

How do early stage startups recruit hackers? - pedrogk

I am considering providing hacker recruiting services specifically for startups (bootstrapped or in seed stage), but I am not sure if I should establish my channel strategy directly to startup founders, or through recruiting agencies/headhunters. So, my question is ... how do early stage startups recruit hackers? Do they only rely on people they know? Do they hire headhunters or recruiting agencies? Do investors have a say on how/where you should hire the dev team?
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ChuckFrank
Having been recruited, and been forced to hire through a recruiter, I can
honestly tell you that both employers and employees want to find a way around
them. These are the guys that hang out in the most trafficked areas (certainly
monster.com) and just try and pick off either the employee or the employer
early so as to distort the market and increase barriers and inefficiencies. If
the market is weak, then create something like behance.net or dribbble.com or
github (and never throw in an extra 'b') where people can meet each other.
Brokers distort Markets.

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anamax
> I am considering providing hacker recruiting services specifically for
> startups

Okay.

> So, my question is ... how do early stage startups recruit hackers?

Shouldn't you know that?

Seriously - if you don't know how people do it now, what makes this a good biz
for you to get into?

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pedrogk
I run a magazine for software developers, so my strength is in the
access/contact with hackers as well as detecting who is a good fit for a given
startup.

What I am unsure of, is if I should sell my services directly to founders or
if my direct customers should be headhunters who are already working with
startups.

~~~
anamax
> I run a magazine for software developers, so my strength is in the
> access/contact with hackers

Okay

> as well as detecting who is a good fit for a given startup.

how do you know that? Maybe you've got something else, but your stated
strength has nothing to do with startups.

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arturogarrido
For co-founder and early employee roles I only rely on people I know and/or
their recommendations.

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wpietri
Ditto. I'm hiring right now for employees #3-5, and I can't imagine using a
recruiter. The incentives for a recruiter are perverse. And I suspect the
people I really want are the ones who are energetic enough to find what they
want on their own.

~~~
pedrogk
Would you consider a recruiter if the pricing was much lower than what is
charged by traditional headhunters? (thinking $3k USD per person)

~~~
wpietri
Did you notice I didn't say anything about price?

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sdfjkl
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet are technology specific job sites.
I.e. if you're looking for a Python hacker, hit the Python Job board
(<http://www.python.org/community/jobs/>). I assume other technologies have
similar things.

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erikpukinskis
I'm still actively looking for cofounders. I go to tech events (Rails/Ruby
user groups, etc), I went to the Cofounders Wanted meetup here in Austin. I
put big banners on the product site advertising open positions. I put an ad on
Craigslist looking for people.

I think the people who rely on their social network must either be friends
with other hackers (I'm mostly not) or live in the bay area or something where
there are lots of hackers. I mostly run in hippie/activist/academic circles
and I'm not swarmed by people with tech/business chops so it's been a more
difficult process for me. I would welcome a site or a service that would
innovate around this problem.

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ChuckFrank
Hey erik, I was in the same boat. Here's my advice. Be proactive and target
specific individuals who are doing interesting work. Then invite them out for
beers, and pitch them your idea. If they are not interested, then their
friends might be. Most people are not looking for work, if they are working,
and these are the people that you want to meet. So just invert your search,
and instead of broadcasting, start focusing on the individual.

~~~
wpietri
Totally agreed, Chuck.

Advertising broadly for a co-founder is like running an ad that says: BRIDE
NEEDED FOR IMMEDIATE BABY PRODUCTION. You might get somebody eventually, but I
doubt it will be the caliber of person you want.

I found my cofounder after 3 months of energetically working my personal
network. I corresponded with maybe 200 people and met at least 25 in person.
If I was going to be spending the next 5-10 years working with somebody, I
wanted to be happy with my choice. And I sure am!

~~~
ChuckFrank
Wait? --> BRIDE NEEDED FOR IMMEDIATE BABY PRODUCTION <\--

That's brilliant.

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jdsadow
I think the key here is to create a forum that connects the two pieces of the
puzzle: engineers and business folk.

I've struggled finding a co-founder as well and have milked my network for
everything I can squeeze out of it. I'm determined to find an engineering
partner who I can really build many projects with for years.

If you're looking to build something, find a way for people to connect
directly and strip away the antagonism/jaded-ness that usually shrouds
business people & engineers from connecting effectively.

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shareme
recruiters/headhuntes are never used. In fact all hackers avoid using
headhunters/recruiters as its the first sign that the startup does not get it
or know how to hire

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diego
That is not true. A startup uses all resources at their disposal, including
recruiters if necessary. A good recruiter can hire very specific people that
you couldn't reach easily yourself, especially if you are young and haven't
had the time to build a good personal network.

~~~
sdfjkl
But finding a good recruiter is even harder than finding a good hacker.

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MenaMena123
Early stage things only go off of friends or people they know or met already.
So forget about those services the founders already know what they want at
that early stage. Maybe it would work for large established companies only.

