Hiring your First Startup Employee

Hiring your First Startup Employee Hiring your First Startup Employee Hiring your First Startup Employee Conlan Hiring your first employee is a big moment for any entrepreneur, whether its your first startup or your 10th. These insights will help things go smoothly. 1. Start With the Numbers Check your books to ensure that hiring your first startup employee wont crash your fledgling company. Youll need to consider how much you can reasonably afford in salaryand whether youll provide benefits, says Brandi Koskie, who has been involved in several tech and creative startups and is co-founder of Clover Partners, based in Denver and Oklahoma City. You may also consider offering startup equity for first employees. There will be other costs associated with hiring your first employee recruiting, payroll taxes, equipment and training all of which get your first startup employee up and running. 2. Find Someone Who Shares Your Vision Look for an employee who wants to be a part of your business and who buys into your idea and dream, Koskie says. You want to find someone whos prepared to give a lot of themselves and their time for the job, knowing that the biggest tangible rewards may not come for years. Traits to look for include being a team player with strong collaboration skills and a sense of urgent curiosity, says Jessica Salans, co-founder of a startup publishing imprint, Coralstone Press, in Los Angeles. Youll need a savvy and alert team that can look for opportunities as the business forges its own path. 3. Assess Candidates Carefully Hiring your first employee involves spending time with candidates, Koskie says, and its a good idea to take more time than an interview with your finalists. You may have time constraints for how soon you need to make a hire, but consider bringing potential new hires on in a contract capacity before you make the job offer, Koskie says. Consider giving them a paid one-off project. That way you can see how they work, Koskie says. Are they disruptive or are they contributing in a meaningful way? If you have concerns about their skills, you can put them to the test. You can start to see how they respond to pressure, or how above and beyond theyre willing to go. This is mutually beneficial, as they get to test the waters of their new employer, too. 4. Look for a Partner When hiring for first startup employee, look for someone whose strengths can complement their weaknesses, such as someone who can oversee operations while you sell. I always have a very clear idea of what that first employee will do, whether its development, marketing or just plain customer support, says Dean Levitt, founder of Teacup Analytics in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hiring them to fulfill tasks or a role that the founder currently does successfully but doesnt have enough time for is perfect. That means the founder can train, manage and judge the work accurately. 5. Make Sure You Like Them Your first startup employee will likely be someone youll work with all the time and it can be a big change. Look for someone whos easy to spend time with and who doesnt get on our nerves. I consider personality to be more important than expertise, Levitt says. Youll need to work closely together, so getting along is vital to keeping yourself motivated during the rough times.