Hired Goons

Helping great companies find amazing board members

4 followers

Helping great companies find amazing board members

4 followers

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Hired Goons lets great companies find amazing independent board members to help them grow and scale.

Launch tags:Investing•Venture Capital

Launch Team

Render Sandboxes: a computer for every agentIsolated compute, persistent state and a real filesystem

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Hey Eamonn - we were part of the Ignite accelerator early last year, and our paths crossed then. What would you say are the three best attributes to look for in a board member / NED?

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@neilcocker great to reconnect, and great question! I think they should have experience/perspective - so they should be able to recognise patterns, help with decision making and hopefully identify problems and potential solutions. They should have a strong network - to help with everything from investment to PR and all the way through to hiring. Last, but not least, they should be engaged. You want someone who actively wants to get onto your Slack channels or talk/help/work with you on various challenges, problems, issues and more.

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9yr ago

Ramp T-shirts

@eamonncarey Great, thanks! We're looking at NED/board stuff right now, so this is really useful. Have signed up!

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9yr ago

Daily Insight

hi guys, is this just a MVP and you are validating business model? what happens when I fill airtable form here https://www.hiredgoons.us/find-a... ? Is this suppose to be a paid service? question raised because I guess it isn't a non-profit idea.

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@dainiskanopa when you fill in the Airtable, we try to match you up with relevant board members. It's an MVP right now in that we're doing manual matching rather than doing anything more automated. In the future, we're looking at ways to automate the process for board members and for companies, but for now, we'll do our best to join the dots between relevant folks. Right now, there's no paid option. It's something we might look at in the future. Or it might end up being a non-profit. All depends on the feedback from this initial iteration.

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@dainiskanopa also clarifying this on the website - thanks for asking the question!

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9yr ago

Makers Up

What's the significance of the name? Why did you choose it? By the way, it's different and interesting :)

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@adithvictor finally! someone asked! ;) the name is from an episode of the Simpsons (

). I love the line at the end of that video about 'the hands-on touch you only get with Hired Goons'. I think that hands-on touch is precisely what I think board members should bring. I originally bought the URL for a consultancy business I thought about setting up years ago, but it's been sitting idle for a while now, and so when I started thinking about this, I figured it would be a great time to use it. Plus, it made me laugh. Hopefully folks don't take any offense!

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

Hey folks! I've been working with and investing in startups for the last few years - as an angel, with Techstars, with Zeroth and more. One of the key things that I've seen move the needle for companies when it comes to success is the speed at which they put together a board. In particular, I'm interested in getting great independent board members into companies in this first instance. Right now, this process is pretty ad hoc. I created Hired Goons to allow great companies to find amazing independent board members. I'm also really keen to help find a more diverse pool of potential board members - which reflects the diversity of people using your products. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction. It's very much an MVP, so be gentle. Happy to answer any questions you have on why a board is useful/helpful, what companies should think about, what potential board members should be aware of etc etc...

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9yr ago

@eamonncarey This is really cool, great work!

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9yr ago

More and more capital is coming from non-traditional venture investors (HNWI, crypto, crowdfunding, etc) and the need for experienced operators on startup boards is becoming critical. A trusted network of board members is needed at any stage and the ability to quickly access that broad, global experience is what makes HG quiet interesting for founders and those looking to pay it forward.

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@ramzyis thanks Ramzy! That's absolutely the case - companies need more experience on their side at every stage of their journey. I wanted startups to have access to a more diverse panel of potential board members, and I wanted more amazing people to consider a board position as a viable option.

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9yr ago

This is great! Speaking from the Australian experience it can often be a hard task to find board members from outside your existing network and/or the usual suspects to play the role of a great Independent Director.

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9yr ago

Hired Goons

Maker

@toddsoulas thanks Todd! That's exactly the issue. Right now, board members come from requests or referrals from people's network - and while that can work, it can also have exactly that 'usual suspects' outcome that you described. Frequently, having that external perspective can help CEOs and companies in a huge number of ways. I've witnessed it dozens of times, and it struck me that there was a real opportunity to try and help other companies have the same experience with a broader range of independent board folks.

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9yr ago