If your company is in early stages, going through a pivot, or in a competitive industry - the odds can sometimes feel like they’re against you.
Having the right team in place for your stage of growth is critical for success. One of the top reasons startups fail is not having the right team - which is a shame, because this is a problem that can often be helped.
Some of our recommendations for hiring at some of the earliest growth stages follow.
For < 10 employees: Overall, look for people who want responsibilities, and are specifically seeking out an early-stage company. Interview candidates with a particular set of skills to help your pain points, and focus less on titles.
Hires we often see at this stage: Engineering, product, a senior salesperson, and occasionally operations.
Our advice on the interview process: Be as transparent as possible with new hires about workloads, responsibilities, and funding of your company.
Potential red flags at this stage: Candidates who say in the interview that they want a lot of mentorship and structure (while fine, it’s often not a recipe for early-stage success, and these individuals may wish to work at larger companies).
For 11-50 employees: When you reach this number of employees, you’ll still want to make sure that you’re bringing on excellent hires who can quickly contribute, but they don’t need to be as much of generalists as your first hires. In fact, they may excel at solving niche problems that you’ve encountered while building your business.
Hires we often see at this stage: More leadership hires, like in marketing, finance, or engineering, to manage individual contributors who were brought on earlier, or niche engineering or product roles.
Our advice on the interview process: You likely still don’t have an HR person yet, but you’ve seen what makes a successful (or unsuccessful) hire from employees 1-10. This means you can start building your hiring process. Write out ideal profiles of candidates, what type of technical experience is best, and how long the process should be, in order to determine if your candidate is a good fit.
Potential red flags at this stage: Candidates who may not be as comfortable with shifting goals and roles. While this occurs at smaller stages too, it’s likely that your company will undergo even more pivots as you ramp up funding and begin to find product-market fit. Hires who were brought on for one role may find that they need to adapt into something else - and non-generalists may struggle with this.
For 51-200 employees: At more than 50 employees, you’ll need more structure and support for your teams. Having a dedicated, senior HR leader or Chief People Officer is often a critical hire at this stage to help set your company’s hiring strategy and goals.
Hires we often see at this stage: Even more niche hires, but also replacement of the core team if they aren’t interested in managing a large team or aren’t the right fit for the role. You may also find yourself hiring roles like project managers, technical experts, or more data scientists, to build out projects. Support roles at this stage too can be important - like more support for your customer service team, or sales operations.
Our advice on the interview process: Establish clear roles and responsibilities from the beginning for your hires. You’ll want to make sure that candidates are clear on what their deliverables are, and don’t spend time trying to manage other departments or projects. This can be a difficult balance, because people still want opportunities for growth – but working closely with your HR leader to determine promotion or compensation plans for your hires can help this.
Potential red flags at this stage: Candidates who have limited cross-functional experience. Departments need to work together more and get each other’s buy-in before pursuing projects as a company grows, but it’s important to find candidates who understand how to do this effectively without getting frustrated or not making progress on their company goals.
For 201+ employees: When companies have more than a couple hundred employees, you’re entering a new era of growth as a late-stage company – which is exciting! You’ll also be backfilling roles too more often as turnover happens, so you’ll need a strong hiring process in place, and a consistent way you review resumes, conduct interviews, and extend offers.
Hires we often see at this stage: At this stage, you’ll likely have more senior leaders in place, but you may need more managers to meet with hires 1:1 and provide mentorship support. You may find yourself hiring more managers to manage smaller teams and take responsibilities off senior leader’s plates – like Communications Managers, Compliance Managers, or supervisors of various departments depending on your business.
Our advice on the interview process: Ensure that candidates still align with your company’s mission. When more hires that join your company, it’s likely they won’t continue interviewing or meeting with senior executives all the time (if at all), so it’s important they understand your mission, your goals, and they “why” behind your company. Attracting people who genuinely believe in your mission and are good fits will not only make them happier and less dissatisfied – but will help reduce turnover.
Potential red flags at this stage: Spend time asking careful questions about communication skills and how candidates work with other teams to resolve conflicts. As companies grow, communication can become difficult - and teams may find out they’re working on the same projects unknowingly if they’ve been in silos. A lack of communication can lead to stagnation or frustration, which is never a good thing for companies who want to keep innovating.
Want to learn more about hiring leaders? Check out our post on how to hire leaders for your company, and how to hire a VP of Engineering.
Let our team help you get where you need to be.
