Hiring, Firing, and Co-Founders: My Founder Institute Session
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Hiring, Firing and Cofounders (or, how I learned to delegate and love building a team that’s da bomb) Roy Rodenstein, @royrod Cofounder, Going / Director of Business Planning, AOL 8/5, 2010
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Slides from my Founder Institute session on Hiring, Firing, and Co-Founders
Transcript of Hiring, Firing, and Co-Founders: My Founder Institute Session
Hiring, Firing and Cofounders(or, how I learned to delegate and love building a team that’s da bomb)
Roy Rodenstein, @royrodCo-‐founder, Going / Director of Business Planning, AOL
8/5, 2010
How I think about early stage teams
• What are my strengths & weaknesses?– Skills: Hacking, Product, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Management– Qualities: detail oriented vs. macro view, people person, communication– Be brutally honest with yourself
• What strengths does the company need– Now?– In 6 months?– In 2 years?
• What are sporadic vs. sustainable roles?
Sporadic needs
“We need a new logo, so I need to hire a full-‐time designer ASAP!!!”
• Full-‐time hires are hard
– 1-‐3 calendar months, days of real effort on spec, interviews, negotiation
• Firing is really hard
– Hiring wrong person full-‐time is very costly
– Layoffs take toll on the team and your credibility
• When in doubt, start with low commitment
• Temp-‐to-‐hire is very common
Common staffing approaches
Area Example need Common best practices
Design Logo, page template 99designs
Design UI, UX, IA,Usability Freelance designer or firm
Editorial Writing web content, blog posts Craigslist, Twitter
Social MediaMarketing
Manage Twitter et al, communitymanagement, blogger outreach
Craigslist, Twitter
PrototypeHacking
Version 0.1 of site to gather userfeedback
oDesk, RentACoder, eLanceLocal: Globant, Janeiro Digital etc.
Sustainable needs
“This area needs help now, and it still will in a year”
• Someone will need to lead Hacking, Product, Marketing
• These problems don’t “go away”
• Could be a founder, a sr. hire, or a jr. hire that ‘scales’
• Wearing multiple hats for a while is fine
• Plan out hires at least 6-‐12 months in advance (e.g. Excel gantt)
What makes a founder?
Believes in the vision
Committed to the company
Sustained fit and value
“My cofounder will help a bit with emailing bloggers and users,
taking a shot at drumming up some potential clients,
and later we’ll figure out what else they do”
What a co-‐founder blowup looks like
Spooks your investors, your team, and your cap table
Where to find full-‐time Hires
Monster
Careerbuilder
Crunchboard
Your friends
Your network
Craigslist
Joel on Software
Dice
College career fairs
Your friends’ networks
Quora
Blog comments
Your user community
Meetup groups
Industry events
Everywhere…
Successful recruiting• Write a compelling job spec with personality
– It’s one of your biggest advantages as a startup
– As much for you to define the role, as for the candidate
• Interviewing– To scale & check follow-‐through, give candidates a quick test
– Do ‘360-‐degree’ interview
– Have a high bar, it makes people appreciate joining
– References: back-‐channel are best
– “A players hire A players. B players hire C players.”
• Close the deal quickly & do what it takes– Do what it takes: desk setup they like, take them+spouse to dinner, …
– Negotiate fairly, not too generous or stingy
Typical early-‐stage compensation
Level Cash Equity
Founder Angel: $0-‐3k/mo.VC: 80% mkt +/-‐
20-‐50%+ (pre-‐dilution)
VP Angel: 30-‐70% mktVC: 80% mkt
Angel: 2-‐10%VC: 1-‐2%
Director Angel: 30-‐70% mktVC: 80% mkt
Angel: 1-‐5%VC: 0.25-‐1%
IndividualContributor
Angel: 30-‐70% mktVC: 80% mkt
Angel: 0.5-‐2%VC: 0.1%
Part-‐time Standard rate, but negotiate n/a
Got the hire? Managing 101
• Set expectations for the role and growth path
• Provide guidance and clear goals
• Get out of the way
• Maintain the relationship
• Keep the vision alive & updated
• Be a startup!
• Lead & inspire
No ‘I’ in Team… But there is a T
Thanks! More @royrod, How2Startup.com
