How to Hire Your First Co-Founder
Happy Tuesday
Today’s Startup Tip of the Day:
When you’re in a startup under 5-10 people, usually the first few hires, you need to ask yourself the following question: “Are these people who I need for the long term, or do I just need skill sets today to accomplish a project deadline?”
If you’re making version 1.0, there are two different approaches:
Approach 1:
Hire Independent contractors and pay a per project fee or a per hour fee to accomplish version 1.0. If you pay per hour, it can get expensive if they are slow. If you pay per project, the total amount needs to be worth it otherwise why join? Use 1.0 to show other potential co-founders your vision, and to attract them to join your team. They will usually require equity, traction, and want to see that you are about to launch, have launched and are moving fast, or are raising money from investors to make the switch to join you worth it. Sometimes the smartest co-founders are risk adverse, and they need to know the grass really is greener in your startup than at their cushy corporate job.
Approach 2:
Find a few great co-founders before you begin. This in my opinion is really tough. The best people usually aren’t jobless, and they are busy working at another company with plenty of perks and benefits. To find them, and convince them to work with you either takes a heck of a sales job, or, something has to go wrong with their current gig to make then be open to working together with you for free (sweat equity) for 6-18 months.
My advice: The further you can get with independent contractors, and ensure that you own all IP, then the easier it will be to convince amazing co-founders to see your progress, and convince them to help you make it even better.
What do you think? Comment below and share this with a friend ✍🏽📤
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