Saturday, September 18th, 2010...7:18 AM
Presentation for MassChallenge: Hiring Tips For Startups
Jump to Comments
As part of my entrepreneurial outreach I am supporting the MassChallenge program. I really like what MassChallenge is doing… the scale with over 100 ventures… the environment… the mentorship access… the innovation that is being unleashed… and the entrepreneurial energy that is fermenting.
As part of my commitment, I created this presentation on the topic of “Hiring For Start Ups.” This is such a critical step for any young venture. If you have not been through it before there are many potential pratfalls. This presentation is relevant for all businesses…but definitely those in their early stages. I share it with all of you here.
Hiring for startups MassChallenge 2010
View more presentations from Jeff Bennett.
7 Comments
September 19th, 2010 at 10:10 AM
This is excellent and sorely needed.
Based on my 15 years of recruiting what you’re addressing is a key problem. Hiring is generally done very tactically, based on pain to fill an obvious and immediate gap. Recruiting firms are also tactical and transactional. Built, marketed and selected based on their expertise in filling a certain kind of role (hole). The VCs can be tactical and formulaic… saying Oh you’ll need a VP of Marketing or some other role. Most young or small companies aren’t thinking strategically about capabilities, types of talent, values, how their talent and company will scale, etc.
Assuming a company walks the talk on thinking about talent strategically and takes your advice, that a huge first step. But it’s just the first step in my opinion. The ultimate goal is to build systems, knowledge, accountability and commitment that will lead to the company gaining a core competency in hiring. Getting that right will then lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. At Venator Partners we developed a program called Hire Octane to do just that. We’ve implemented it at several companies including Carbonite. They will tell you it’s impacted business results and provided lasting value because the company has built a core competency in hiring.
I’m happy to donate time to young companies if there is an opportunity and interest for me to help teach them techniques and provide them with tools that will improve their hiring performance.
I’d love to help.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Jeff,
Thanks very much for your time and this valuable presentation. Building a team is very much like building a house indeed, and many of us make the same mistakes. Like moving ahead without a full strategy and a 20,000 foot sense of what is important before rushing to certain weighty decisions.
I think your comment on avoiding the trap of feeling a need to know everything is helpful to hear. It’s ok to delegate! And we have to. But it’s hard to transfer this “whole company” an entrepreneur has had in his/her head, sometimes for years, to others easily. This is why your presentation comes at a critical time particularly for Mass Challenge entrants as we’re all hoping to take off and fly – this is just when we might make impulsive decisions that can be costly.
Your emphasis on shared values is important. We can’t assume that people know what’s most important on values or anything else, unless we really stop to convey this carefully. I am absolutely guilty of thinking people can read my mind too much of the time. Clarity with prospective employees is #1. About core values, deliverables, available career development (or even limits) for them. It’s worth stopping g now to avoid disaster later. And I agree that there is the most room for “adaptable” players and people who get things done, particularly in a small company.
I appreciated these practical ways to think about proactively making good decisions. I can’t say as I have always stopped long enough to fully and carefully analyze Talent, Temperament, and Technique for each hire. We need to know what attributes we are selecting, and what weaknesses we are accepting in the bargain. No one is perfect; thinking someone is perfect and is going to “save the day” might be the first sign of imperfect expectations.
This is the kind of presentation that can act as one of those checklists one might want to check every time to make sure.
Thanks again,
Allison Friedman
Rate It Green
http://www.rateitgreen.com
Mass Challenge Finalist, 2010
September 20th, 2010 at 8:19 AM
[...] Jeff Bennett of incredibly cool service Swap.com (and a TechStars Boston mentor) posted a deck on hiring for startups he used in helping out with the Mass Challenge companies. If you’re a startup and [...]
September 20th, 2010 at 8:22 AM
Great stuff, Jeff.
I followed up with some thoughts on “Ready to Hire = Ready to Fire”: http://broderick.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/ready-to-hire-ready-to-fire/
Keep fighting the good fight!
Shawn
September 20th, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Great stuff, Jeff.
I’m sorry I missed the live presentation of this one!
I love the advice: Do not fall into the trap of feeling that you need to KNOW everything.
Entrepreneurship is a quest and should be viewed that way by the team.
Rock on,
Kyle
September 20th, 2010 at 12:54 PM
Jeff – Great presentation. A perfect primer on startup hiring. One of the lessons we’d discuss at my companies is to remember that you’re a seller as much as a buyer. If great talent doesn’t fall in love with your organization, it won’t matter if your team falls in love with the talent. Talented people need to be inspired to leave what they are doing and join an early stage company.
September 21st, 2010 at 8:46 AM
Jeff,
Great presentation and thank you for coming over to MassChallenge. From all the feedback that I have gotten, the finalists loved this presentation and the tips are practical and can be implemented right away. It is also very timely as a lot of teams are starting to think about expanding their teams and fill in resources in critical areas.
A lot of startups are so focused on other areas – product, market, financing that they under invest in finding great talent, recruitment processes, and nurturing and growing that talent once they are on board. But from experience, investing that time upfront to bring in the right talent can make or break your company. And as you said, focusing on people who can get stuff done is critical because in a startup there is no place to hide. Another aspect to think about is will this person scale as the company grows. A lot of startups are focused on filling a specific need at that moment in time. But as the company grows, the question is – will this person be able to take on additional responsibilities (sometimes in a very small period of time) or take on responsibilities totally unrelated to what the person was hired for.
Great presentation and thanks once again for taking the time out to talk to all the finalists.
Leave a Reply