Where Can Startups Find Executive Talent?

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  1

  victor363

  03/05/08 | Report as spam

  Look for people who aren't motivated by money

  The problem with head hunter's is that they have a conflict of interest since they are selling you a service. Its a business to them. Sure, you can get good talent from a head hunter, but if you are looking for the creme de la creme of experts: consider opening a dialog with an active community member that is driven by a passion for their field.
  
  Visit online forums, read blogs (but be aware some blogs make a lot via adsense ads): seek out the 'expert' that is gaining the least, financially, from sharing their thoughts with online strangers.

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  2

  darinp

  03/11/08 | Report as spam

  Look for Scratch and Dent Experience

  Start-ups by their very nature require senior leaders who are learning agile and who deal very well with ambiguity. As a senior leader at two HR consulting start-ups (one also having designed and developed talent management software), I saw two big mistakes:
  1. Bringing in someone from a large, established company who had many years of experience in that company.
  2. Hiring someone who wanted or needed a job.
  
  In the first case, a lot of hidden baggage came with the senior leader who had spent a great deal of their career in one organization. These leaders were too rigid and relied on trying to copy the way that they had always done things before. They did not have enough varied experiences. They were locked into the mindset of a single industry. They struggled with the need to suddenly adapt to a newly-discovered niche that we wanted to take advantage of. (We also quickly tired of the stories that started with, "Well, when I was with ABC Company we always..."
  
  In the second case, we hired people who the investors recommended. However, these were the investor's friends who were out of work or miserable in thier other job. They quickly became a bottleneck because they were card-punching employees who were not brand champions and excited by the prospects and potential of the organization. They did just enough to prevent us from being able to make a strong case to the investor that referred them about their lacadaisical attitude. We had to quickly work around them, which cost us a lot more money and time. (Some might say that the extra expenses were worth avoiding a showdown with the investor.)
  
  I would advise that you find senior leaders who have been in at least four distinctly different industries, have had a great deal of success in some and some significant failures in others, and who continue to rebound with great optimism and energy. These senior leaders should be able to directly tell you about the lessons learned from both the successes and the failures and how those lessons will be applied in leading one of the critical functions in your new venture.
  
  There are tools that let you assess potential executives for the specific, desirable traits such as learning agility and dealing with ambiguity. In combination with a strong behavioral interview and thorough reference check, these assessments will help you avoid the mistakes I have seen in the past. Now all you have to do is figure out how to placate that VC whose friend really needs a job...
  
  Tips, tricks, and techniques for sourcing, attracting, and selecting top talent are freely available on my blog. - Darin Phillips