David Cummings on Startups

The Opportunistic Startup Hire

Written by

David Cummings

in

,
Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom (NASA, Interna...
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?

Comments

3 responses to “The Opportunistic Startup Hire”

  1. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Hire them! Great people make all the difference!

    Reply
  2. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    Not a fan. In the early days of a startup, only hire when it hurts.

    Being compulsive makes for a sloppy business. Yes, keep them in your pipeline, bring them on as an advisor, etc. Don’t spend $100k plus the onboarding cycles until it hurts.

    When a company gets past the seed stage, then you can get good people and find spots on the bus for them.

    Reply
  3. The Continous Product Management Process | David Cummings on Startups

    […] manager until the startup is large enough to warrant a dedicated person (or there’s an opportunistic hire). Regardless of having a full-time product manager, there’s a continuous product management […]

    Reply

Leave a reply to The Continous Product Management Process | David Cummings on Startups Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More posts