Hiring Firing Startup Employees (Founders Institute)

Hiring, Firing and Cofounders The Founder Institute January 10, 2010 Dave Schappell - CEO, TeachStreet

What Makes a Startup?

What Makes a Startup? Owner Mentality Wear lots of hats (dirty hats) Hard/Smart work (not 100 hours/week) Passion Involvement / Anti-Silo Strategic Plan = Do Stuff Doers vs. Planners Fast/Frequent Pivoting

Your Culture Must Be Alive!

Your Culture Must Be Alive! Office Design Door Desks Team Intermixing Everyone Involved Weekly Inspiration Learn Something New Fridays Snack buying / Trash Policies Benefits / Vacation / Sick days / Layoff treatment Offsites to recalibrate

Recruit For Your Culture or…

Define & Recruit Your Culture Job Postings should convey culture Know what you want & have guts to hire for it For TeachStreet  Web DNA, Learners For Everyone  Passion/Results-Delivery Can-Do-It Mentality (and experience) is critical Set Clear Expectations Don’t hire non-Stars (expect Greatness) Don’t oversell yourself on a new employee Bad Hire/Disconnect, Address Quickly Tolerate a lot, as long as working hard/passion Leverage your Network

Define & Recruit Your Culture Make multiple/varied Cash/Equity offers Base Cash & Equity ½ Cash (for 3 mos.) & 2x Equity ½ Cash (for 6/mos.) or $0 cash (for __ mos.) & 3x Equity Try Before You Buy / Contractors Salary / Equity Ranges (see FI Archives) Avoid Big Company Lifer Dogs e.g. Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Real, … Better at PowerPoint & Politics than actually Doing Stuff

Behavioral Interviewing

Behavioral Interviewing People Do What They’ve Done Before Tell me about a time that you… Solved a Difficult Problem How did you know you solved it? What metric? How could you have been wrong? Innovated to delight customers How did you know? What could you have done better? Used data to make a decision Went above & beyond the call of duty… With References, look for GREAT Probe on ANYTHING where not raving about candidate

30 Days to Impact (or, Exit)

30 Days to Impact (or, Exit) Quick Hit / Tactical Impact If Developer, commit code in first hours/days/week max If Marketing, blog/customer-interaction/CS All, involve immediately in Product Discussions If not working in 30-90 days, act quickly Keep People Fresh – change roles

You Can’t Polish a Turd

You Can’t Polish a Turd You Can’t Effect Change by Osmosis Hope is not a Strategy If you want something, tell them (either get it, or end it) Communicate Performance Gaps & give chance to fix PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Cut Deep, Cut Once, Keep Core

Cut Deep, Cut Once, Keep Core When Decide, act quickly (word will get out) Premise: If had to hire everyone all over again, who? Layoffs, in best interest of remaining team/business Should impact entire org (Generals AND Soldiers) Plan the day, to the minute Write any e-mails, assuming will be posted online Team arrival/private meetings/time to pick up items Backup docs/change passwords/keys/signed docs External Communications / Press (the facts) Stay on Point Business Decision Made – effective today Leave emotions out (don’t share your own problems)

Cut Deep, Cut Once, Keep Core Take Responsibility (for impacted & remaining EEs) How you treat departing EEs important to existing EEs “ Culture of company more determined by firings vs. hirings” Treat Fairly (if you can afford) – departing EEs are now ‘external BD’ Help find jobs Be ready for references, where appropriate Be 100% Available (last one out of office) Make All Cuts at once Salaries / Bonuses Programs / Projects Consolidate Office (avoid Ghost Town)

Want Other Advice? Hops and Chops http://www.twitter.com/HopsAndChops http://www.HopsAndChops.com Dave Schappell http://www.twitter.com/daveschappell This presentation borrowed from many, including: http://twitter.com/#!/glennkelman http://twitter.com/#!/neilr http://twitter.com/#!/fredwilson Other Founders Institute Presos 

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Hiring Firing Startup Employees (Founders Institute)

by Dave Schappell

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