Successful Startup 101: September 2014 Successful Startup 101: September 2014 | Page 38

7. NETWORK ON LINKEDIN.
Search and network extensively on LinkedIn.
Send well-crafted and short LinkedIn InMails
to your ideal candidates regardless whether
(a) you have a personal connection to them,
or (b) they claim to be “looking” for new
opportunities. Everyone’s available for the right
opportunity.
8. USE RECRUITERS INTELLIGENTLY.
Recruiters can be your best friend, or they
can suck up your time and take all the
money you don’t have. Find great ones and
convince them to take far less than 25%
in the interest of receiving lots of new job
postings as you grow. I negotiated a flat fee
of $8000 with several great recruiters.
9. FLOOD THE MARKET WITH
OUTREACH.
I post job descriptions everywhere that is
even remotely relevant… wherever a great
candidate might go. Angel List. LinkedIn.
Monster. Dice. Hired.com. Employment
Crossing. Craigslist. Dribbble. Behance.
Stackoverflow. You NEVER know where your
eventual candidate might be, so plant your
seeds in many places. And of course, ask
your network. All you need is that ONE great
candidate. I found Stefan, my brilliant web
developer, on a tiny site called Startuphire.
com.
10. WORK QUICKLY.
Review each interested candidate’s profile
instantly. The great people get snatched up
quickly.

your vision, your team, and yourself, then
this part should be a breeze.
12. CONDUCT YOUR INITIAL INTERVIEW
VIA VIDEO.
No audio-only calls. A 30-minute video call is
all you need to figure out if it’s worth setting
up an in-person interview.
13. CALL REFERENCES.
This is not a formaility. Conduct 2-3
reference calls. DO THIS! You can obtain
phenomenal “color” on the candidate — how
they optimally work, what makes them tick,
what challenges they need to overcome,
what they are better at than anyone
else, how much did their colleagues like
them, and most importantly, what kind of
character and integrity does the candidate
have?
14. SOMETIMES A DONE DEAL JUST
AIN’T A DONE DEAL.
You may get pretty deep into the process
of finding, interviewing, recruiting, selling,
offering, hiring and starting a new person…
and then BAM, it just doesn’t work out. It
happens sometimes. Get angry and get over
it. Hit the recruiting “pavement” the next
morning with new energy!

And that’s it! No, hiring an early team of A players is
not easy, and it ain’t for the faint of heart. But yes, it is
possible and there’s even a method to the madness.
The most important thing… persist! Never give up.

11. REFINE YOUR PITCH.

About the Author

You need to SELL these great candidates.
Just like you’re going to sell your early
customers. If you believe in your product,

Paul Ruderman is the Founder of UpdateZen, a
simple status reporting solution for executives,
managers and business owners.