Category: Corp Culture

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?

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?

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?

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?

Finding great employees is hard. Very hard. As a startup CEO, recruiting great talent is one of the three most important functions. In addition, a strong corporate culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage, and it starts with the team members.

Here are some quick tips for finding employees:

1. Referrals – referrals from employees, friends, and family should be at the top of your list. Offer referral bonuses, even ones to people not associated with your company.
2. Job Boards – look to specialty boards like ones for software engineers, sales reps, etc. Go to online communities where your type of team member hangs out and participate.
3. Craigslist – great for entry-level jobs and interns. Yes, there is tons of noise but it is still worthwhile.
4. Career Fairs – local college and university career fairs are often designed for students about to graduate, but also look for career fairs the cater to experienced graduates looking to make a change.
5. Recruiters – work hard to find recruiters that align with your values, and make it a collaborative relationship

Finding great employees is hard. Use these five quick tips to cast a wide net.

What else? What are some other tips for finding employees?

Talking with an entrepreneur recently we started to debate when the culture of a startup takes place. My position is that is occurs immediately with the co-founders and builds out with each additional hire. Her position is that the startup needs 15+ employees to have enough personalities and stories to fully articulate the corporate culture.

Here are a few ideas to keep in mind when thinking through corporate culture in a startup:

• Corporate culture is the only long-term sustainable competitive advantage within your control
• Corporate culture starts immediately with the co-founders and strengthens or weakens with every new hire
• The sooner the culture is defined and clarified the better for determining future hire fit
• Getting the wrong people off the bus and the right people on the bus is the most important leadership job

It took me seven years of being a startup CEO before I really appreciated corporate culture and now I’m a huge proponent of having a strong culture. The corporate culture starts on day one and needs to consciously nurtured forever.

What else? What are you thoughts as to when corporate culture starts?

Last month we finished our first personal finance workshop for company employees and had 28 participants. The idea is simple: employees that feel more confident about their financial future will be happier and more productive team members. We used MoneyCheck’s corporate-sponsored personal finance workshops as our provider to teach the course and have been thrilled with them.

Here were a few takeaways from the experience:

• The program should be facilitated by a third-party that is paid for by the company and isn’t trying to sell stuff to the employees (no one wants to sit through a class where they know they are trying to be sold something)
• Benefits of the program include employee team building, significantly greater 401k participation, and increased individual confidence
• Arrange for one-on-one time with the instructor and the employees so that more confidential and private questions can be answered outside the larger group setting

If you’re looking to differentiate your startup’s employee benefits, strengthen your corporate culture, and increase employee satisfaction, I’d highly recommend talking to Alok at MoneyCheck.

What else? Have you done a personal finance workshop and what’s been your experience?

Today I took six of our new hires out to lunch. I try to take new employees out to lunch within their first month of starting and I also do a monthly cross-functional lunch with team members I don’t work with on a regular basis. The goal with the lunch is for people to get to know each other in a more casual setting outside the office. At lunch I do two simple conversation starters: tell us about your background and how is our corporate culture different from your previous company.

Here are a few of today’s responses to the question of how our culture is different:

• Training was more comprehensive and hands-on
• The other sales team members genuinely want to help each other and aren’t looking to split commissions for their help
• There’s not as much pressure and craziness to get new product features out the door
• People genuinely love coming to work
• Co-workers hang out with each other after work

This question about corporate culture is important because often times people don’t think about their corporate culture consciously, but rather they think of what they like and don’t like about their company. Talking about corporate culture, and using those two words, makes it more meaningful and easier to stress how critical it is to everything we do.

What else? How is your corporate culture different from other places you’ve worked?