Early team: To hire or not to hire?

Some top principles I’m following when hiring for our early team:

  1. Hell Yes or No! Anything in between = no. Strong hires make strong hires.
  2. 10x the Hire. Before hiring someone, consider whether you’d like to have 10 times as many people like them in your company (from Patrick Collison / Mathilde Collin)
  3. Do not underestimate time spent hiring. When actively hiring, expect to spend at least 50% of the time recruiting.
  4. Close the loop. Don’t ghost! Give feedback if possible. How well a candidate thinks they performed has statistically proven impact on whether they want to work for you.
  5. Always be closing. Treat each candidate as though they have an offer.
  6. The best interviews emulate real work. Don’t play games or give trick questions that don’t actually test for the work situation. (I, for example, hard disagree with this.)
  7. Treat the hiring process like a product. As written here.

Principles picked up via Alex (my co-founder!), Zack (Talent @ Dragonfly), Who: The A of Hiring, and experience!

This is a WIP list that I’ll keep updating to continuously remind me of the principles. Still learning!