Every startup idea needs
its champions. In the last article, we
covered key strategies for eliminating risk in the early days to get you to a point where you’re “all in,” thereby
making you the first ‘champion’ of your new startup idea in the process.
Now, it’s time to start considering human capital needs in the context of
building out your founding team. Of course, it’s possible to go it alone for
now, but the last time I checked there weren’t many one-person billion-dollar
startups out there.
Recognizing that you can’t
do it all yourself is probably the most important thing at this point. As we’ll
explore in the next installment of the Launching a Startup series, it’s smart to
think lean and keep things simple as you search for product-market fit, but ‘simple’
and ‘lean’ unfortunately don’t equate to easy. Plus, the odds of
succeeding are greatly improved when you add just one cofounder to the mix. Why
is this so? Here are a few reasons:
Two cofounders, in theory, should be able to work somewhere in
the neighborhood of twice as fast as a single founder.
Startups are hard, and it’s harder to quit when you
have at least one other cofounder in the same boat as you.
Cofounders, to some extent, balance out one another’s
weaknesses.
Ideally, you’ve fleshed
out your startup plans to the point that you have an understanding of where
you’ll need the most help early on. That way, you can put these key strategies
and resources for attracting talent to your idea to good use.
Networking Your Idea
In order to effectively
recruit talent, you first need to refine your idea to the point where (1) it’s
actionable and (2) you’re comfortable making it public (without having everyone
you speak with sign a non-disclosure, which many people won’t do anyway).
Networking your way to a
solid cofounder introduction is the most advisable strategy for recruiting
talent, but it’s also probably the most expensive in terms of time commitment,
as well as being the longest from a time to completion standpoint. But hey,
no one said it would be easy!
Below are key resources
you can use in addition to common sense that will increase your chances of
launching into a fruitful relationship with a cofounder (or two, or three).
1. Leverage Your Personal Network
This is
the straightforward place to start your search. Suffice to say, your
chances of attracting talent go up exponentially as the number of degrees
of separation to your prospective cofounder(s) goes down. So, the closer you
are to them the better.
2. Attend Meetups and Join Startup Clubs
A quick online search of
your city + meetup + startup/hackers/tech/etc should produce some results for
you to look into. Most semi-active groups meet fairly frequently—and it
should be at the top of your networking to-do list to attend a few of these
events. In addition to seeking out a cofounder, it’s also a great way to work
on your 10-second pitch.
For many of the same
reasons that Meetups are
a good idea to attend, joining and becoming active in a local startup club or
organization is another great way to get plugged into ‘the scene’.
Additionally, many startup groups provide you with the opportunity to pitch
your idea to the group in a setting that’s more formal than the latest Meetup
Happy Hour.
In addition to your local
groups, look to get involved in larger online communities where people are
looking to find founders. Cofounders Lab is
a lot like an Internet dating site for startup founders. If you know what
you’re looking for, it’s a viable option to get involved with.
3. Apply to Startup Accelerators
Some startup accelerators
allow you to apply as an individual versus applying as a completely in-tact
team of founders. There’s a chance you could be accepted as an individual and
be matched with an idea, or that someone else could be matched to your idea.
This doesn’t seem like a surefire bet, however, since getting into the
accelerator in the first place is a prerequisite.
Here’s a look at a few of
the more well-known accelerators and their policies for solo applicants and
founder matchmaking:
Y Combinator
Y Combinator, which is
largely responsible for the startup accelerator trend itself, does accept
single founder companies as applicants. However, they imply that single founder
companies may have a harder time getting in based on their stated position that startups are “too much work for one person”.
All of this said, Drew
Houston (CEO and Founder of Dropbox) applied as a single founder back in 2008—got in—and, well, the rest is history. (You
can even check out his application.)
Techstars, a Partner of
CoFoundersLab
Techstars
allows single founder companies to apply, but the language on their site would
suggest that these companies will face longer odds in the application process—similar to Y Combinator. More precisely, ‘team’ is a large component of the
application that won’t necessarily be scored well for single founder companies.
As a result, they strongly suggest seeking out additional team members, and
have taken the additional step of launching a cobranded portal with CoFoundersLab to perhaps drive this point home.
If,
however, you were able to get into Techstars as a solo founder, you’d have access
to a top-tier ‘bench’ of talent they’ve cultivated for their companies via Hackstars.
DreamIt
DreamIt
operates in a slightly different way than some of the top accelerators by
allowing individuals to apply—without necessarily having an idea or company in place already. The
intent is to match good talent with accepted companies who are looking to round
out their team. But, while DreamIt is willing to play matchmaker to an extent,
it becomes incumbent on the founder(s) and the individual(s) to work out a
long-term employment agreement with equity and the like.
4. Place Ads on Job Boards
If playing the long game,
and networking isn’t working out, or if you just don’t have the time, it's
possible to source a quality cofounder through a job board. Recruiting is a
challenge and it's not a surefire method, but you can increase your chances of
success by placing ads on high quality job boards with the greatest relevance
to your needs.
AngelList
AngelList—which is like LinkedIn for startups—is a great free
option for both sourcing talent and getting some early exposure for your
startup.
Pros
Free!
Great place to meet
candidates with startup experience.
Cons
Candidates can ‘apply’
without producing a resume or cover letter.
Less trafficked than some
other popular job boards.
LinkedIn
Depending on your needs,
you may be looking to go the more ‘professional’ route, for which LinkedIn is a good option. It’s not cheap, but you should get sufficient
exposure and a decent list of candidates, provided that your job description is
on point. Take the time to create a company profile for your startup before
going this route.
Pros
It's the largest talent network.
Likely to produce higher
quality candidates.
Cons
It's somewhat expensive.
May not produce viable
‘startup’ candidates.
Stack Overflow
If it’s a technical
cofounder you’re after, Stack Overflow’s job board is a way to meet someone on their turf.
Pros
A great site for attracting ‘passive’
technical talent.
Pre-screened candidates
via online community.
Cons
It's somewhat expensive.
Not exclusively startup-focused.
GitHub
GitHub’s job board
is another solid option for sourcing the technically-minded cofounder.
Pros
It's the largest network of developer
talent.
Mobile app job board.
Cons
It's somewhat expensive.
No option for company
profile page.
The Apple Founders
Most people plugged into
startups or, more generally, the tech scene in Silicon Valley won’t have
trouble recanting the names Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as founders of Apple.
What’s lesser known is how the two of them paired up to create what is now one
of the most valuable companies in the world.
How Steve Met Steve
As it turned out, Steve
Jobs met Steve Wozniak through a personal friend who recognized that they
shared a mutual interest in technology. This is important to note: your
personal network is a great place to start when seeking cofounders. It wasn’t
until years later, after the introduction and after their friendship had
blossomed, that they set out to start a company and build the Apple
I.
Homebrew Computer Club
Homebrew Computer Club was
essentially the local tech Meetup of their time. And although they didn’t meet
there, the Apple co-founders were able to, in part, validate their side-project
to the point of recognizing a business opportunity through their membership at
the club. In other words, they networked their idea into a startup company, and
relied on local networking to do so.
MBA’s Versus Engineers
There’s definitely an
ongoing debate amongst respected startup brethren as to the true value of
early-stage employees. More precisely, I’m referring to the age-old MBA’s
versus engineers debate. Or, put another way, non-technical founders vs.
technical founders. The debate has even seeped into the discussion of
early-stage valuation techniques, often heavily discounting the value a
non-technical founder could bring to a technology company.
On its face, the pro-technical
argument makes sense. If you’re going to build and run a technology company,
you should know technology. That said, ‘A-players’ come in all shapes
and sizes, and there are plenty of good reasons to bring in a sales or
marketing professional if it makes sense for your company (see Apple example
above).
Both points have their
merits in considering a potential cofounder or key early employee for your
startup. Are you looking for a technical or business professional, which would
your company benefit from most at this stage? Think strongly about your
greatest needs in your early days, well before you commit personal resources to
attracting talent to your idea.
Advertisement
Championing Yourself and
Your Idea
Essentially, the ability
to attract others to your startup idea comes down to this:
How good are you at marketing yourself? What steps have you
taken to build a personal brand or network that you can leverage in your
attempts to add cofounders and early employees?
How is your startup idea being presented? Do you have a slick
slide deck? Have you launched a LaunchRock page? Do you have an AngelList
profile?
In today’s world, the
reality is that competing for top talent is extremely difficult. So much so
that large, profitable companies spend inordinate amounts of time and money to
do so. Does this mean you should give up now without even trying in the first
place? Well, if you’d give up that easily, your startup isn’t going anywhere
anyways.
New partnerships are forming everyday; get out there and make it happen.
