dwayne nonales’ Post

1% Better Everyday Hiring for a startup? This one is for #founders and #earlystage business owners and leaders. Always ask the candidate: What does your first week look like? What does your first month look like? If their eyes light up, they start describing responsibilities and discussing action points. green flag 💚 if they say, they'll have to see, get adjusted, settle in... unfortunately a red flag 🚩 Every minute, every penny counts when you're building a #venture from scratch. You need a hustler, a go-getter! Free game given to me by Joshua Tulloch @ The Generalist Co. One of the most hacky and smart founders I've met. Grateful to be working with him! #hiring #UK #b2b

Startup hiring is hard - plain and simple. Recruiting is a muscle that great founders must build over time, but most founders are ill prepared when it comes to hiring their first few employees. Enter: Nathan Hirsch. PearX is our 14-week long accelerator for early-stage founders and it's unique for many reasons. The top of that list is that you'll have a dedicated Recruiter in Nate. Each batch, he helps our PearX companies make their earliest and most critical hires. Last batch, he averaged two hires per PearX company. That means if a company started PearX with two co-founders, then they essentially doubled the size of their company with Nate's help. We know that hiring can make or break a company which is why Nate is there to help PearX companies get off on the right foot. Founders: tell us what you wish you'd known when it comes to hiring in the comments...and maybe Nathan Hirsch will even jump in with some advice.

When to start hiring as a #founder... Disclaimer: I don't really know the answers here. Lots of founders have 100X more experience #scaling from garage to IPO. I don't. But I've been deeply *feeling* something for weeks and it feels worth airing out. At my first startup, we spent a lot of time chasing our tails. The product was always under more-features-needed duress. Which meant that I spent a lot of time just putting out fires. It meant that sales meetings went well, but closing deals was challenging. It also meant that we never had more than 4 full-time people. Because there wasn't enough of any function to do to warrant another hire dedicated to [FUNCTION]. Now, at Air Traffic Control — Grow Pipeline With Existing Content, we're faced with the most phenomenal need to hire. Our customer count is FLYING. So many thoughtful use cases. Great questions. We need more support materials for them and we're creating that. I spend a lot of time on customer calls. I learn something in every single one. We record them. Then line them up to translate those calls into support materials. And there's now enough of that work to require a full-time CS leader. Same for partnerships. Same for RevOps/MarketingOps. And our product roadmap is INSANELY exciting (I love what we do today and our rapid growth says we're right to feel incredible re what we've built, but if you saw where we're headed you might faint). And the only thing holding us back there is human bandwidth. Our devs are WORLD CLASS and chugging on all cylinders. So... ...we need more people. The balancing act is getting those people before anyone gets too stressed for too long *without* putting our capital runway at risk. And it's the first time as a founder I've ever been in a position to raise to *grow* as opposed to raising to *survive.* It is... a lot. And I'm so impossibly thrilled it's where we are. What's wild is where we'll be once the team fills out just a bit more. Being kept up at night thinking about how to fund and find our new crew members is actually a joy. It's just one I'm learning along the way. Thankful for advisors, friends, and our current small but mighty crew that they know what needs to be done and can help us chart a course. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far... go together. If you want to go really far and really fast, go with insanely smart people. :-)

"What makes this place magical?" During a hiring interview yesterday, a candidate posed this thought-provoking question. I couldn't resist sharing my candid response here: It's the people. All our teammates are not only experts in their own fields but also incredibly entrepreneurial. - Ian, our marketing lead, built and sold a renowned fintech newsletter, Fintech Today. - Toby, our sales lead, not only has extensive sales experience in startups, but also owns an event space rental business on the side. - Bea, our founding engineer, after leaving her tech lead role at Airbnb, founded Libraria last year in her first venture harnessing GenAI for social impact. - Will, our cofounder and CEO, bootstrapped Product Life newsletter to six-figure ARR while product managing at top tech companies. - Alex, our cofounder and CTO, was the first hire at Flixed and also bootstrapped his own indie websites, still attracting thousands of daily organic visits. - James, our Chief of Staff, cofounded a successful startup accelerator Envision Accelerator for underrepresented founders, ran multiple cohorts, and at one point, even paused college to do it full-time. As I recounted to the candidate, I'm continually amazed that although we didn't specifically hire for entrepreneurship, we've attracted passionate individuals who are excited about creating something remarkable. Greenlite is truly a magical place. #Culture #Talent #Startup #DreamTeam

Another one of our Outlier 2024 picks just landed their Series C funding, securing a staggering $150M led by Sequoia Capital. 🚀 Vanta is quickly establishing itself as the leading trust management platform helping to secure and protect consumer data. What we like about them: 📈 Strong 6mo and positive 1mo headcount growth 🌎 Global workplace with several remote openings 💎 Great backing of investors 💼 Hiring for mid-senior level positions across R&D and GTM orgs ⭐ Strong ratings & reviews ---- Every month, we're on a mission to help you sift through the noise. We find 10 tech gems across various industries and verticals that you should get to know. All are actively hiring and looking for A-players to join their teams. Explore the full list here and subscribe to get updates once each month: https://bit.ly/3LIwNa3 ---- #startups #careers #outliers

Glassdoor is a great tool. But if you're using it to find the next great startup, expect more red herring than clear answers. For many eventually-successful companies, Glassdoor scores plummeted from the ~4.3-4.8 range to ~3.3-4.0, as they achieved scale. And the reviews for those companies don’t just bemoan “the good old days of being small”. They are thoughtful and specific! -Concrete examples of operational incompetence -Confident statements that sales quotas are unachievable -"Turnover is growing" -"Management is unprofessional and chooses favorites" It’s not uncommon for such a company to unexpectedly announce an IPO or large M&A. And on the flip side. Many companies that earn effusive Glassdoor reviews and huge sums of capital from great investors suddenly undergo layoffs. One of the best parts of startups (and life!) is taking a big bet on something you believe in. That said. It's hard to make money on startup equity. You need a fair bit of luck. So the best of both worlds, is the middle path. Keep betting big on what you believe in. But also, give a gentle nod to the data. Proactively protect the downside of your stock or options, whether via secondary, Aptions, or other forms of diversification. Alon Zieve Avi Wiesenberg Lev Gelfenbuim

Reflecting on My Journey in the Startup World Over the past 8+ years, I've had the opportunity to work with three different startup companies. While these experiences have taught me invaluable lessons in business development, sales, and marketing, they’ve also revealed a darker side of the startup ecosystem. Unfortunately, many startups push their workforce beyond reasonable limits, expecting extraordinary outputs while failing to recognize or reward the scalable contributions that employees make. Worse still, massive layoffs often occur without considering the dedication and exceptional performance of their teams. It's a reminder of the importance of valuing and sustaining the people who drive business success. Moving forward, I'm more committed than ever to advocating for fair practices and fostering environments where hard work and innovation are genuinely appreciated. #StartupLife #BusinessDevelopment #Sales #Marketing #WorkCulture #EmployeeValue

You know what's cooler than starting a new business venture with not only your closest friends, but some of the best operators in the space, who share a common vision of being good and doing good?    The answer might not surprise you here – but it's nothing. Literally nothing beats this. This seriously friggin' rules.    I'm beyond excited to announce that Samantha Williams, Adam Grabish and I are launching Fynd – a seamless extension of your business, dedicated to connecting you with the best tech and digital talent and cultivating a thriving culture without ridiculous (and unnecessary) overheads.    Over the years I've had the privilege of working with these two in varying capacities, and we've done some incredible things to date; growing grassroot startups to the point of M&As, hiring first technical hires and watching them grow sometimes into C-level positions, introducing VC/PE groups to 'hidden' startups silently doing amazing things to further build out their teams among many, many other proud achievements. And it's incredible to know this is just the beginning of many cooler things to come!    Our experience, learnings, lessons and understanding of the market and business needs, coupled with our backgrounds from startups to the big 4 consultancies makes me feel so excited about the holistic value we can bring to any company requiring solutions to empower people and power startups to scale, thrive and evolve.    We've been heads down over the past few weeks in all the SUPER riveting founder stuff – setting up business bank accounts, lawyers, insurances, accountants etc 😅but now that's all done, I'm pumped to meet faces, both friendly and new, to tell you all about who we are and what we can do!    It's been thirsty work, so Fynd me via details below for a coffee or a drink and let's chat!    📱 0407 903 686  📧 dan@fyndco.com.au    #fyndco #startup #scale #evolve #thrive #talent #recruitment #hr #fractional #IT #tech #digital 

Feeling alone in your job search in the dynamic Tech and Startup world? You're not! There's a seismic shift happening across the industry right now, with countless professionals on the hunt for their next big opportunity, just like you. Let me share this eye-opening article from Crunchbase News: 'Tech Startups Staff Cuts and Shutdowns' (https://lnkd.in/g4P2qpwR). It's a breakdown of the current landscape, shedding light on why so many talented individuals are exploring new horizons. In this constantly evolving world, being informed is your best weapon. And remember, being in-between opportunities is not a setback, but a setup for a comeback. Click the link, soak in the insights, and let's navigate this journey together. https://lnkd.in/gRgS8rX3 As opportunities arise, I will share those as well. All the Best, Bravis Brown

Is it risky to join a start-up in uncertain financial times or during a recession? 🤔 As specialist tech recruiters, we do see some hesitancy in the hiring market towards joining start-ups due to concerns over a potential impending recession. Our COO, Matthew Ferdenzi, is here to tell you why it's worth the risk! 👇 #blog #StartUp #tech #recession #TechCareers