pay. "Smart" people are smart enough to know their value, and unless you're looking for a cofounder you need to pay properly. If that's met, just do some advertising - I've found LinkedIn is useless, indeed.com gave better candidates, I'd try other "real" job sites like that. Depending on your needs, consider part time as well which may be more attractive to some people. One thing I did that worked was c…

I'd avoid part-time as at this time we are looking for very committed ppl that can help us doing the 0 to 1. We have a product with users and paying customers but we still need to find explosive PMF. I'm trying LinkedIn and i'm impressed by the amount of application I've received so far

> I'd avoid part-time as at this time we are looking for very committed ppl that can help us doing the 0 to 1.

What's your mental model about identifying / fostering commitment?

One traditional way to buy commitment is via equity. But since you also have investors, that might be a tough balancing act. I'm curious what other approaches could work.

Also, is there a viable path forward even without high commitment? E.g., can the work be structured in a manner that's resilient to occasional churn in this role?

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#27

Post by nerder92 »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #25

It depends if you are building something technologically hard or the usual CRUD API + frontend, which is 99% of startups. 1. Hard tech: - Go to tech events in major cities (or local if you can't afford that), look out for good speakers who talk about something tricky / obscure 2. Not super hard tech: - Go to startupper events and look for the 2-3 developers among the sea of business people In general when hiring soft…

I love this guideline!

I'm indeed looking for that attitude that you are describing. Most of my dev friends don't have it tho and i'm a bit out of idea.

I tend to avoid startup events because they are almost always full of startup gurus and very few builders, but maybe I need to actively look for the hidden gems.

Thank you so much!

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#28

Post by nerder92 »

gushogg-blake wrote: post #3

I haven't used it from the hiring side, but I've seen a decent number of early stage companies using cord.co. There's also a startup called Otta - https://otta.com/ . Not affiliated with either. Edit - AngelList also has job postings. From the being-hired side, I was hired by Chess.com when the CEO found my chess app on GitHub. I think that was one of his main hiring strategies - look for chess-related projects and g…

That's a smart strategy!

I'm trying some platforms but usually the quality of the applicants is low, as in not the right fit for joining so early.

Thank you so much for sharing this resources!

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#29

Post by nerder92 »

OP here:

Thank you so much for all the insights! I'll leave my contacts here in case you'd like to stay in touch. We are building a marketplace for sport communities. Our initial GTM is in BJJ/Martial Arts, if you'd like to know more ping me here: stefano[at]joinmaat.com

Re: Ask HN: How do you find smart people without a network?

#30

Post by FigurativeVoid »

nerder92 wrote: post #22
FigurativeVoid wrote: post #7

I’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.

Yes, this is exactly my feeling. I've chatted with talented and smart people but the always miss something, and that something is probably what are you describing here. Where do you usually look for this kind of ppl?

Well you mentioned that you are a dev. I have probably 12 people that I have worked with that I would hire blindly to work with me again. That should be your first pool.

After that, your usual sources should be fine. If you need help with ops, find someone that has done it before.

I would be very specific in your job application.

Don't say, "We are looking for an ops expert." Say, "We are looking for an ops engineer with experience deploying .NET core web applications to azure." From there, you should be able to verify if they have done it.

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