Give a damn
In the past 5 years, I've interviewed and hired more than 100 people.
I've always been bootstrapping and so we don't have excess cash flow to splurge.
I interview every one we give an offer to.
Throughout my experience interviewing people, I've come to realise that there's one key thing I care more than others: giving a damn.
- Give a damn about the business. In my case, it's Sigmaschool
- Give a damn about doing great work in general
Ask yourself a simple question.
You can bring 3 people to the moon with you. Would you bring people who are uninspired, don't care about the mission, don't care about you as a person, don't care about their own work?
Probably not.
You'll want the best person for the role and that often comes with an innate interest in what you do.
The first is pivotal, they need to give a damn about your business and this trait will only become more important over time.
There is 100% no future if the people we let in don't care about what we're building and the problem we're solving.
We'll just become another mellowed-down, diluted & unintentional team of uninspired people working for a basic paycheck, far from whats needed to build a generational company.
While it's not guaranteed for people who give a damn to do great work (I've unfortunately worked with a handful of good talents who were passionate about the mission but just didn't have the skills to back what we need), it's guaranteed that they will not go far with you if they do not give a damn.
At the current stage of my business (and for a long time from now), I foresee myself managing the bulk of the hiring process and taking interviews with every one we let in.
If the recruiting team in your company is built to sift through big groups of homogenous candidates looking for keywords and "years of experience", your startup is heading to certain death. Because if this what you do the only output you'll be getting is simple a higher credentialed homogenous group of candidates.
Water-down, diluted, and uninspired (towards your mission).
Recruiting done right feels like you're on a date.
The spark needs to be there between you and your potential hire, and sometimes that is preceded by months of convincing and pursuit!
It's hard to understand this for people who hasn't felt the pain of working with an uninspired team (especially in a bootstrapped startup), but you’re searching for people you’d be willing to (and vice versa) spend every waking moment with
Because if things go right, there will be many long nights. And if things do not go right, there will be alot of difficult nights too.
The second is equally as important, giving a damn about doing great work in general
It’s possible to act and show traits of being "inspired" & "mission-aligned".
As a boostrapped startup founder, 90% of the population don't really care about what you're so passionate about (you're often dedicating your life to it, taking a paycut and facing alot of lonely battles as a founder).
So when you find a candidate who does, you immediately feel like you connect to them, get hooked to them and wishfully think about how they'll come in and immediately save the day.
The first interview you have with someone is the best they'll ever be, and thats where people say all the right things to convince us of their enthusiasm for Sigmaschool.
The way to vet for this and bypass the artificial enthusiasm during the interview process is this - check if they've been deeply obsessed about something before.
If someone is applying to join my company, but never showed examples of them being obsessed (or just deeply invested into something), we'll not be the first.
The best talents I worked with have been obsessed about something themselves in the past, and thats why I actually think its an amazing idea hiring ex-founders.
They've worked hard on something, spend insane hours per week on something, have a reason that pushes them to work so hard, to care so much.
The uncomfortable truth is that most people don’t give a damn.
Why do you want to join us? Because I hate my current boss, because I want work life balance, because I don't like my current job scope. These are all not traits of people who give a damn about YOU and YOUR BUSINESS.
The status quo for corporate workers and engineers in big companies is work somewhat remotely or come in at 11am have coffee & lunch for at least an hour then leave at 4pm.
Sounds good for an employee, perfect place to coast by and enjoy an easy life, but in my world where I look for builders to work with, this is nonsense.
People who give a damn will scoff at 3 hours a day. Very little meaningful work gets done when you're uninspired and simply coasting by. That's not a culture that I want nor is that a culture I'm fighting for. If thats what someone is looking for, they're better off somewhere else. I'm not gonna add this to my working culture to
"attract the best talents", the best talents for me are the ones who DO want to put in great work even when its difficult, even if it takes many hours.
Don't fall for the cosmetics of a "great working culture". Working from home, flexible working hours, Nintendo switch / PS5 / ping pong table in the office, free coffee and snacks, are NOT the right ways to attract talents. If they join you because of these superficial reasons, they're probably not aligned to begin with.
Don't get the sequence wrong.
You don't do give this flexibility to attract great staffs who give a damn.
You find people who give a damn and you give them the best treatments.