What qualities do you look for when hiring an early employee?

What personal qualities or skillset would be a green flag or a red flag when you hire early employees, such as developers, designers and growth people for the team in early stage? I'd like to get some feedback and insights from the PH community🤔

1. Reliability / Understands expectations - Oftentimes people in creative spaces are excited about the start but their follow through can falter once things get a little mundane and its fixing/upkeep vs the rush of shipping code. Can you rely on them to be there for the fun stuff but also for what comes next. 2. Work ethic - How willing are they to work the hours required to get across the line - and on the flip side are you willing to compensate appropriately for that workload. 3. Adaptability - What types of environments are they comfortable working in? Self guided? Team lead? PST hours? Remote? on-site? 4. Personality/culture fit - Do you get along and enjoy their company - sounds silly but if you're going to be in the trenches together - you'll want to like them haha. 5. Do their skillsets compliment yours - I think this is the biggest one - you need to hire for the skills you lack so being hyper self aware and understanding your shortcomings will result in more gaps being covered at an org level

Personally, I think the whole status quo of hiring is a bit naff. There are so many factors to look at, I value just one, can they get the job done? If they can, great, see if you can work with them for an extended period of time. If they get on with everyone in a harmonious fashion. You just found a great new member for your company. We took this approach purely by accident when we needed development work done. We recalled that someone had dropped a pull request on a code repository that was a passion project for one of our team members. The pull request fixed a long standing issue. So we asked the guy if he'd like similar work for an hourly rate. He said yes, we gave him the work, he got it done. We did that again, same result, each time we challenged him with a new project, he delivered. Eventually we started including him in our meetings, now he's a part of our crew. We tried the same approach with a different dev, and it was clear pretty early on that they weren't as engaged, so we called it off. Neither of these people went through an exhaustive HR process or recruitment agency, so we didn't feel locked into them. We merely approached them with some work that needed doing, tested out how they went, and kept going with the guy that we liked. Key question for you all, you validate products by trying them out, and moving on if they don't work, spending a little each time or per month. If it doesn't work out, no hard feelings, just move on. Or consider it like dating, you are NOT, and I really hope you're not, going to marry someone based on their social media profile. So why hire someone on their CV and one contrived meeting (known as an interview)? Rather, date them first, if they get comfy and start to take liberties, you can call it off knowing you haven't paid for a wedding, house and pets, or had kids.

Hiring early on is so tough! I look for people who are self-starters. We're small so everyone needs to dive in on whatever needs doing. Technical skills can be taught, but having grit, creative problem-solving skills, and a collaborative attitude can't. I also look for different strengths than mine. Diversity of thought keeps us nimble.

Passion, skill, ability to learn and wear multiple hats whenever necessary and vision match. These are some of the qualities I check

1) Passion 2) Proficiency 3) Perseverance The only three things anyone needs to look forward to in an early employee or any candidate for that matter.

For me, this is loyalty to the product and the common cause. Then, technical skills and a desire to grow.

I would seek individuals who take ownership of their tasks and responsibilities. Early employees often need to wear multiple hats and proactively solve problems. And also candidates who align with your company's values and culture. A cohesive team with shared values can work more effectively together.

1.Problem-Solving Skills 2.Strong Work Ethic 3.Team Player 4.Learning Agility

Somebody willing to grind it out and not work just 9-5

First and foremost, I need someone with a superpower called "Passion Mania". They should be genuinely excited about our mission and have an unwavering enthusiasm for what we're building. Next up, we need a "Curiosity Crusader" who constantly asks "why" and "what if." These individuals have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and are always seeking new ways to improve and innovate.

I have a person who does this, and he has a lot of questions that do not only look at the skills of the profession.

Culture match is No 1!! The person can be extremely professional and top performer, but if you two don't get each other, the relationship and workflow will be tough to manage.

Minimum set of skills: 1. Can do what he has to do 2. Learns well and quickly (if june) 3. Easy to talk to 4. Self-reliant

When hiring an early employee, qualities like adaptability, passion for the product, strong work ethic, and alignment with the company culture are essential.

If i were to index on one skill, I would say it has to be adaptability. In an early stage a lot of things are up in the air, from problem, to market, to product, to tech, to team. An early employee needs to embrace this uncertainty alongside you and have the ability to work in this environment to pick up different roles as needed.

When hiring an early employee for my SaaS developmeny company, I look for the following qualities: 1- Passion for the company and its mission: I want to hire someone who is excited about the company and its goals. They should be someone who is willing to go the extra mile and put in the hard work to make the company successful. 2- Experience in the relevant field: It's important to hire someone who has experience in the field that the company is in. This will help them to hit the ground running and contribute immediately. 3- Problem-solving skills: I want to hire someone who is able to think critically and solve problems. This is essential for any early-stage company, as there will be many challenges that need to be overcome. 4- Teamwork skills: Early-stage companies are all about teamwork. I want to hire someone who is able to work well with others and collaborate effectively. 5- Adaptability: The early days of a company can be chaotic. I want to hire someone who is adaptable and able to roll with the punches. 6- Drive and ambition: I want to hire someone who is driven and ambitious. They should be someone who is always looking for ways to improve and grow.

When hiring employees, I always pay attention first of all to hard skills. Based on my experience, this is the most important. Developing soft skills is usually much easier and faster.

There are several key qualities to look for especially for a start up: 1. Passion: Early employees should be excited about the product and the company's mission. At the end of the day your employees if they aren't excited they won't be motivated to help you grow. 2. Adaptability: Given that there are so many changes with startups, you need someone who can easily adapt and do well in uncertain environments. They will need to wear multiple hats so being able to easily adapt to the task at hand and the demands from the company/customer is important. 3. Skill Set: They need to possess the core skills necessary for their role. Two soft skills that are important ability to learn and problem solving. Startups face a huge amount of challenges and having someone that is cool under pressure and can solve problems effectively is super valuable. 4. Fit: In the initial stages you are building your culture, this means hiring the right attitudes, values, and work style that match it. If the fit isn't good your employees won't be there for a long time (and the goal is to have early stage employees grow as the company grows), or you'll build a culture that you don't want (which is way worse). Hope this helps!