

How do you attract smart people to work at your startup? - axiom

We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them. <p>The bulk of the development will be done by me and my partner but we need someone to be our sidekick with respect to consulting work, and other jobs that take away from product design.<p>So how do you go about finding someone smart to work for you? what do you look for in a resume? what are some strategies for interviewing?<p>We have a number of ideas. Some conventional, some kind of crazy. But I'd be really interested in what you guys have come up with.
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Shooter
Good question.

One of the things I do is ask potential employees to HONESTLY list several
specific things they DISLIKE and/or HATE about our business (either the
business model or the actual implementation.) Every business has warts, so it
shouldn't be too hard to find some. If the business in question is a complete
startup or is in 'stealth mode', I ask them to list things they dislike about
the general industry we're operating in.

I want to hire employees that are honest and will work to improve our
business. Asking this question helps me screen for brown-nosers, it leads to
the obvious follow-up question of how they would change things to improve
them, and it also really gives me an insight into how they think. It also
shows me how much research they've done and how much industry knowledge they
have. I've actually created new positions for people based on their answers to
this question...it can be really enlightening. You just have to be genuine in
wanting to hear their answers and you have to have a thick skin.

~~~
vlad
Wow, great answer. I didn't really understand where you were coming from in
that "how do I spend my money" thread, but this post shows how it came about.
I wanted to suggest in that thread that maybe you should use your greatest
asset--the knowhow about creating startups--to help others prepare their
YCombinator application or similar activity. By helping young people create
startups (or make their YCombinator application as good as it can be) you will
help create jobs and solutions to save everybody time and money, or socialize
better, or entertain everybody with better and better startups.

~~~
Shooter
RE: [I didn't really understand where you were coming from in that "how do I
spend my money" thread...]

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I made that "Are you going to change the
world" post after being up for 28 hours. I rambled too much and I see how easy
it was to lose the trail. I actually only had a very brief, passing thought
about going to medical school which I quickly discounted, for example, yet
some people thought that was the core issue of my post. I also have zero
interest in DONATING my money to charity at this point, yet some people
thought that was a core issue of my post. Medical research and charity were
red herrings for some people who read the post. I'm interested in social
entrepreneurship, not charity. I also have tons of my own ideas and have no
trouble spending my money (on business or pleasure)...but I'm always open to
new ideas and opportunities, because I can only implement so many ideas
myself. Interestingly, some people also thought I was having a huge identity
crisis based on my post, which is not the case. I apparently injected too many
specifics in the post...

Some people that commented on that thread actually helped me crystallize my
thoughts better, though:

1\. "Software is powerful. Engineers are powerful." (via falsestprophet) To
this I would add that youth and inexperience are also powerful. And they are
also the people most likely to underestimate their power and their ability to
change the world for the better.

2\. There are people changing the world with your skillset RIGHT NOW. To think
that you can't do anything is a cop-out. (via altay, falsestprophet, Hexayurt,
and others)

3\. "If you are not working on the most pressing issues in your field...why
not?" "If you are not tacking the biggest problem you can tackle with your
skillset, why not?" As someone pointed out, everything has an opportunity
cost. The true CORE idea of my post was to prompt people to examine those
opportunity costs and weigh whether they are working on something that will
have the biggest positive impact, versus just working in a hot field (or on
pedestrian ideas that they think they can flip for cash.) In sum, don't
settle.

4\. Changing the world for the better doesn't have to involve curing cancer or
saving the lives of African children. Again, I may have thrown out a red
herring with the medical stuff. If you are saving people time and money, then
that's great. But, even then, is it THE optimal solution?

Etc. Etc.

~~~
axiom
How come you always apologize for your posts, when they are always so awesome?
:)

I really enjoy reading what you have to say. Keep it up.

------
menloparkbum
"We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an
intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy
enough to get rid of them."

How do you attract smart people to work at your startup? Not like that, I'm
afraid.

~~~
axiom
I can see how that may have come off as cynical. Let me clarify.

We are based in Waterloo, Ontario. We will be hiring an intern from the
University of Waterloo. Waterloo has an all co-op engineering program (at the
cost of having no time off for students, and a 5 year program.), so even if
you're hiring a 2nd year intern the guy already has a year of experience at 3
different companies (not bullshit experience either, but serious engineering
work at Google, Microsoft, nVidia etc.) So when I said interns were cheap I
meant that we get a bargain for the level of experience the guy has.

When I say interns are easy to get rid of, I simply mean that the guy can seem
downright brilliant in an interview, and have a solid resume, but turn out to
be useless on the job. So it's nice to know that the worst cost you will incur
is 4 months salary, and none of the paperwork associated with firing a full
timer.

\--------------- Tangent \---------------

Funny story. I was working at a software startup in Waterloo not too long ago
and we were looking to hire. We got a bunch of resumes, and we were about to
start interviews. One resume in particular was very impressive. The guy worked
at Amazon, NVidia, and had just graduated from comp eng (very tough program to
get into.) The guy who was going to do the interviewing thought there was
something funny about this resume. He couldn't put his finger on it but
something just wasn't right. Maybe it was that this guy with a very impressive
resume was applying to a low level web development job. Anyway, so he decides
to check this guy out. He googles the name, and he gets this:
[http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news%5C2006%5C8%5C8255_image_...](http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news%5C2006%5C8%5C8255_image_headline.html)
Suresh Sriskandarajah. The guy was on trial for smuggling weapons for the
Tamil Tigers terrorist group in Sri Lanka. That's not all, this guy's court
appearance date was set for 10 days after he sent in the resume. I'm not sure
what the hell he was thinking he was going to do if we hired him. "ummmm,
sorry guys I'm going to have to take sick leave for the next 5-10 years"

~~~
paulgb
I'm a student who will soon (spring/summer) be looking for an internship with
a start-up, so I was reading this from the other point of view trying to
figure out how start-ups recruit so I would know where to look. As it turns
out, I am in Waterloo as well.

I've been wondering for a while how much of a disadvantage I am in terms of
getting an internship like this because I am not in the co-op program (besides
advice and employment courses), as an employer do you give this much thought?
(sorry to go off topic; I have talked to students about this but I figured I
should jump at the chance to ask an actual employer.)

By the way, any chance you will be at BarCamp?

~~~
axiom
Are you at a disadvantage by not being in co-op? Yes, definitely. Get in co-
op. Seriously, it's really hard to overstate how valuable this is.

However, a lot of companies that post jobs at UW also post them online. RIM
for example hires hundreds of students from UW every term and their entire
application process is online so you're probably not at a disadvantage there.
Microsoft has their recruiting sessions here every few days it seems, so just
attend one of those and hand out your resume. Now that Google has a branch in
town just attend one of their sessions too.

If you're specifically looking to work for a startup, your best bet is to look
up companies in the Accelerator Center (north campus, in the Research and
Technology park.) There are about 15 startups there now. Terrapath and
SuitedMedia are on a hiring binge, so just walk in there and talk to the
president, you'll probably have a job on the spot. Don't be afraid, the guys
there are all only a few years older than you, so don't feel intimidated at
the prospect of just coming in and talking to the boss :)

~~~
paulgb
Thanks a lot for the response, I've asked a few people the same question but
from an employer the response has a lot more weight. I likely will apply for
co-op when the next opportunity comes around. Since you made it sound easy to
get a job with some of the smaller/younger startups, I guess the benefit of
coop is that the larger companies (RIM/MS/Google/etc.) will take me more
seriously? My thinking was that if I choose not to reapply, I would leave my
summers open if I felt like working on an open source project, or if I had an
opportunity to do research, or get involved with a student start-up, or if I
wanted to go home for a few months. I still have to wait a while before I can
even apply to transfer, so I will see how things go before making my decision.

------
Harj
"We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an
intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy
enough to get rid of them."

i bet that person feels very loved right now.

------
dhpye
Speaking as a developer who joined a project started by a guy who had a great
idea for a _business_ , the things I looked for was a really solid business
plan, a good understanding of the problem domain, and a map that showed how we
could get from here to there in 18 months. I might be more cynical than most,
having gone through 3 dotcoms as a developer, but I'm also more optimistic
than most (having earned less than 20k in the last year while we build this
thing and I earn my pony, and the estate upon which to esconce it).

Don't sweat the code if that's not your strength: focus on your business plan.
Most seasoned coders have seen umpteen 'cool ideas' burn and die, and it's
usually not technical issues from which Demise doth spawn. The one freakish
happenstance of the current market is that, while most coders are not great
risk takers, they are wonderful risk-smellers.

Some background: the progenitor of my current gig spent the last 3 years
trying to build a business. He tried to outsource, and contract, and everybody
told him it couldn't be done. We met through a mutual business acquaintance,
and I fairly scoured his plans. 3 months later, we had a working prototype,
and we launch in 4th quarter 2007.

------
comatose_kid
This is a good question. One way to answer this is to think of what I would
want from the startup experience:

1) A chance to work with great people. This is by far the most important
thing. And since a startup typically has only a few people, the chances of one
of them being 'not great' is pretty small, as there is no room to hide.

2) The idea has to be in an area that appeals to me (opportunity cost of
working on something that isn't interesting should be considered).

3) The work environment - this goes back to 1) again. More clearly, working
with smart people who you actually like hanging out with would be ideal.

Perks and stuff doesn't really matter. The salary should be competitive, but I
wouldn't really care 10-20% either way if the above conditions were satisfied.
But at such an early hire level, a good chunk of equity would be a must
(perhaps not for an intern, but something to think of if/when you decide to
bring them on full time).

------
ardit33
Good product (or idea). Good chunk of equity ( if you are offering a good
salary but a petty stock options package, then you just going to get mediocre
people that want a job). Let techincal people feel they will have a great
impact on the company (and eliminate unecessary b.s.)

Whatever else you do, it doesn't matter. As the really good programmers will
never apply for a job at your company. If your job offering is just that (a
job offering and nothign more), then you will never attract the great
programmers out there.

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mian2zi3
Have them do the job during the interview. What better way could there be to
find out if they are competent to do the work? Have a look at Nick
Corcodilos's Reinventing the Interview:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452278015?ie=UTF8&tag=...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452278015?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwonebadseec-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0452278015)

------
breck
I suggest paying a few people for small tasks. You will find out that some
people become really committed to the company, some people are really excited
at first but turn out to be very flaky.

Have a long term hiring plan for finding excellent employees. In the interim,
bring on interns/friends/outsource to India. Of course, this assumes you have
some money to pay them.

Best of luck.

------
jkush
Ask to see their work and then go with your gut feeling. Don't rely on
arbitrary questions or other forms of measurement. When it comes to people,
the proof is in the pudding and when you meet them, what your gut tells you.

I would have to imagine this is exactly how the YC application process works.

