En Route to Saenthood:
#12 Passionate Peeps
This series is about what I’m learning, observing and experiencing while building my startup Saent (pronounce “Saint”). The good, the bad and especially the ugly, each time in under 500 words.
You’ve probably heard this so often it hurts: “It all starts with the people you bring onboard.” Talent, talent, talent. Or, as management company Schouten Global likes to say:
“A ship is only as strong as its crew.”
Even though this has become a cliché, I believe it to be true. We want to build Saent into a great company, which means we’ll have to find excellent people.
How do you find and keep them?
Scaling up
At the start of this year, it was just Russell and myself working out sketches for our product. Fast forward five months, and we’re now working on this with more than ten people.
Here’s where they came from:
- Russell and I met at a BBQ last year.
- Thuan and his team (software development) came highly recommended from my own personal network.
- Tiffany (direct sales) was attracted by our story and approached me through LinkedIn.
- Fleur (legal, accounting and management) is a good friend I’ve known and admired for years.
- Josh (press and content) and Adam (growth) both responded to a listing on Growthhackers.com.
- Oliver (marketing design) commented on a Saent picture I posted on Instagram.
As you can see, talent can come from anywhere. Yet they all have two things in common: 1) they really believe in what we’re doing and 2) they’re much better at what they do than I could ever hope to become.
Two left hands
Most of my close friends will be able to testify I’m the least technical male you will ever meet. I can barely replace a light bulb and might be able put together a beginner-level IKEA cabinet, on a good day.
Not the profile you might expect for someone trying to build a hardware startup. Luckily, Russell was willing to work with me and brilliantly fills this gap.
Similarly, saying I’m not too keen on accounting and legal stuff is an understatement. Though I’m better at composing a work of spreadsheet-art than an IKEA masterpiece, you won’t find me jumping out of bed in the morning to get this kind of work done. That’s where Fleur has come in, heroically managing Hong Kong bankers and accountants.
I could go on: most startups would die for a well-connected spin doctor like Josh and Adam puts most marketers to shame.
If it’s not the money…
Russell has plenty of clients, Fleur has a very decent salary, Josh and Adam could pick tons of other companies to work for. Yet they are investing their time into Saent, because they believe in where we’re headed. Sure, there is a chance for a nice pay-off for everyone sometime in the future, but it’s much more than that.
If you can offer people the adventure to work on something great that will help and inspire many others, it’s not all about the paycheque. A sincere ambition like ours attracts amazing people, and I hope we’ll find many more on the road ahead of us!
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