Real Job of the Startup Founder — Chief Recruiting Officer
The new-age businesses being built all focus on “people”. The quality of the people running the company correlates to the quality of the company being built. With so many great opportunities chasing a very finite and limited pool of high quality and mission-oriented people, the war for talent is real. This blog will explore my experience with the recruitment of quality talent and elaborate on the importance of the critical elements of this journey.
Connection of Purpose
With the size of the capital available today, paying reasonable compensation is the lowest stake and the easiest part of the hiring challenge. The real challenge in this game is finding people who bring the skills they have developed over the years (this is still easy to find) and connect to the startup’s purpose. There are two broad types of startups; Missionary startups and Mercenary startups. Mercenaries focus on the financial outcomes, whereas Missionary ones have a purpose beyond economic consequences. There is nothing inherently wrong with being either, but the type of talent who would want to be part of the journey in these two different types of startups is different. Hence, the founders must think deeply about what track they are on and pick the people keeping that in mind.
Long Term Relationships
The reality is, most of the A+ players are never available in the active job market. They need to be found from various sources across the board, such as networks or referrals. The next step would be to form a good relationship with them. Relationships need to be nurtured and built over time so that strategic partnerships can be created when the timing is suitable for the journeys of everyone involved. Such relationships can be very beneficial and fruitful and yield great success stories.
Candour and Clarity
Another critical element is to “Be Real” in all your conversations and create an environment where the person can be real. Recruitment is not a selling activity; it is a matchmaking exercise. You want to connect with people who will form a great team with you and your people. In this entire exercise, you have to be completely candid and upfront to allow the person on the other side to know everything that will enable them to make the right decision. Ultimately as a founder, you want people who put their trust in you to come out smarter for having done so.
Remember — as a Startup Founder, you are the Chief Recruiting Officer
HR was once considered a support function, and recruitment was merely a small part of it. At Hevo, I realized very early that recruitment is a business function, and as a founder, this is one function I can never completely delegate. At each stage of the company, you would need players who would take the game to the next level. An enormous amount of effort is required while hiring an A+ player. This process starts from meeting a lot of folks and then narrowing down to a selected few with whom you want to spend significant time to build the foundation for the long term partnership. The connection, the drive and the talent need to be there, which takes time and effort to identify. The close and lasting relationship which needs to be formed is the most critical aspect of the recruitment process.
These are a few tenets that I have kept in mind and have helped me on my journey to find the best people to share our vision and contribute to the mission at Hevo.
