Interviews Where Only One Question Matters

A month ago I was talking to an entrepreneur about corporate culture and the interview process. He said that he knew of an entrepreneur that would ask a bunch of questions during the interview process but only cared about one of them. There was one single interview question that decided the majority of the hiring process. I asked if he remembered the question, but he didn’t.

The mere idea that an interview where only one question matters got me thinking. For us, we ask a number of interview questions and there are only three that really matter, each aligned around one of our core values. Could we do it in one question? Yes, one question accounts for the majority weight of the three important questions, and gets us pretty far, but would leave us short of our current success rate.

Our interview process is designed to find candidates that fit our corporate culture (#1), are smart, and get things done. Joel on Software articulates the smart and gets things done idea nicely. The next time you are interviewing someone, ask yourself what your three most important interviews questions are and why. You might surprise yourself.

What else? What interview questions matter most to you?

Stronger Startup Cultures Take Longer to Hire

Recently a team member was lamenting about how long it was taking us to fill a position. We had interviewed a number of qualified candidates, some even getting to the final stage of the process. Internally, I had to keep reiterating that these candidates were very strong but not perfect for us. Frustrating? Yes. The right thing to do? Absolutely.

The stronger the startup’s corporate culture the longer it takes to hire the right person.

The difference between a perfect fit and a good fit culturally is enormous. Every person that’s hired either makes the culture stronger or weaker — there’s no in between. Peter Drucker said it best: culture eats strategy for breakfast!

Longer to hire means longer to find the right candidate, on average, and not a longer interview process. When the right person is found, strong corporate cultures know it and act fast. When the company moves quickly with an offer to a great fit, it makes a strong statement with the candidate.

What else? Do you agree that stronger startup cultures take longer to hire?

Ted Turner’s Scrappiness with Re-used Postage Stamps

One of the reason’s startups are successful with limited capital is taking the Moneyball startup approach and being scrappy with resources. When I think of scrappy an example from Ted Turner’s autobiography Call Me Ted comes to mind. Turner was in the process of getting the TBS Superstation off the ground and it was novel to have a local station broadcasted nationally.

Without having the brand recognition of a CBS or NBC, traditional advertisers balked at advertising so he had to do direct response marketing on his own dime. As an example, a company would pay $20 per widget sold, so he’d make the ad and sell the widgets, even doing the payment collections.

Many payments were by individuals sending checks in the mail. Oddly enough at the time, the postal service didn’t always cancel the stamps on the envelopes (e.g. the little black ink lines on top of the stamp to designate that it has been used). To save money, they’d take the non-cancelled stamps off the letters and re-use them for their letters. Now, there are some ethical questions about that but it captures the spirit of a startup being scrappy.

What else? What are some other ways startups are scrappy?

Results Only Work Environments (ROWE) for Startups

Today’s EO Accelerator quarterly education day was on people and more specifically accountability. As part of the material there was a lengthy discussion on results only work environments (www.goROWE.com). ROWE is the idea that results are what matter, not people being in the office from 8am – 5pm daily.

Here are some tips when considering a results only work environment for startups:

• Start with one telecommute day per week for everyone in the office and work through the kinks of everyone being able to work remotely (e.g. laptops, phones, etc)
• Define the results for every position (the result for some positions is very simple like greet visitors at the front desk between certain hours whereas for others it can be more difficult)
• Implement a no vacation tracking policy (e.g the policy is two words: be reasonable) as a baby step to ROWE
• Make meetings optional and see who goes and doesn’t go as a proxy for the quality and value of the meetings
• Work with one department to be ROWE before rolling it out to everyone else

ROWE is continuing to grow and expand with startups being one of the best places for them.

What else? What are your thoughts on results only work environments for startups?

Topgrading Interviews in a Startup

Hiring a person that doesn’t work out hurts growth, profitability, and morale. For certain positions the outcome of a bad hire can be much worse. One method of interviewing that has a high degree of success is known as Topgrading (book on Amazon). The book is a massive tome that covers many excruciating details and is worth skimming. Overall, the concepts and methodologies are sound and should be understood by entrepreneurs.

Here are some general comments on Topgrading interviews and process:

• Much more time and thought should be put into the hiring process. If you’re going to potentially spend thousands of hours with a person, shouldn’t you spend more than an hour or two interviewing them?
• The core tenet of Topgrading is the chronological in depth interview. Start from college, regardless of stage of career, and ask deep probing questions of the college experience as well as each job. Find out how the person thinks and why they moved from position to position.
• For each and every single job, ask about the following:
  Job title
  Start and end date
  Starting and ending compensation
  Roles and responsibilities
  State of affairs when joining
  Results and accomplishments
  Mistakes and failures
  Most enjoyable and least enjoyable aspects of the job
  Circumstances that led to change of jobs
  Manager name and phone number
  Manager strengths and weaknesses
  What manager would say about candidate’s strengths and weaknesses
  Names of direct reports, their strengths and weaknesses, and rate them A through F
• After the jobs review sections ask questions about the following:
  Analysis skills
  Judgement/decision making
  Creativity
  Continuing education
  Integrity
  Organization/planning
  Independence
  Stress management
  Interpersonal competencies
• Plan on three to fours hours for this interview and take breaks every 90 minutes

Topgrading is great because it forces much longer and more detailed conversations to not only understand a person’s background but to also understand more of the how and why as opposed to just the what.

What else? What do you think of Topgrading interviews in a startup?

Recruiters and Startups

Image via Wikipedia

For the first seven years as an entrepreneur I stayed as far away from recruiters as I could. My thinking was that I could find the talent I needed on the open market via word of mouth referrals, Craigslist, etc. More importantly, I thought that people that used recruiters to find jobs were only focused on money, and would promptly move on when another recruiter came along with a better offer. I was wrong.

Recruiters are great for startups when used properly.

The most important thing I didn’t understand with respect to using recruiters has nothing to do with recruiters. It’s entirely about corporate culture. With a strong corporate culture, and associated values, team members can come from anywhere, including recruiters. Recruiters need to understand your corporate culture, your values, and what makes your startup unique. Just like the hiring process internally, each candidate that’s vetted from a recruiter needs feedback given to the recruiter to understand what aspects of the person fit the culture and what aspects didn’t. There’s no right or wrong type of corporate culture. What’s important is that it’s consistent, understood, and strong. Recruiters are an important part of the startup eco-system and should understand your corporate culture.

What else? What are some other thoughts on recruiters and startups?

Giving Thanks in a Startup

Image by turtlemom4bacon via Flickr

In light of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States the topic of giving thanks in a startup is very apropos. Giving thanks is an important part of startup culture and should be incorporated into the standard rhythm. Here are some ways we give thanks by helping others and by enjoying each others’ company :

• Donate 1% of our time to local non-profits
• Donate used computers and monitors to local non-profits
• Company-wide off-site quarterly celebrations
• Catered Monday morning breakfast and Friday lunch to break bread as a team

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone — all the best and happiness.

What else? What are some other ways to give thanks in a startup?

The Opportunistic Startup Hire

Image by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center via Flickr

A difficult situation some startups face is the opportunistic hire they can’t afford. What I mean by this is that the startup gets referred a great person, and there’s no position available, but they really want to hire her.

Here are some things to think through when the opportunistic startup hire comes along:

• What does the growth of the business in the next 12-24 months look like with and without the person?
• What impact will this person have on the business outside of growth?
• What ways can you get the person involved if you can’t afford them full-time? Advisor? Part-time?
• What’s the likelihood you’ll be able to hire this person down the road when you can afford them?

I’ve found that opportunistic hires rarely come along, but you know it when you see it.

What else? What other considerations do you have when you find an opportunistic startup hire?

The Previously Strong Startup Employee That Is No Longer Effective

Image by Jonathan Herbert via Flickr

Last week I was talking to a successful entrepreneur who was lamenting that she had this previously strong employee that had been with her for over two years. Unfortunately, this quality startup employee, who got along great with others and was a corporate culture fit, was no longer effective as the organization tripled in size. These are the toughest situations.

Here’s my advice when a previously strong employee is no longer effective:

• Read the Netflix Culture: Freedom and Responsibility slide deck
• Remember that as the organization grows, not everyone will grow with it
• What’s best for the individual and what’s best for the startup are two different things
• Jack Welch categorizes the four types of employees and would move this person into a different role

This situation needs to be handled thoughtfully and directly. Everyone knows when a team member is no longer effective but they also want to see the person treated fairly and professionally.

What else? What other items should be considered when a previously strong startup employee is no longer effective?