What makes a successful startup? Here is the answer!
No Company or firm is born big. It takes immense efforts, overcoming challenges & thoughts put in together to make a Million Dollar Startup. Each & Every step & action counts in forming a successful venture. But the question arises, what's the Key Element in a successful startup?
Is it Out of Box Ideas that could turn into a dream project & Intern Million dollar Product Company?
Is it effective selling & getting repetitive Business from your customers?
Is it outclass delivery from your Service delivery team?
OR
Is it ongoing Customer Support servicing that helps you retain your customers?
One Key thing to Note & Learn here is 'People'. YES... And We would say a BIG YES.
It's people who drive, dream & sleep a Startup and take it to next level being a Billion Dollar company like Facebook, Spotify, etc. to name a few, no matter what role they play in your Company.
Put People First in all the above questions and it would make all sense to you. Isn't It?
Deepankur Chawla, CEO, and Founder, of Maxify Digital, shares his story as an IT Professional performing various Roles in Small, Medium & Large Customer Bases, Experimenting with Skills working with Small Startups to Largest IT Service Vendors & Later Founding his own company. He has driven business in globally diverse markets in North America, LATAM, and Europe in SAAS and AI platforms. He has experienced the dynamics of People Management & what it takes to hire rockstars who will be your drivers & accelerate the company's vision.
Here are a few tips we must keep in mind & mistakes to avoid while hiring your next Rockstars:
1. Be crystal clear with your thoughts & expectations of Hiring a Rockstar: This is a crucial stage when you look out for hiring talent outside of your company. We often make mistakes in a rush or are overwhelmed by posting inefficient job bills on portals when looking for talent. It becomes critical for you as a Talent Acquisition Head to be clear with your thoughts yourselves as to what kind of position, skill set, experience, industry and expectations & values the new talent would bring to the table.
2. Be ready to Invest: This says it a lot already. When we say INVEST, it doesn't have to be Money NECESSARILY. Money is a small bit & we would say 30-70 ratio in the entire Talent Acquisition process. This would demand a lot of time investment, patience & thoughts & close governance put together. In a fast-paced growing startup environment, we often overlook these just to bring people on board.
3. Don't Narrow or Limit your Hunt for new talent: Be optimistic and widen your search by marketing your Job posts through various sources such as Online Job Portals, Social Networking sites, Referrals etc. We find referrals working the best in this scenario as you get to know more about the new recruit already from your ex-colleagues, friends etc, and can start putting up the right picture & expectations of bringing him on board once you are convinced with his/her portfolio.
4. Hire a mix of talent: Every talent counts & can add value to your company in one or the other way: This is also an important aspect to consider when you are hiring. There are different dynamics involved such as:
Do consider what kind of job roles he/she has played in his previous assignments and how much is he still into it. Different job role exposure would definitely add value to your Organization
Do a deep dive activity in analyzing CV/Portfolio and curiosity to know the strength & weaknesses of potential talent.
Do consider what other initiatives he/she has taken in previous assignments which are out of the box and self-driven. You would be amazed to hear their EXTRAS.
Be open to asking questions on a certain idea and know their viewpoint and maturity of executing it.
Do consider what kind of customer base & size of the organization they come from: It's a never-ending thought process but one of the most crucial aspects to deep dive and know it.
Talent from Small to Medium Size Organization:
You would find most Resources playing diverse roles in their company. As the assignments are short-term, each resource gets involved in each phase of delivery
You would find most of the Resources being self-driven. In a fast-paced & intense delivery environment, Resources would be researching & learning oriented to find a solution themselves & be neck to neck in competition
You would find Resourcing average compensation compared to Market standards.
You would find Resourcing limited to experience in Big Scale projects and missing its objective from Big Picture.
It's rare to find Talent here with additional education such as certifications, training etc. It's often considered a Disadvantage but has different opinions from Industry and Organization perspectives.
Talent from Large Size Organizations:
You would find most of the Resources playing a dedicated role for long durations. Switching and experimenting with their Resourcing in diverse Roles in the not very common forte of Large Sized Companies.
You would find most Resources Compensation almost competitive to the market standards.
You would find most of the Resources being certified in their Domains & Technical Skill sets which add value to their CV and also becomes a selling point for Large Companies to their Top Tier 100 Customers
You would find Most of the Resources undergoing training and being Groomed to take up & Execute large projects on-site (Customer Locations). Communication skills, Programming skills, Delivery Management & Other Soft skills to name a few are quite common in employees' daily routines.
You would find few Resources being on Bench waiting to be interviewed for their next project and sometimes executing small in-house projects to be in the game. This varies from Organization to Organization
You would find Resources having strong Educational backgrounds with Masters Degree in Technology, Management and quite a few of them from Tier1 institutions. Again this varies from Organization based on the Entry Criteria benchmark for new recruits.
You would find Resources looking at the Big & Small picture of the project/product helping Large Companies build Portfolios to penetrate in other Niche markets & Accounts.
5. Set the Right Expectations First Time & On: It's very important as Founder or Talent Acquisition Head to talk about the Roles & Responsibilities of the position, setting up the right expectations of what is to be delivered out of his task basket and being transparent in all your visions. This is a very common mistake which we overlook especially hiring from a Big Company assuming the new talent will handle all and results would be generated in days.
It takes roughly 6-9 Months for a new recruit to settle down to a new environment and produce profitable Output. So here, Time Investment & Patience is highly recommended.
6. Believe in your Talent: Again, a crucial aspect for a startup is to believe in a new recruit. Believe in people working with you and for you at the same time. You have NO other way out to success. The only Mantra here is to identify and fill in the blanks rather the erasing the sentence. Motivation & Right Attitude toward your people is all it takes to make a great team.
7. Communicate & Share More: Very important thing to learn as a Founder. Communicate & share your thoughts, your ideas with people working with you. Ask, Followup, and Learn from them how better you can execute things as a team. Inspire them to be invested in your venture and Long Term vision.
A Great Team is waiting for you to build the next Big Thing. Go & Get your next Rockstar.