How to hunt for the right talent for your Start-up

Around twenty-five intent listeners. Four animated presenters. Two introducers. Fresh-from-the-oven entrepreneurs. Seasoned-in-the-sun businessmen and serial entrepreneurs. Gleaming and glistening aspirations. Crackling energy. Not one ringing cell phone. Everyone was there to share, to debate, to learn, to encourage and to be part of something bigger than their individual dreams.

COME TOGETHER!

The Rodinhood meet-ups at Delhi-NCR initiated by Anamika Joshi and Tarun Jangidhave been going strong for sometime now. However, I haven’t been able to attend them even though I have wanted to – some meeting or emergency always seemed to crop up making it impossible for me to make it. This Friday, I managed to make it. And was I glad I did.

This time, the topic for discussion was ‘How to hunt for the right talent for your startup’ – a real pain point. (So much so that Indian Angel Network have actually conducted a workshop on this in Mumbai, just two months ago.)  

Lakshdeep Rajput of Green Apple Solutions spoke about his experiences – from how not to hire family members to how to go out and search relentlessly for people with the right skill set and attitude. Thanks, Lakshdeep.

Akshat Goel, founder of an app development and publishing start-up spoke from the heart and shared the difficulties of retaining talent on shoestring budgets. Cheers to you Akshat!

The challenges that entrepreneurs face when looking for talent are manifold. Should you play it safe and look for mediocre talent – hires who’ll stay with you rather than leave in a few months? Or should you be daring and hire people better than you? Should you lure with money? Or offer a great environment that makes people feel they belong? Or should you offer ESOPs? When you’ve made a hiring mistake how do you get out of it? When should you fire some one? How should you do it? The presentations and the lively Q&A session afterwards addressed these issues.

HOW DO YOU STAKE OUT TALENT FOR YOUR START-UP?

Here are some ideas from the session:

A. How do you locate Talent?

1. Use your peer and industry networks.

2. Use Social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I have found from experience that Twitter is a great recruiting tool.

3. Use your team’s networks. Hire one guy and use his network to reach out to ten more. Many companies use an employee referral program. But more than the money, the prospect of working with friends and building a great environment at work always motivates team members to look for talent to hire.

4. Use entrepreneurial forum notice boards such as Rodinhoods, TIE, 91Springboard and others…

5. Use search firms – though I have found that this rarely has given me results. (Even in large companies, internal HR departments are not the best avenue especially if you are looking for niche skill sets.) 

6. Go to college campuses and post on their notice boards. Talk to their placement committees.

B. What kind of people should you hire? 

1. Self-motivated people who can work with minimal supervision. You can upgrade skill sets – you can’t inculcate a great work ethic.

2. People who are willing to jump in and tackle different roles as needed. Flexibility to adapt and to change.

3. Target-oriented people

C. How do you retain a guy once you’ve hired him?

1. Set expectations clearly, so she knows what you expect of her.

2. Keep him on his toes – get him to learn new skills, get him to work hard and deliver results.

3. Create a sense of belonging – celebrate milestones.

4. If she’s a valuable employee, pay her well. Or reward her with stock options, if you can.

How do you fire people if they don’t work out?

1. Give them a clear indication that their performance isn’t up to the mark and needs to improve. If it still doesn’t improve, explain clearly that a start-up can’t afford non-performance and ask them to leave.

2. Be gentle yet firm. It really is about not matching expectations.

MORE……..

 Vikas Bagga, had some practical points on the importance of being taxation-conscious and keeping track of finances before they become a mess. Most entrepreneurs are so busy just trying to get the business going and managing funding that this is a topic quite far removed from the daily challenge of just staying alive… and so we all just listened to him goggle-eyed. Yeah, we hear you Mr. Taxman!

 AND FINALLY…………….

 So you missed this meet-up?

Lucky you, there’s another one coming up end of this month – Friday,June 28th. By the way, the topic for the next meet-up was chosen by a fervent show of hands: ‘Passion vs Experience?’

Even our wounded soldiers don’t miss!

The photograph below features Amit Mishra, committed Rodinhooder. Nothing comes in the way of a meet-up. Bravo, Amit!

 Credits: 91Springboard – for images + hosting the event