How do I figure out who my next important hire should be?

cartoon0106

This is the perennial question for startups who have started to taste success, and are ready to invest in themselves in the form of new helping hands.

The question is: How do you decide what role is most important to hire for?

Founders typically revert to whatever they’re already expert in, and decide they need more of that. So, a technical founder decides she needs another developer, or a sales-oriented founder decides she needs another sales person.

Let’s highlight the underlying justification you’ll use to rationalize this probably-erroneous decision, so we can see how to avoid the fallacy. Here’s what you’re thinking:

“I’m doing X today, which means I’m not able to work on Y and Z, which are also very important. If I hire someone to do X, I’ll have time for Y and Z.

“Furthermore, because I’m an expert at X, I already know how to source and interview other people who can be excellent at X, and I know how to hold them accountable after the fact. So this is a plan I know how to execute.”

It’s true, you do know how to execute this plan. Unfortunately, doing what’s easiest for the founder is not necessarily what’s best for the company.

The fallacy is this: Your plan causes you to be removed from your position of strength, in order to work inside your area of weakness.

That’s bad for the company, because it’s sub-optimal for the things you’re weak at, and it’s bad for you, because you’ll be unhappy working on things you’re not naturally good at, producing results you yourself know is sub-par.

Wouldn’t it be wiser for those things to be executed by people who are as amazing at those things as you are at your things?

Instead, your process should be:

1. Identify what role is missing from the company today, which also is the most vital for (your definition of) success over the next 12 months.  (“Success” could mean revenue growth, great customer service, removing a large risk, or a dozen other things.)

2. Hire the best person for that role.

How to determine (1)? For all possible roles, think of the perfect person for the job — a person so amazing you could never recruit them. Then ask whether the addition of that person would solve your #1 problem, or address your #1 risk, or 10x your revenue quickly, or whatever your current primary goal is.

 

cartoon5932

Examples:

You hire the VP of Engineering for Facebook. Now you can scale anything — both computers and people — inside your engineering department. Does that 10x the company or create a feature so important that you win your market? (Hint: If you’re not already in the scaling phase, well beyond product/market fit, the answer is: No.)

You hire the CMO who joined their current company when it was close to your current size, and built it to a company with $200m in revenue; they’ve seen the entire journey. If you could add that wisdom and firepower now would that 10x your company in the next year?

You hire a super-effective VP of Sales, would that 10x sales in the next 12 months? (If product/market fit is truly achieved, and your price-point isn’t low, the answer can be “yes,” but if you haven’t already gotten hundreds or thousands of paying customers, with a solid, effective, repeatable sales pitch, this person might not move the needle.)

You hire a Director of Support who has scaled teams from zero to hundreds, and has won global awards for excellence in customer service. If you created a truly world-class support organization, would that cause customers to flock to your door, or cause retention to skyrocket? Would that effect be larger than the next three features you could implement, or achieving similar excellence in marketing and sales?

You could keep going with other roles — design, content-marketing, finance, data analysis, social media, biz dev, etc..

Typically, one of these is a clear winner. That’s the role you need most today.

Even if you can’t hire your “dream person,” you’ve defined what the role entails, and create a list of titles and companies where the perfect person might be working today, which is a great way to start actually looking for that person. For example, use LinkedIn and reach out directly, or asking your network with pointed and specific idea of what pattern you’re trying to match.

Is it really worth all this to get the best person for that role? Click that link if you want the answer; I’ve written about it previously.

As the founder or CEO, your job is to fill the company with people who will 10x the company in their role, not to take the easiest path for yourself, hiring the person you’re sure you’re capable of hiring and directing.

It’s hard to accept that, but once you do, you’re acting like a real CEO, and your future self will thank you for it.

3 responses to “How do I figure out who my next important hire should be?”

  1. The Air Jordan 12 The Master hits shelves tomorrow, a blast from the past albeit a brand new one.Past? Well, the shoe, with its premium blacked-out leather construction and stunning gold accents, is inspired by a 20-year-old Michael Jordan poster. Brand new? Despite that nod to history, tomorrow marks the colorways grand debut. Never before has the Air Jordan 12 The Master graced shelves.And grace shelves it will come Saturday, February 27, including at online accounts beginning at 10am EST/7am PST. Heres the FinishLine.com purchase link.One of the more intriguing graphic-printed looks on the Air Presto, air max 180 a shoe that seems to spawn a new graphic-printed look by the week, the Nike Air Presto Safari finally has an official release date.A nod to the iconic Tinker Hatfield-designed Air Safari, the shoe that introduced one of Nikes most beloved patterns, the Safari Presto sports the eponymous print over every square-inch of the stretch-synthetic upper. That black-and-white palette is offset by more colorful accents, ranging from olive to a few shades of brown, keeping the look suitably busy; never dull.The Nike Air Presto Safari release date is set for March 5, with retail slated for $130. Nike.com will stock the shoe at 10am Nike KD 5 Elite EST/7am PST.Nikes not dumb. They innovate plenty of ideas on their own, but they also take cues from the culture and fans that theyve inspired, be it with colorways based on previous customs or shoe nicknames. Or, apparently, sneaker events.Tapping the ever-expanding marketing, the Swoosh will host its very own sneaker convention. Nikes Air Max Con will takes place on Air Max Day, March 26, in New York kobe 9 high top City. The inaugural event explores the storied history and heritage of Nikes most famous technology, and will likely include a few exclusive releases, if we had to guess.Registration for Air Max Con NYC begins March 8 on nike.com/airmax.While previously rumored and teased, notable standouts from the extensive BHM lineup consists of the Lebron 12 BHM, KD7 BHM, Kobe 9 Elite BHM, Kyrie 1 BHM, Air Max 1 BHM, Air Jordan XX9 BHM, Air Jordan 1 BHM, Air Max 1 Ultra BHM, Air Force 1 Ultra Force BHM, Mercurial Superfly BHM and an SB Dunk Low BHM.Kobe’s final season is slowly but surely coming to an end as the regular season will be ending in mid-April. That means that Kobe has about seven weeks left in what has been a hell of a career for one of the greatest of all-time. So how can Under Armour Curry 2 Kids Nike make it better?Images of the alleged Nike Kobe 10 Elite ‘What The’ have emerged and criticism is bound to come. The Nike Elite ‘What The’ Kobe 9 was said to be too simple of a colorway for its theme. With white accents, white midsole and outsole and two main colors of the Kobe 9, the Elite ‘What The’ Kobe 10 takes another approach with its color scheme. Four main colors (two on each panel for each sneaker) are met with an ‘Oreo’ like themed toe box and black heel and ankle support upper. The outsoles are split colors down the middle of kobe high top each sneaker. For those of us who prefer low top Flyknit Kobes Instagram user Maxwelllund reimagines the ‘What The’ Kobe X in a low top silhouette combining actual releases of the Elite low Kobe X into one pair. The concept includes the Opening Night, Mambacurial, Drill Sergeant, Chester and NIKEiD’s Mamba Color option. There are vibrant blue and orange translucent outsoles and the pair is tied together with white, black speckled midsoles.Late last year, gold medal decathlete and University of Oregon alumnus Ashton Eaton helped launch the Nike Lunar Caldra, an innovative training shoe thats versatile enough for . . . well, for Nike Hyperdunk 2014 Low a gold medal decathlete. That first pair was gold. So guess what part of the Eaton biography the next shoe draws from. . . .The Nike Lunar Caldra Oregon Ducks splashes Kelly green onto its lightweight mesh upper, set against contrast yellow accents and Lunarlon midsole. Cementing this as an official school style, Oregons O and duck-head logos appear on both the heel and tongue of the left and right shoes, respectively.No word yet on whether the Nike Lunar Caldra Oregon Ducks will release, but theres certainly precedent for such a launch. Stay tuned for updates. . . .While donning festive colors of air jordan 2 bright red for its flyknit upper, in addition to an inner patch embroidered on the tongue, which reads, “Mamba Greetings,” these prominent details almost suggest that the silhouette is leaning towards “Christmas,” given the suggested release date is scheduled on Christmas Eve – although not officially confirmed as of yet.Created by Kevin Xie, the low-top basketball silhouette is draped in a Purple galaxy print across its upper, while Grey and Red accents complete the overall theme.This component also has many properties, including elasticity, transparency, and resistance to oil, grease and abrasion. Enabling more support, responsiveness, as well as a lightweight feel, this kobe 10 high top high performance upgrade is complemented with the application of a full-length Lunarlon foam and Zoom unit in the heel for cushioning.

Sign up to receive 1-2 articles per month: