David Chie’s Post

Attention #founders: You already know that those first few hires you make are critically important. What you may not know is that it’s not just about the skills and experience. Yes, you absolutely need people around you who can bring the skillsets to build your product and get it to market. But you also need those people to be the shepherds of the culture that you want to build in your organization. So when you’re interviewing and making those crucial early-hire decisions, think about these: ✨ How does this person communicate? Are they transparent and authentic in how they show up every day? ✨ Are they adaptable and ready to embrace change? As you grow, things will change. Are these people going to lead by example and grow and evolve as your company does? ✨ Do they lean into celebrating wins and learning from failures, whether those wins or failures belong to them or to someone else? ✨ Are they going to create an environment that respects diversity of thought and background, and one that’s going to encourage respectful and healthy dialogue and debate in the service of innovation? ✨ Are they selfless and team-first? As your organization grows, they’ll need to be able to let go. Territorialism kills. Failing to spend the time to screen and hire for culture up front will result in a lot more time and effort down the road, when you find yourself trying to course-correct and rebuild the broken culture that “just happened” while you were focused on other things. #startup #culture

A common misstep I've seen and experienced myself goes like this: 1. A company secures a few million in funding. 2. VCs advise tripling the headcount within 12 months to secure the next round of funding. This could mean expanding from 15 to 80 employees. 3. Inexperienced founders, lacking knowledge about recruiting and without any HR infrastructure or recruiters, are at a loss. 4. Despite this, they proceed with the expansion in hopes of securing more funding. 5. The company's headcount grows by 40 or more, hiring anyone interested. 6. Amidst this rapid expansion, there's no time to assess if these new hires are actually beneficial to the company, or more importantly, if they fit the company culture. 7. The concept of a trial period is overlooked. 8. The company ends up filled with individuals who lack the necessary skills or cultural alignment, and it's too late for smooth exits as trial periods have passed. 9. The company is left grappling with these challenges. This scenario underscores the importance of thoughtful hiring and aligning growth with the company's core values and capabilities. Don't make the same mistake!

Founders often feel the pressure to move fast, hiring the first people they know or those who think exactly like them to get things done quickly. But here’s the reality: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵. 💡 Building a diverse team from the start is one of the 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 you can make. Different viewpoints spark innovative ideas, challenge assumptions, and provide deeper insights into your customers’ needs Yes, it takes time and effort upfront, but the alternative—scaling a homogenous team and facing costly fixes down the road—can hinder your company’s resilience and ability to adapt. 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀: 🌍 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: Go beyond personal referrals. Engage with diverse communities, attend industry events, and use platforms that prioritize inclusive hiring. 📝 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: Ensure an unbiased approach by structuring interviews to assess skills and culture add—not just familiarity or comfort. 🔍 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: Actively seek candidates who challenge your ideas and bring fresh, unique perspectives aligned with your goals but with different angles. By building a team with a range of perspectives, you’re setting your business up to innovate, thrive, and succeed in a competitive market. 🚀 #Diversity #Leadership #Entrepreneurship

How does top engineering executive and founder Alan Paulin identify bar-raising talent? It's all about that growth mindset, internal drive, and hunger for monumental challenges. Nothing beats firsthand experience. Trust is key, and direct experience paints the clearest picture of a candidate's capabilities. Swipe ▶️ to glean insights from a seasoned leader on identifying top-tier talent. Ready to stack your team with top-tier hires? Send us a message and we’d be happy to conduct a free consultation to identify how we can help you achieve your goals. #StartupHiring #Talent #FounderAdvice

I personally believe the most powerful stories any candidate can tell are the ones that show learning from failure. So many candidates go in to only tell the sizzle. I get the logic: you don't want to talk about the stuff that didn't work, because it might not make your candidacy attractive. But the founders I work with aren't buying it. We just went through a ZIRP-fueled binge of lighting capital on fire for many companies, followed by a hangover as many companies realized they didn't have something viable or sustainable. The good candidates all have stories of hardship and failure from this time. When you work in a startup, nothing is ever up and to the right. Some of the most powerful stories I'm hearing are how leaders have come in to right the ship. These are often at companies that were written off in the press as interest rates went up -- and as we talk to the people still there, some of them have contributed to a remarkable righting of the ship. These are journeys that have required innovation, scrappiness, hard decisions, and tears -- but the learnings and wins on the other side are often profound. Next time you talk to a company, be real. Frame the narrative from the perspective of deep challenges that humbled you -- and talk about how they changed you and made you grow. One of the most exciting pieces of feedback I love to hear from founders? "I talked to ____ today. Company wasn't as successful as it looked in the press and they ran into some serious problems in 2023. But we had such a refreshing discussion on what they'd do differently for the next run. Two thumbs up." Be the candidate who shows up with that perspective.

A few weeks ago, I had an enlightening conversation with Konstanty Sliwowski. He shared insights about the School of Hiring, and I was immediately drawn to the fundamental quality of reasoning behind it. Konstanty, with nearly 20 years of talent acquisition experience, offers transformative courses and coaching that demystify the hiring process. His Hiring Mastery Course and Interview Mastery sessions provide strategic, actionable advice tailored for business leaders and startup founders. Intrigued? Discover more at https://lnkd.in/ehnNJx-g

**On hiring a world-class team: balancing strengths, identifying weaknesses, and finding culture fit** One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned as a startup CEO is that hiring the right team is *everything*. No matter how innovative your tech is or how much $$$ you’ve raised— your team (especially the leadership + key players) should feel like the avengers (see Tae Hea Nahm's book "Survival to Thrival"). And it’s not just about hiring “smart” people; it’s about hiring a team who thrives in a high-growth, often chaotic startup environment. Here’s my approach to hiring executives, blending insights from my own journey with lessons from leaders like Ben Horowitz: ### 1. **Operational Excellence First** This is *non-negotiable*. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that while visionaries are valuable, operational excellence is crucial, especially in roles like VP of Engineering or VP of Revenue. You want someone who is both strategic and can execute flawlessly. Early on, I hired people with one and not the other. It didn’t work. The best can operationalize their ideas. For example, when building our advertising automation platform, operational rigor allowed us to scale into a demand-gen engine used by top brands Zoom, Yelp & UserTesting. ### 2. **Culture Fit Matters (but Avoid Bias)** Everyone talks about culture fit, but it’s often used as a catch-all for “do I like this person?” Instead, ask whether the candidate fits team + culture while bringing their own flavor. Great managers aren’t conformists —they challenge assumptions, are curious and push you out of your comfort zone. A common mistake is hiring someone who seems like they’ll "get along with everyone." Instead, think about how well they’ll work on tough decisions. Can they debate fiercely but collaborate afterward? We test for this during interviews with specific scenarios. ### 3. **Test for Real Skills** At Metadata, we craft interview questions around real challenges we’ve faced. For instance, when hiring a VP of Sales, we asked candidates how they’d handle a dip in NRR—a situation we’ve dealt with. The goal is to see how they think through real problems. Can they turn theory into an actionable plan? ### 4. **Backdoor References +++** Talking to people who know the candidate but weren’t listed as references—reveal invaluable insights. Use these wisely and discretely to get an unbiased view of a candidate’s working style and leadership. Do not use this to find negatives (everyone has them), but to get the full picture and learn from past mistakes. ### 5. **Adapt Your Hiring Process** Your startup changes rapidly, and your hiring process should too. As we grew from 10 employees to 50+, we needed to change and evolve. ### 6. **Recognize Your Own Weaknesses** Last but not least - as a founder you have your own blind spots. Learn to acknowledge them and bring in leaders and key members who compliment you. Challenge you. Attached: Ben Horowitz Cheat Sheet for hiring execs.

This is so relevant within the Pakistani startup ecosystem context. I've heard startup founders say things like: - We look for people who share the passion and believe in the product and the problem being solved. - We only hire missionaries and not mercenaries. There are so many things wrong with these statements and approach in general: - For someone looking for a job, a startup is a company like any other. Nobody is looking to join a cult. - Diversity of opinions (and passion) works well, because someone can see beyond the passion and put in a realistic perspective. Founders need to be less delusional about these things and keep in mind that most people want a good working environment, compensation that matches their effort, and opportunities for career growth and learning. Everyone loves their weekends so they can spend time with their families and friends and do things they enjoy (which are not a part of their KPIs). It is great to find people who also believe in what the startup is building but it should not be a benchmark for hiring. #hiring #startups #pakistan #tech #founders #getreal #2024 #building #teams

This week, I had to make one of the toughest decisions as a founder – I fired three people. One was a senior creative director, the most expensive person on my team. Another was a business development executive who had been with us for four months, and the last one was a junior employee. Each decision was difficult, but it taught me valuable lessons about leadership, company culture, and hiring. Here’s what I learned:  📍 Performance over potential: I train every new hire for almost 1.5 months and then evaluate them for another 1.5 months – essentially a 3-month probationary period. One of the employees whom I fired was great with communication, but sales just weren’t coming in. Although it was difficult, I had to keep my emotions aside and take this decision professionally. 📍 Key takeaway: No matter how much potential you see in someone, if they’re not delivering, you’re compromising the entire team's resources and growth. Cultural fit is key: When a senior-level hire doesn’t align with your company’s way of working, it’s a red flag. The creative director we let go wasn’t a bad person or incompetent – he just didn’t fit into our workflow or values. 📍 Key takeaway:  Even the most talented people can be a mismatch for your company culture.  Don’t delay on difficult decisions: I believe in giving people time, but dragging out a decision can hurt your business and your team. If someone isn’t working out, it’s better for both parties to move on quickly. 📍 Key takeaway:  When it becomes clear that someone isn’t the right fit, act fast. It’s not just about protecting the business; it’s about giving that person a chance to succeed elsewhere. Firing people is never easy, but it’s a necessary part of running a business. Founders, take it from me: hiring the right talent is crucial, but knowing when to let go is just as important. Have you ever had to make a tough firing decision? Let’s share our stories. #leadershiplessons #companyculture #startupjourney

If I were starting a business, I would not want to fill it with people who wanted to work overtime. I would want people for whom time to spend on their families, in their homes, at church, or simply enjoying their lives, was a priority. And I would want my people, when at work, to have the tools they need to get their work done within their business hours. And if I didn't have (and couldn't buy off-the-shelf) those tools to automate and streamline their tasks, using computers for what computers can do, and saving people for the kind of work that requires human talent and judgment, I would hire someone like -- well, myself -- to custom-build those tools for me. This is what valuing your people looks like. It makes people feel respected and valuable, and they appreciate not having to do drudge-work that a computer could do, much faster, and being able to get home in time to make dinner for the kids and help them with their homework, or go to the beach or a festival. And, with tools like that, I would be able to finish my own work more quickly, and either spend more time with my family, or else start working on that next enterprise I've been thinking about. Buy back your time, and your employees' time. Custom software. #business #livingintheworld