What kind of employees do you want in a startup?

I am often asked about the skill sets and levels you should search for when staffing a startup company. My answer is always the same. I feel there are two types of employees that are most productive in a startup:

• Experienced people who have done it before
• Well-educated but inexperienced people

You need a foundation of people who have just done it before. Consummate engineers who know what they are doing and have both had successes and horror stories. These engineers are part of the solution. They do whatever they have to in order to help the company achieve its goals. They can do architecture work, lead project, and slough off bad news. They lead by example. They are rare and usually expensive.

You also need a group of inexperienced new college graduates and engineers with just a few years of experience. They should have more energy than you ever remember having. They don't think there are bounds. They will work day and night just to learn. They should bring some excitement and many will surprise you with what they can do.

Skip the mid-level engineers. Not in a startup anyway. They know enough to know there are problems but they cannot see the light at the end of tunnel. They are still part of the problem. They are worried about titles and salaries. They will chew up much of your management time. Many engineers never leave this stage. As your company gets more established there will be more management bandwidth for this level of employee.

Management hires should always fall into the first category of having done it before. Over-hire when it comes to managers. Get people who know the game. Get people who can talk to customers, hire people and run releases/projects. Do not let anyone who has not managed learn on the job in a startup.

Hire well.

More later ...