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Hey everyone! This week we're pulling together the best insights on hiring across all of our founder interviews. 

While most people tell you to "hire for fit" and "look for people with the right experience," the founders building the most innovative companies are doing the exact opposite.

After analyzing dozens of founder transcripts, we've uncovered the strategies that directly contradict conventional wisdom - and consistently produce results.

Here are three hiring truths that will make your HR friends uncomfortable:

1. Why you should avoid the experts 

2. Why "cultural fit" is a dangerous lie

3. Why the ability to learn quickly matters more than anything

Let's dive in!

#1: Skip the Experts

Traditional wisdom says: "Hire people with relevant experience." 

Reality check for founders: Experience may be the last thing you want when you’re building something truly innovative.

Larry Levy at Lucid Green (our last feature) took the most radical hiring stance we've encountered - he literally banned hiring from his own industry when scaling his business:

Here's what happens when you hire industry "experts":

• They recreate the status quo: Will default to what worked in their last role, not what might work now

• They resist innovation: Actively push back on new approaches with "that's not how it's done"

• They bring outdated playbooks: Apply yesterday's solutions to tomorrow's problems

• They know too many "impossible" things: Tell you what can't be done before you try

• They have rigid mental models: Struggle to see problems from fresh angles

• They rely on old networks: Only hire people who think like them

While other cannabis tech companies struggled with industry veterans saying "that's not how cannabis works," Larry built a platform that scaled across multiple regulated markets. His outsiders brought solutions, not roadblocks.

Just to be clear - this approach is relevant for any founder, especially in the AI bubble that we’re in the middle of, where entire industries are being restructured overnight and traditional expertise is becoming obsolete faster than ever. 

Founder takeaway: Sometimes the best qualification is having zero qualifications. Focus on finding talent that can think on their feet rather than talent with the “right” expertise.  

#2: "Passion for Your Mission" is Overrated

Let’s cut the BS - have you ever “honestly” been inspired by your employer's mission or are you fronting to look good in the interview? 

As a founder you’re always told to "hire people who are passionate about your mission." 

Reality check: When you’re hiring talent, passion for your work beats passion for a company mission… you need someone who can really lock-in. 

Anish Dhar discovered this when he began building his team at Cortex (our feature).  

His unconventional approach? Test for obsessive attention to craft, not alignment with company values.

Here's what he looks for when hiring:

• Can talk endlessly about tiny details: Will dive into the nuances of past work without prompting

• Own their failures publicly: Articulate not just what went wrong, but why and what they learned

• Have strong opinions about improvements: Can critique their own work and explain specific iterations

• View work as personal reflection: See their output quality as directly tied to their identity

• Obsess over the "how," not just the "what": Focus on methodology and process as much as outcomes

• Remember decisions years later: Can reconstruct their reasoning for past choices with clarity

This flies in the face of advice to hire "mission-aligned" candidates. Anish found that people who can truly display care about their craft during an interview naturally produce better work because people can ‘fake’ passion for a mission.

Founder takeaway: Stop asking "Why do you want to work here?" Start asking "Tell me about something you built that you're truly proud of - and why." The best builders are driven by the craft itself, not corporate mantras about changing the world.

#3: Speed is everything

In today's market, the ability to learn things quickly trumps everything.

Thomas Njeru learned this lesson the hard way when building Pula across several African markets (our feature):

Thomas called out that fast learners can: 

• Pivot without panic: See market shifts as opportunities, not threats

• Master new tools instantly: Adopt AI, no-code platforms, and emerging tech at light speed

• Question their own assumptions: Actively seek feedback to iterate faster

• Build without blueprints: Comfortable operating where documentation doesn't exist

• Compound knowledge daily: Add new skills to their arsenal without resistance

• Embrace technical debt for speed: Know when to build fast vs. build right

For Pula this meant that while employees: "might know everything about insurance in Kenya, but nothing about farming in Zambia. The key is how quickly they can close that gap."

Founder takeaway: Stop measuring candidates by how many years they've worked and start measuring by how many skills they can acquire in a week. In an AI-accelerated world where entire industries pivot in months, not years, hiring someone who takes six months to learn what others master in six days is the real definition of a bad hire.

What this means for you

1. Hunt for "wrong" backgrounds

• Look for candidates from completely different industries who solved similar problems

• Red flag: applicants emphasizing how many years they've spent in your industry

• Green flag: candidates who can explain complex problems from their field in simple terms

• Create interview panels with people outside your industry to catch biases

2. Test for craft obsession, not cultural alignment

• Replace cultural fit interviews with real retrospectives

• Ask candidates to critique their past work and explain specific improvements

• Watch for passion about methodology, not just outcomes

• Drop questions about company values; focus on personal standards

3. Prioritize learning speed above all else

• Design hiring tests that measure how quickly someone can master unfamiliar concepts

• Give candidates 24-48 hours to learn and implement something new

• Look for evidence of rapid self-taught skills (not formal education)

• Ask: "What's the hardest thing you've taught yourself recently?"

The brutal truth: Your biggest hiring risk isn't getting someone unqualified - it's getting someone overqualified for the old way of working.

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

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See you next week!

Rahul & Aryaman