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How Savvy Startups Hire

This presentation consists of insights inspired by 33voices® interviews with Jenna Abdou.

Table of Contents

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Munjal Shah, Health IQ

Liz Wessel & JJ Fliegelman, Campus Job

Daniel Chait, Greenhouse

Chris Lexmond, REscour

Shadiah Sigala & Oz Alon, Honeybook

Richard Kerby, Venrock

Credits

Munjal Shah

@munjalshah

Co-Founder and CEO of Health IQ

Instead of evaluating potential team members on past positions, focus on the personal and professional wins that are most significant.

“We don’t want to measure people by their success by association. We want to measure

them by their track record of being successful.”

The Health IQ team requires new team members to submit a brag sheet listing their accomplishments. Whether it’s being named MVP of the JV basketball team or selling a

company to Google, encourage individuals to include each achievement they’re proud of.

“Usually what we find is that people who are great in a couple of dimensions

are great at almost everything.”

“In startups, there is marginal value for the devil’s advocate. The whole world is playing devil’s advocate for a startup. I don’t need

more people who say it’s not going to work.”

Recognize each of the team members who joined you at the start as

co-founders. Titles are irrelevant when you’re all working towards the same goal.

For small teams especially, only hire people who are passionate about what your company

has to do and will pull in the same direction. This is how Munjal understood it in the early days of Health IQ: “If we don’t row this boat

across the lake we are all dead.”

Assemble a team who is irreverent enough to tell you when you’re wrong. This is especially

important second and third time founders.

The only way to teach passion and hard work is to lead by example.

“The most important leadership skill period is optimism.”

Liz Wessel & JJ Fliegelman

@thecampusjob

Co-Founders of Campus Job

Establish what it means to go above and beyond for your company. Make it a

priority that each new hire has exemplified those traits in past positions.

“Above and beyond doesn’t necessarily mean ‘I pulled an all-nighter to get a project done.’ It means something like, ‘I pulled an

all-nighter and then found out that half of the project was on a USB that was in Albany, New York. So I called a courier service, had them

pick it up and bring it by train.’” - Liz Wessel

The only way to target and hire individuals who are hungry, passionate, and talented is

to exercise those traits yourself. Your attitude as a founder is the ultimate dictation of how

your team performs. Act wisely.

Daniel Chait

@dhchait

Co-Founder and CEO of Greenhouse

The most important question to ask in an interview is: How have

you contributed to an organization outside of your job description?

“The people who make the biggest difference are the people who

find their own problems to solve and solve them without you telling them to.”

Remember that interviewing is a two-way street. Come prepared with the compelling case as to

why someone should join your team.

As your company shifts into hyper-growth mode it’s vital to explicitly define your culture.

Ensure that that each team member, regardless of when they started, shares a unified definition

of what it means to be on your team.

Chris Lexmond

@ChrisLexmond

Co-Founder & CTO at REscour

The foundation of your startup’s culture should be that your team is constantly learning how to

learn. Smart teams get better every day.

On hiring engineers: “I think a great engineer is curious. A great engineer who is curious is going to go out and find the

answer regardless of what the problem is. If that means learning a new language or using a new tool, that’s going to happen.”

Shadiah Sigala & Oz Alon

@honeybook

Co-Founders of Honeybook

While early hires tend to be generalists, it’s vital to target specific skill sets to accelerate your growth in

the later stages. To maintain hyper-growth, startups need individuals who can come

in and deliver on day one.

Every day feels different working at a startup. Target individuals who are comfortable

and excited to grow with the company.

Richard Kerby

@kerby

Vice President at Venrock

While it’s important to stay as scrappy as possible for as long as

possible, founders should always be open to bringing on A+ talent.

Prioritize an investor who is deeply ingrained in your company culture and plans to play an

active role helping you grow your team.

“The greatest IP of a company is the institutional knowledge of the team itself.”

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