@DAVESCHAPPELL

HIRING FOR STARTUPS

500 STARTUPS – MAY 6, 2014

WHAT?

•Primary:•Recruiting/Interviewing Tips

•Secondary:•Focus on Customer•Be Great at 1 Thing•Hire Slow(er)

WHO AM I?

HOW DO YOU BUILD A TEAM?

READ: http://bitly.com/interview-neil

oKnow what you’re hiring foroKnow what you’re going to askoTake notesoHave an opinion & back it up

WHAT MAKES A STARTUP’S CULTURE?

RECRUIT FOR YOUR CULTURE

or…

NICE TO HAVES MUST HAVES

• Rails/Ruby• Android• 3 Years PM•…

• Passion• Customer Focus•Work Ethic• Certain Skills

BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING

BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS

• Give me an example of a time you:• … blew a customer away? (Customer Obsession)• … delivered a key project under deadline? (Deliver Results)• … improved a process of co-worker(Invent and Simplify)

• Dig:• What did YOU do?• How did you know it worked/didn’t?• What could you have done better? Or, did you, in future?• Give me another

FAVORITE OTHER AREAS

• Beginning• What did you do to prepare for this interview?• What are three ways we should improve our

product, to blow away our customer?• End• 3 Adjectives people use to describe you• Give examples of what you’ve done

• Give them time for questions• Suster:  ”No. Curiosity. No. Job.”

WHERE DO YOU FIND STARS?

•Friends/FOFss• Referrals•Past employers/ees•Networking/parties•Craigslist +•Word of Mouth• ABR (always be recruiting)

OTHER TIPS/TRICKS

• Interview cheat sheet (txt file)• Don’t walk thru resume (lazy)• Take lots of notes & type up interview

• Interview many candidates at once• 4-6 interviewers (key employees, board)• Assign areas of focus to interviewers• Everyone log ‘votes’ before you meet • Schedule in-person debrief with everyone

CHECK REFERENCES?

• Yes, eyes wide open• Look for great• Probe on anything where not raving• Find a way to talk to non-references

• Read Mark Suster post:• http://bitly.com/improve-startup-hiring

ALL ELSE

•When to Sell the Candidate?

• Recruiters vs. in-House?

• Referral Program?

• Comp Levels

1-SLIDE MINI-TOPICS

• Customer conversations• Be Great at One Thing•Hiring too fast once funds raised

WANT OTHER ADVICE?•@DaveSchappell• http://blog.nosnivelling.com• Mentor sessions tomorrow• AWS Activate benefits for 500Startups• This presentation borrowed from:• http://twitter.com/#!/neilr• http://twitter.com/#!/msuster