The Student Founder Guide to Making Your First Key Hires

We’ve backed over 120 teams at Rough Draft Ventures. As these startups have transitioned out of the university ecosystem and gone on to hire hundreds of employees collectively, we’ve seen just how critical the first few hires can be. Below, we’ve compiled best practices from RDV founders to help you navigate the hiring process.

Start with your vision and mission. It might seem daunting to compete against the steep salaries, hefty benefits packages, and the army of recruiters that arrive on campus each fall from companies like Amazon or Google. But as a startup you’ve got one huge advantage that no giant company can stack up against: the ability for a new employee to make a bigger impact. And if you can identify talented individuals with whom your company’s mission resonates, you’ll be able to attract and retain employees at a greater capacity. In fact, a recent study shows that roughly two thirds of workers care more about the mission of an organization than how much the organization can pay them. As a founder, you’ve been able to rally mentors, team members, and investors around your mission. It’s no different when recruiting and growing your team. Determine the best way to communicate your vision in online job postings and in person meetings. Make sure your entire team is consistently sharing this narrative with any prospective hires.

RDV company Mark43’s mission statement

Asses whitespace in the founding team’s expertise and hire a complementary skillset to bridge the gap.

Start by assessing the areas in which you and your co-founders are spending the majority of your time. Make a list of each of your competencies as well as new projects and priorities. Identify the additional skillsets and qualifications needed for those initiatives. Meet with candidates with the majority of competencies you need, and be ready to fill in the gaps where you can.

If you’re hiring someone to complement your skillset (i.e. a marketing guru to pair with your technical horsepower), you might not be the best screen of this talent. Leverage your network of mentors and advisors to refer candidates and help out with final screens.

Look for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset coupled with commitment.

The most overlooked skill set for an early stage startup is the ability to take a hands on approach and to take risks. Someone who has worked on side projects while in school or working full-time, started or led new organizations, or built something from the ground up are likely to have more of this DNA. Additionally, candidates tied to an entrepreneurial group on campus or in the startup community are likely to fall into this category. Make sure candidates have demonstrated commitment, through academics, work ethic or hobby. Understand why they are interested in joining your startup, why they believe in your mission, how they view themselves contributing to the success of your company, and how they see the company evolving over the next 4–5 years. Identify their career aspirations and personal goals. Figure out what motivates them.

An example of some of the clubs and organizations that may demonstrate a student’s commitment to and involvement with entrepreneurship on and off campus

Leverage your network. Whether you’re about to graduate or have just earned your degree, your university network is by far the largest network for finding top candidates for your company. RDV’s growing network of student entrepreneurs and venture fellows spans 22 universities, making an immense resource for navigating the entrepreneurship scene on campus. Each RDV venture fellow and founder is connected to key organizations and clubs on these campuses, with peers and friends who would be excited to join a fast growing startup like yours. They can recommend candidates, share opportunities across their channels, and loop you into startup career fairs and events to help you build your business. They can help you organize events to get to know top engineers on campus as well.

Go where your audience is. Map out 10–20 places where you know your ideal candidate spends time. This could be in online forums like the Hackathon Hackers group on Facebook, various Slack Teams you are a part of, or in person at industry meetups. Additionally, build a list of all career fairs happening on campus in the next few months, especially at your team’s alma maters, where you know people who can help introduce you to the best candidates.

RDV Founder Justin Weinberg posting a job description in the RDV Slack Team

Diversity is key. Data has shown time and time again that companies that are more diverse perform better financially. More diverse teams bring new perspectives, improve employee satisfaction and retention, are more creative, and are more productive. Diversity should be top of mind when recruiting your first team members as they will set the tone for how your team is shaped going forward. Start engaging with the key diversity and inclusion groups across campuses and get involved with initiatives and events. To start, take a look at the open source list we’ve compiled.

Mentor lunch at Harvard’s Women’s Coding Conference, WECode

We’d love to hear any additional advice on hiring your first few team members as a student founder. If you’re a student looking to take your startup, company, or project to the next-level, drop us a line & let’s explore what we can build together.

For more information about Rough Draft Ventures, visit our website or follow us on twitter!