How do you attract smart people to work at your startup?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=59130

by axiom • 19 years ago

16 22 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them.

The bulk of the development will be done by me and my partner but we need someone to be our sidekick with respect to consulting work, and other jobs that take away from product design.

So how do you go about finding someone smart to work for you? what do you look for in a resume? what are some strategies for interviewing?

We have a number of ideas. Some conventional, some kind of crazy. But I'd be really interested in what you guys have come up with.

ardit33• 19 years ago

Good product (or idea). Good chunk of equity ( if you are offering a good salary but a petty stock options package, then you just going to get mediocre people that want a job). Let techincal people feel they will have a great impact on the company (and eliminate unecessary b.s.)

Whatever else you do, it doesn't matter. As the really good programmers will never apply for a job at your company. If your job offering is just that (a job offering and nothign more), then you will never attract the great programmers out there.

Shooter2• 19 years ago

Good question.

One of the things I do is ask potential employees to HONESTLY list several specific things they DISLIKE and/or HATE about our business (either the business model or the actual implementation.) Every business has warts, so it shouldn't be too hard to find some. If the business in question is a complete startup or is in 'stealth mode', I ask them to list things they dislike about the general industry we're operating in.

I want to hire employees that are honest and will work to improve our business. Asking this question helps me screen for brown-nosers, it leads to the obvious follow-up question of how they would change things to improve them, and it also really gives me an insight into how they think. It also shows me how much research they've done and how much industry knowledge they have. I've actually created new positions for people based on their answers to this question...it can be really enlightening. You just have to be genuine in wanting to hear their answers and you have to have a thick skin.

vlad• 19 years ago

Wow, great answer. I didn't really understand where you were coming from in that "how do I spend my money" thread, but this post shows how it came about. I wanted to suggest in that thread that maybe you should use your greatest asset--the knowhow about creating startups--to help others prepare their YCombinator application or similar activity. By helping young people create startups (or make their YCombinator application as good as it can be) you will help create jobs and solutions to save everybody time and money, or socialize better, or entertain everybody with better and better startups.

Shooter2• 19 years ago

RE: [I didn't really understand where you were coming from in that "how do I spend my money" thread...]

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I made that "Are you going to change the world" post after being up for 28 hours. I rambled too much and I see how easy it was to lose the trail. I actually only had a very brief, passing thought about going to medical school which I quickly discounted, for example, yet some people thought that was the core issue of my post. I also have zero interest in DONATING my money to charity at this point, yet some people thought that was a core issue of my post. Medical research and charity were red herrings for some people who read the post. I'm interested in social entrepreneurship, not charity. I also have tons of my own ideas and have no trouble spending my money (on business or pleasure)...but I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, because I can only implement so many ideas myself. Interestingly, some people also thought I was having a huge identity crisis based on my post, which is not the case. I apparently injected too many specifics in the post...

Some people that commented on that thread actually helped me crystallize my thoughts better, though:

1. "Software is powerful. Engineers are powerful." (via falsestprophet) To this I would add that youth and inexperience are also powerful. And they are also the people most likely to underestimate their power and their ability to change the world for the better.

2. There are people changing the world with your skillset RIGHT NOW. To think that you can't do anything is a cop-out. (via altay, falsestprophet, Hexayurt, and others)

3. "If you are not working on the most pressing issues in your field...why not?" "If you are not tacking the biggest problem you can tackle with your skillset, why not?" As someone pointed out, everything has an opportunity cost. The true CORE idea of my post was to prompt people to examine those opportunity costs and weigh whether they are working on something that will have the biggest positive impact, versus just working in a hot field (or on pedestrian ideas that they think they can flip for cash.) In sum, don't settle.

4. Changing the world for the better doesn't have to involve curing cancer or saving the lives of African children. Again, I may have thrown out a red herring with the medical stuff. If you are saving people time and money, then that's great. But, even then, is it THE optimal solution?

Etc. Etc.

run4yourlives• 19 years ago

Something tells me you've got some great people working for you. :-)

german• 19 years ago

Good question axiom , great answer Shooter!

I will just add that resumes could be tricky so the interviews are critical, I would look for Creativity, for me that's the most valuable thing in a startup (of course if the person you are hiring has the basic knowledge for the job).

In addition to Shooters question I would ask: How can we do it better?

Hope it helps.

alex_c• 19 years ago

I'm a big fan of open-ended questions in interviews, and this is a great one - assuming the candidate can be expected to have enough background knowledge to answer it.

Thanks, added it to my mental list of interview questions :)

menloparkbum• 19 years ago

"We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them."

How do you attract smart people to work at your startup? Not like that, I'm afraid.

axiom3• 19 years ago

I can see how that may have come off as cynical. Let me clarify.

We are based in Waterloo, Ontario. We will be hiring an intern from the University of Waterloo. Waterloo has an all co-op engineering program (at the cost of having no time off for students, and a 5 year program.), so even if you're hiring a 2nd year intern the guy already has a year of experience at 3 different companies (not bullshit experience either, but serious engineering work at Google, Microsoft, nVidia etc.) So when I said interns were cheap I meant that we get a bargain for the level of experience the guy has.

When I say interns are easy to get rid of, I simply mean that the guy can seem downright brilliant in an interview, and have a solid resume, but turn out to be useless on the job. So it's nice to know that the worst cost you will incur is 4 months salary, and none of the paperwork associated with firing a full timer.

--------------- Tangent ---------------

Funny story. I was working at a software startup in Waterloo not too long ago and we were looking to hire. We got a bunch of resumes, and we were about to start interviews. One resume in particular was very impressive. The guy worked at Amazon, NVidia, and had just graduated from comp eng (very tough program to get into.) The guy who was going to do the interviewing thought there was something funny about this resume. He couldn't put his finger on it but something just wasn't right. Maybe it was that this guy with a very impressive resume was applying to a low level web development job. Anyway, so he decides to check this guy out. He googles the name, and he gets this: http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news%5C2006%5C8%5C8255_image_... Suresh Sriskandarajah. The guy was on trial for smuggling weapons for the Tamil Tigers terrorist group in Sri Lanka. That's not all, this guy's court appearance date was set for 10 days after he sent in the resume. I'm not sure what the hell he was thinking he was going to do if we hired him. "ummmm, sorry guys I'm going to have to take sick leave for the next 5-10 years"

paulgb3• 19 years ago

I'm a student who will soon (spring/summer) be looking for an internship with a start-up, so I was reading this from the other point of view trying to figure out how start-ups recruit so I would know where to look. As it turns out, I am in Waterloo as well.

I've been wondering for a while how much of a disadvantage I am in terms of getting an internship like this because I am not in the co-op program (besides advice and employment courses), as an employer do you give this much thought? (sorry to go off topic; I have talked to students about this but I figured I should jump at the chance to ask an actual employer.)

By the way, any chance you will be at BarCamp?

SwellJoe• 19 years ago

The "because they are cheap" comment is definitely problematic. The best people are smart enough to know they have value. Of course, picking the best people is still a problem--no matter how much money is on offer, idiots will apply in larger number than great people (because great people are often being well-treated in their current position).

But the "if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them" is a big bonus for smart people. I've left contracts and jobs because the people around me weren't smart enough, or ambitious enough, to be doing the job they were hired to do, and yet they weren't cut loose. I don't want to screw around on a job where I know great things aren't going to come out the other end.

It may be hard to grasp everything everyone on the team is doing, and to know whether they're great at what they do (particularly if the project is large and has many individual pieces), but if you find yourself doing more work because of stupid stuff one of your team-mates is doing, it's a good sign that something isn't right. I don't know any great developer that enjoys that.

breck• 19 years ago

I suggest paying a few people for small tasks. You will find out that some people become really committed to the company, some people are really excited at first but turn out to be very flaky.

Have a long term hiring plan for finding excellent employees. In the interim, bring on interns/friends/outsource to India. Of course, this assumes you have some money to pay them.

Best of luck.

Harj• 19 years ago

"We're getting ready to hire our first employee. We've decided to go with an intern, because they are cheap, and if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them."

i bet that person feels very loved right now.

comatose_kid• 19 years ago

This is a good question. One way to answer this is to think of what I would want from the startup experience:

1) A chance to work with great people. This is by far the most important thing. And since a startup typically has only a few people, the chances of one of them being 'not great' is pretty small, as there is no room to hide.

2) The idea has to be in an area that appeals to me (opportunity cost of working on something that isn't interesting should be considered).

3) The work environment - this goes back to 1) again. More clearly, working with smart people who you actually like hanging out with would be ideal.

Perks and stuff doesn't really matter. The salary should be competitive, but I wouldn't really care 10-20% either way if the above conditions were satisfied. But at such an early hire level, a good chunk of equity would be a must (perhaps not for an intern, but something to think of if/when you decide to bring them on full time).

mian2zi3• 19 years ago

Have them do the job during the interview. What better way could there be to find out if they are competent to do the work? Have a look at Nick Corcodilos's Reinventing the Interview: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452278015?ie=UTF8&tag=...

dhpye• 19 years ago

Speaking as a developer who joined a project started by a guy who had a great idea for a business, the things I looked for was a really solid business plan, a good understanding of the problem domain, and a map that showed how we could get from here to there in 18 months. I might be more cynical than most, having gone through 3 dotcoms as a developer, but I'm also more optimistic than most (having earned less than 20k in the last year while we build this thing and I earn my pony, and the estate upon which to esconce it).

Don't sweat the code if that's not your strength: focus on your business plan. Most seasoned coders have seen umpteen 'cool ideas' burn and die, and it's usually not technical issues from which Demise doth spawn. The one freakish happenstance of the current market is that, while most coders are not great risk takers, they are wonderful risk-smellers.

Some background: the progenitor of my current gig spent the last 3 years trying to build a business. He tried to outsource, and contract, and everybody told him it couldn't be done. We met through a mutual business acquaintance, and I fairly scoured his plans. 3 months later, we had a working prototype, and we launch in 4th quarter 2007.

jkush• 19 years ago

Ask to see their work and then go with your gut feeling. Don't rely on arbitrary questions or other forms of measurement. When it comes to people, the proof is in the pudding and when you meet them, what your gut tells you.

I would have to imagine this is exactly how the YC application process works.

How do you attract smart people to work at your startup?

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