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⚡️ TLDR

We've spent over 50 hours discussing the most important topics for founders and investors - and one thing keeps coming up: don't f&*k up hiring!

This week, we're deep diving into what to look out for when making your first hires.

Whether you're bootstrapping or have raised from the likes of Sequoia and a16z, building a successful business begins with making the right foundational hires. You need to be able to identify what makes '10x' talent (yes, it's kind of cheesy but it works).

After interviewing dozens of successful founders and investors, we've identified 3 qualities that consistently appear in transformative first hires.

#1. Love of the game

The most consistent pattern across successful early hires is that they actually care about their work.

It may sound obvious, but finding someone who views their job as more than just a 9-5 is surprisingly rare. This quality has been highlighted repeatedly by founders like Anish Dhar, CEO of Cortex (our feature).

What Anish calls "a deep care about your craft" goes far beyond technical competence or experience:

You can test for this quality during interviews by:

• Starting with open-ended questions about past experience, then diving deeper with "why" and "how" follow-ups. Are they thinking critically about their actions, or just following instructions from supervisors?

• Asking candidates to provide a detailed retrospective on past work. Can they honestly assess their decisions and articulate what they'd do differently now?

• Looking for people who take genuine pride in their achievements. Do their eyes light up when discussing past projects?

This approach identifies candidates who will take ownership and drive excellence without constant supervision. For early-stage startups with limited resources, this intrinsic motivation is invaluable.

When interviewing, you need to make sure that you balance structured case studies with open-ended questions about personal experiences to assess this trait in candidates.

#2. Comfort with discomfort

Early-stage startups are always going through periods of change. There is never stability.

Several founders, including Will Sealy of Summer (our feature), emphasized looking for candidates that are comfortable with this discomfort and uncertainty.

We've seen that this quality manifests as:

• Ability to thrive without structure as early employees often work without defined processes or documentation. Finding 'go-getters' who can structure their own day to solve ambiguous tasks is key.

• Emotional stability during setbacks. The ability to recover quickly from inevitable startup disappointments - this is far more important than people typically give it credit for.

• Resourcefulness - Finding creative solutions when resources are tight, as VC cash isn't always flooding through the doors.

Testing for this quality requires going beyond hypothetical interview questions and case studies. 

Sequoia's recommendation for how to truly test for this is through a 1-2 week paid trial period. 

This approach is quite different from traditional recruiting. By putting candidates in the role for a few weeks, founders can get a much better sense of whether the candidate can actually navigate uncertainty, prioritize effectively without guidance, and maintain productivity during chaotic periods (but you need to make sure that you plan this well!).

PS: you can learn more about how Sequoia thinks about trial weeks here.

#3. Fast learners

Founders often rely too much on finding candidates with the "right" background. The ability to learn quickly outweighs past experiences.

Thomas Njeru made this discovery when scaling Pula (our feature):

This 'learning velocity' became Pula's competitive advantage as they expanded into new markets where regulatory environments, farming practices, and customer needs varied dramatically.

Pula now explicitly tests for learning velocity during their hiring process through:

• Knowledge acquisition tests: Giving candidates unfamiliar concepts to learn and explain that are completely unrelated to African ag-tech

• Finding candidates that are always learning: Discussing how candidates have taught themselves new skills during interviews

• Comfort with being wrong: Assessing how candidates respond when their assumptions are challenged (even when it feels like you're just being devil's advocate)

What this means for you

Building a team is difficult. 

It is a stressful process where you are betting on your ability to find and attract the top 1% of the talent pool.

Based on our conversations with some of the world's best founders and investors, we believe that there are 3 traits that set these candidates apart that you need to keep an eye out for:

1. Love of the game: Look for people who demonstrate genuine passion for their craft, who can articulate detailed perspectives on their work, and who take ownership without supervision.

2. Comfort with discomfort: Prioritize candidates who thrive in ambiguity, maintain emotional stability during setbacks, and find creative solutions with limited resources.

3. Fast learners: Value learning velocity over experience, seeking people who can rapidly adapt to new contexts, constantly develop new skills, and remain open to having their assumptions challenged.

Always remember Thomas Njeru's golden rule: "Hiring the wrong person is so dangerous... getting it right takes time, and if you're not careful, that's what will kill the company."

If you enjoyed this issue, please share it with fellow founders and operators. Have questions about hiring? Reach out at [email protected].

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See you next week!

Rahul & Aryaman