10/10 Founder Series — Part 1: Top Traits of Early Employees
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Alix Ventures: Supporting Early Stage Life Science Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
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10 Questions to 10 Startup Founders
This topic series brings together perspectives across a variety of company profiles to help readers gain insight into what founders believe to be key to their companies’ continued growth and success. In our belief that perspectives should be well rounded and not monopolistic, we chose to feature 10 different founders rather than to dive deep with just 1 or 2. We have a lot to learn from each other and hope that by sharing 10 unique viewpoints, we may all come to our own insights faster. Our posts will be organized by question & cover topics including fundraising, hiring, company culture, work-life balance, and career advice.
We are honored to feature Founders at:
Ovid Research, Rejuvenate Bio, MedRhythms, Mythic Therapeutics, Unnatural Products, Menten AI, Coral Genomics, Pair Team, Circularis Biotechnologies, & 64-x
Their companies focus on solutions including digital therapeutics combating neurological disorders, tools optimizing gene therapies, molecule design/optimization, and the creation of new life forms.
To kick this series off, we asked our guests:
“What traits do you look for in early startup employees?”
“Always for people that are super mission oriented, have good ideas, and are very driven — the ideal is not to have to think much at all on whether they are going to execute on something or not and know they will take care of things to 110% of what is expected.”
Matt Krisiloff — Co-Founder & CEO @ Ovid Research
“We look for technical ability for the role (more of a threshold), passion and fit with the team. People need to be capable of completing the work required by the role, but what drives people forward is passion and that is not something we can teach.”
Daniel Oliver — Co-Founder & CEO @ Rejuvenate Bio
“The early-stage startup employee (e.g. the first 5 people) needs to be resourceful, committed to excellence, and willing to ‘become an expert’ in any topic in hyper speed. These employees lean more towards being a do-er and less towards laying out the perfect slide deck. They have no fear other than not delivering enough results. Often times, I find they are the ones that show up on their first day saying, “…you mentioned you need help with X, I stayed up all night the last week to get up to speed at best practices, and propose we start with the following steps,” instead of the majority of people which would say “…what is my job description and what are my objectives?””
Owen McCarthy — Co-Founder & President @ MedRhythms
“They are able to tell a story about their career up to this point that shows self-awareness and an understanding of the industry. They’re excited to take initiative and build something, potentially outside their direct area of expertise.”
Brian Fiske — Co-Founder & CSO @ Mythic Therapeutics
“Most of our early hires have been in network or one ring out which helps a lot of the vetting process. We normally look for people that are passionate, curious, easy going…and a dash of brilliance doesn’t hurt! I’d much rather have someone that can take initiative and teach themselves a new skill than a hyper-focused specialist, especially in the early days where things are constantly changing.”
Cameron Pye — Co-Founder & CEO @ Unnatural Products
“Do they question assumptions and seek a deeper understanding of the company’s business, approach, or technology? Do they bring a skillset that is currently lacking in the company, but required for company success? Are they confident and considered an expert in this particular skill set? Are they willing to admit what they don’t know? Do they show evidence of an excellent work ethic? Do they demonstrate an eagerness to learn? Are they excited about the company vision? Am I excited to work with them? If the answers to these questions are all yes, then they are an excellent choice for an early startup employee.”
Jacob Borrajo — Co-Founder @ Coral Genomics
“Besides the skills and competency to perform in the role, I look for founder mentality evidenced by end-to-end execution, the ability to zoom in-n-out (switch from 30,000 ft. to 100 ft. view), and a bias towards action. A series of pointed why/how questions about a past project can give great signal on all of these! As for shared values, collaboration, integrity, and a growth-mindset are key.”
Neil Batlivala — Co-Founder & CEO @ Pair Team
“Good energy and motivations to solve problems. Your favorite employees will always be the ones that get things done versus the ones that are most fun. Ideally they can be both. I remember someone telling me to hire people you would want to have lunch with, not party at the club with.”
“Empathy, kindness, a sense of urgency, a growth mindset, excitement about the company’s vision, and simultaneous attention to detail as well as the big picture.”
Alexis Rovner — Co-Founder & CEO @ 64-x
Insights
Agnostic of pursuit, some commonalities exist in what top founders look for in their early employees: growth mindset, willingness to take initiative, dependability, creativity, and culture fit as key attributes. The ability to balance strategic flexibility with operational efficiency in an early-stage startup is imperative. When creating a strong company foundation, the first 10 hires set the tone. Founders will need to consider the vast range of skills early employees need, including mastery of both in-depth technical details as well as high-level strategic concepts.
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Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, and content sponsors.
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