Question: How important is the personal brand of your key hires? What do you look out for (bad or good)?
Question: How important is the personal brand of your key hires? What do you look out for (bad or good)?
Respected Members of the Tech/Startup Community
"It's important that hires are respected members of the tech/startup community. Olo looks for engineers who are strong contributors to open source platforms like GitHub and non-engineers who have built a complimentary network. We go far beyond LinkedIn to do extensive reference checks that utilize our own deep network. That helps us to get it right with new hires more often than not."
@nhglass
Adaptability and Enthusiasm
"When hiring people, I always recognize those who have diverse and interesting resumes/past experience. Young companies that are still in the process of growing need employees who are quick to adapt to new situations and enthusiastic about change."
@simoncasuto
Authenticity
"I am transparent with people from day one and what we do matters to our clients. I can't afford to work with people who are contrived, pretentious or interested in company politics. In an entrepreneurial environment, you have to lay it all on the line. If your team doesn't always tell you the truth, your business won't last."
@scottpetinga
Awards or Other Accolades
"Typically awards or accolades show that their peers think they are good at their job. Instead of guessing what somebody is capable of, let their accomplishments speak for themselves. It's like buying a 5-star product on Amazon -- you kind of know what you're getting in advance based on others' reviews."
@andykaruza
Tech Savviness
"We found that the best business development and sales candidates are are also excellent at marketing themselves and have solid personal brands. It's a major plus if a potential business hire has their own personal website because it shows that they are tech savvy. For engineering candidates, we look at the quality of their Github repositories and StackOverflow profiles."
@nanxi_liu
Value Alignment
"Reputation and alignment on values matters a great deal. Specifically, we look for candidates with three key qualities: solid skills and knowledge, an ability to manage themselves and prioritize their work, and passion. If they’re not excited about our business, they won’t be a good fit."
@EarlyGrowthFS
