10 Golden Rules of Startups Hires

I recently joined a startup, inspired as I am that this is a group of people who have a high priority for innovation and actually helping people, in the form of an SaaS solution for independent retailers, we get them, because in essence they are entrepreneurs, like us. It got me thinking about hiring principles. About the importance of corporate culture and talent, and not just chemistry, but diversity, and multiple frames of reference. 

If you are lucky enough to work for a small-biz or plan to have a startup in the future, you have the opportunity to create a talent pool from the ground up. There will be turnover, there will be people who are in the midst of stepping stones, ladders and incredible growth, but there will also be people who make breakthroughs while working at your new startup, these are the hidden gems, the positive innovators, the leaders that bring an incredible enthusiasm and hustle to your startup. 

I'm not an HR professional, but I've done my fair share of HR and applied human science courses. I'm also just really interested in human relationships, leadership and how each person brings with them not just a skill set, but a personal, an emotional intelligence matrix that affects and influences everyone else in a team. So without further adieu, consider the following points, apart form any skill-set required for the position, whatever the role you are hiring for: 

As our startup is all about championing the underdogs, this is the approach I'm going to take for SaaS startup hiring as well: 

1- Cultural fit, that all important gut feeling of whether this personals value system and communication style match our company's. 

2- Can they learn from this position, do we fit into their career trajectory? The best indication of employee engagement is their education in our environment, their self-growth as a person. 

3- Our startup culture is defined by who we hire, each person adds a flavor to the whole, to the orchestra of talent. 

4- Hire Doers over Tellers, can they execute, are they results driven, do they spill over when talking about their job plus are they geared to concentrate and growth-hack their role and expand it and push its boundaries. 

5- Hire Trajectory over Experience, this is a big one, go for potential rather than track-record, go for that person who has something to prove over that person who thinks they are a success. 

6- Hire Learners over Experts, while some roles may require a certain amount of technical expertise, try to find people who are passionate about learning, never stop and always ask the right questions. Nobody knows it all and even "experts" are rarely up to date in quickly changing fields. 

7- Hire Different over Similar, this is an underrated aspect, diversity fuels teamwork. Gender and ethnic diversity should be a given. Diversity fosters teams that can relate to problems creatively and achieve in complementary ways. 

8- Identify for False Negatives (whom we might have missed), screen for ego, and identify scrappers who might not look as good on paper, but will produce and value the opportunity. 

9- Do not be afraid to make controversial hires, what sometimes is referred to in HR, as a 20x. These are employees who are those hidden gems. 

10- Quickly ID false positives, and tell them they would have more opportunities elsewhere. It doesn't always work out, and it's nothing personal, but it's actually in THEIR best interest to move them on elsewhere if they are not thriving with your startup. 

This article was inspired by the following video: