Candidate Labs’ Post

How do I hire someone who's seen scale, yet is still scrappy? Aptible posed this question to us and we went to work: It quickly became clear that some of the most talented candidates weren't just working at high growth startups, but within larger companies known for aggressive scale and engineering excellence. But founders are often hesitant to hire someone with lots of big company background. They're fearful there's going to be a DNA or velocity mismatch. That's where it's important to dive deep and peel back the layers of the onioin. Our conversations with Nhien Tran pretty quickly revealed some extremely promising stories. As a critical PM owning the browser side of Datadog's Realtime User Monitoring product, she had learned to work within a smaller team that needed to prove it could punch above its weight to justify more resources. When the need for a React SDK emerged, Nhien led her engineering team to create one quickly, marshaling engineers that had never built one before to treat it like an internal startup. And most critically, she had seen a rapid scaling in her product areas, seeing customers provide real time feedback and enthusiasm about the value that she was delivering. And when you enter a smaller company -- that's often the biggest question founders worry about with a PM. Are they going to build the right things quickly, or are they going to spend lots of time building smart but unneeded things? Nhien answered that question head on at every step of the interview process. Hats off to an incredible partnership with the team at Aptible, including Caroline Lau and Frank Macreery for being great collaborators during this process. And amazing work to our search lead Nikki Bruno for her endless passion in filling this role! Nhien -- we're excited to see what you do!

🎯 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟭𝟬𝟬+ 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲-𝘂𝗽𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵: 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗧𝗢𝘀: "We've got 5 developers already, but we need someone who can fix our payment processing issues - it's killing our revenue" "Our tech lead is great, but we need someone who can actually architect our transition to microservices" "Find me engineers who've scaled systems before - we're bleeding money on AWS" 💡 Reality check from my recruiting desk: When founders hire through me, they never ask: "How many years of React do they have?" Instead, they ask: "Have they built something from scratch that actually made money?" "Can they optimize our burn rate through better tech decisions?" "Will they own problems without constant direction?" 🔍 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: Not this: "They've worked with all the latest tech" But this: "At their last startup, they reduced infrastructure costs by 60% while handling 3x user growth" 🎯 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀? 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻: Turn founder's midnight anxieties into morning solutions See beyond code to impact business metrics Navigate both technical depth AND business acumen Actually ship stuff that matters Pro tip: In your next startup interview, don't just showcase your technical chops. Show me how you've moved business metrics. That's what gets my clients excited. 💼 𝗧𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄? 🤝 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗲-𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀? #𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 #𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 #𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗨𝗽 #𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣.𝗦. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 - 𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺-𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱. 🚀

We struggled to hire engineers for our first startup in college. As non-tech founders, finding the right talent was: - saturated - not transparent - a daunting experience We went through: → Various directories → Google searches → Friends’ recommendations Unfortunately, we got burned. We lost money, time, and energy. Determined to solve this problem, we moved to Berlin to test our hypothesis: “Are we the only ones struggling to hire tech talent, or is this a common problem?” Turns out, it’s a widespread issue. That’s how we built our company– to help others avoid the same pitfalls. 👍 if you’ve been there ♻️ repost to help others learn

Hiring your startup's first engineer - lessons from the trenches Congrats! You're seeing some revenue coming in, you've raised some funds, and it's time to hire your first engineer. I've made my fair share of mistakes but also seen some success doing this. Here are a couple of lessons I learned along the way: 1. Spread the word. Let the world know you're hiring. It doesn't matter if it's your professional network or your mom's bridge-buddy, you never know where you'll strike gold. Shout out to Noa Shpinat, who created Renbizz's website, but also introduced us to the great 🐢 Asaf Gur! 2. Stop looking for a 🦄. Mega-ninja-rockstar-popstar engineers are scarce and expensive. It's going to be hard selling them on the idea that it's going to be worth their while joining your 2-person company. 3. Find yourself an 🐙. An all-around generalist that gets things done. An engineer that can deep dive into new tech fast. Someone who can make anything happen. 4. Plan for 1 year ahead. You can assume what your needs are going to look like 1 year from now, but things change fast. This is both in terms of tech ("I need a node.js genius" - nah), and in terms of team ("I need someone who can and will want to lead the team" - nah). 5. Lastly, and most importantly, make it personal. This is going to be a person you will spend a lot of time with. Almost as much as your co-founder. So try to find someone who's face you'll enjoy seeing in the morning (in-person or Zoom!). Hired a founding engineer in the past? Feel free to share some thoughts. You're hiring a founding engineer? Sharing your struggles make them easier :)

"No, no, we're not looking for a unicorn, a donkey with a horn will do" Hopefully by the time you stopped gasping, you'll realise this isn't something I've actually said. Although.... just kidding!! Hiring for a startup is literally inviting someone to become a key piece of a yet-to-be-finished puzzle. And that's a big ask. With the limited resources available, sometimes you go through a hiring round and at the end of it, you're right back at the start. 🫤 Some candidates aren't willing to take a leap of faith with you. 🫤 Others aren't interested in working in a startup environment. 🫤 There's also people who need structure and routine. And that's fine, I'd rather know that right off the bat anyways. However, I think it's important to talk about the lows to balance the highs - there's not one without the other, right? P.S. I'd love to speak with any Software Engineers, who are exploring new opportunities. If you know of any mega Engineering folk, send them my way and I'll happily tell them more! P.P.S. While I would happily collaborate with some of the amazing agency recruiters in my network, unfortunately, it's a no-go. Feel free to come say hi in my DM's still 😉 #ContentCreation #BeingReal #FounderChallenges

Hiring developers isn’t about finding talent—it’s about attracting it. The best engineers aren’t chasing job posts. They’re solving problems, contributing to open source, and building cool stuff. So here’s the real question: Is your startup exciting enough to make them notice you? #TechRecruiting

What happens when you hire two stars for the same job position? Alex Sipkevich, Co-Founder & CTO at Joiner App, shares his learnings. He brought in a second Senior Frontend Developer, equal in stature to the first. Both armed with impressive leadership skills. And this didn't end well. Instead of working together, they started arguing with each other. Tune in to learn more about this challenging experience and learn what to avoid when assembling your dream team! - 🎙️Watch (or listen to) Startup Recruitment Failures on your favourite channel. The link is in a comment. 👋🏻 Hey, I’m Indre, Founder of jobRely. I’m here to help founders grow their teams smarter and faster using AI-powered recruitment services.

We had a fast-growing startup come to us for hiring 12 developers… everything they tried before had failed. They were dealing with three core requirements: 1/ Find skilled developers to handle the workload. 2/ New hires to integrate well with their existing team. 3/ Speed up their hiring process to match their growth rate. They had tried everything and weren’t getting the results they were expecting. Jobs posting on LinkedIn resulted in a massive pile of resumes from candidates that looked good on paper but fell short on technical skills and culture fit. They decided to tap into our expertise and our battle-tested process that could zero in on skilled engineers: → Meticulous technical vetting to assess skills. → In-depth video interviews to evaluate abilities. → Precise culture fit assessment to assess team alignment. This resulted in quickly identifying candidates who had the: → technical expertise → communications skills → cultural fit qualities The results far exceeded the expectations. ✅ 58 qualified candidates were introduced. ✅ 13 developers were hired (+1 than expected). ✅ 15 days from the first call to pull request. ✅ Fill rate was at 22% Our process not only accelerated recruitment but also improved the quality of their hires, eliminating the bottleneck in their product roadmap. The truth is that receiving hundreds (if not thousands of applications) won’t help unless you have a way to vet the best talent. We don’t advocate for volume. Instead, we make hiring efficient and narrow down on the best fits, so you get to build strong engineering teams that can support your startup’s rapid growth in no time. DM “vetting” and I’ll share our step-by-step process.

When hiring a marketing team, I came to the following key conclusions: 1. Hire vibe people who can inspire and get inspired. In addition to being specialists in their field. 2. Don’t hire juniors. They are hard to work with and burn out quickly. 3. Choose people who haven’t just passed by Web3. Otherwise, they will burn out. 4. Choose goal-oriented people who understand the spirit of a startup. Otherwise, you’ll have to explain for a long time why processes changed out of the blue. 5. Choose people you'd want to grab a drink with on a Friday evening at a bar. If you have something to talk about, you’ll have something to work on and get drunk when your token makes XXXXXs!

Tech hiring is a minefield. Most start-ups walk into it eyes wide shut. Here's the twist: It's not about the code. It's about the fit. Imagine this. You've found the perfect coder. Their skills? Unparalleled. But three months down the line, projects are stalling. Team dynamics? Fraying. Why? The code was perfect, but the fit was all wrong. Start-ups, by nature, are agile, fast-paced environments. Every hire must not only excel technically but also align with the core values and vision of the company. They need to be adaptable, thrive on change, and mesh with the existing team. It's a complex recipe. Yet, the hiring focus often zeroes in on technical skills alone. A glaring oversight, considering that most tech issues can be taught or solved, but a mismatch in work culture or ethos? That's a harder fix. The solution? A hiring blueprint that balances technical prowess with cultural fit. Interviews that delve into problem-solving approaches, teamwork scenarios, and adaptability to change. It's about finding those who not only write impeccable code but who also champion your start-up's vision with the same fervour. Let's pivot the conversation from mere technical skills to a holistic view of hiring. Have you experienced the impact of 'fit' in your hiring process? Share your stories below. Let's learn from each other.