All hiring is hard...

As a founder, there's one role I've gotten wrong 95% of the time.

What it is, and my 8 secrets for getting it right ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ When starting out, great teams are often made of top 1% generalists.

But as you grow, you'll begin to have problems that require specific expertise...

You'll want a manager who also has expertise (4-6yrs).

These folks are HARD to recruit

Here's how I (try to) hire them...
2/ Assess Your Current Team

Do you already have the expertise in house?

Do you have someone that could substitute?

If you have a lot of very smart problem solvers, you just need a contractor with expertise to teach them.

Understand what a new hire will bring.

To do that...
3/ Figure Out What Great Looks Like

Meet the top 5 most qualified people for the job even if you can't hire them.

Meeting them will set your bar.

Find out what matters:

What do they need to have?

What is an absolute no-go?

Figure those out, then start recruiting...
4/ For domain experts in particular, consider retained search.

Great firms can bring talent you could never dream of. They have trusting relationships with great candidates.

Sometimes, youโ€™ll find someone who has the expertise but doesnโ€™t fit your team's culture.

The solution:
5/ Pair To Win

Hire a Domain Expert as a consultant and pair them with an internal owner who will become the โ€œmid levelโ€ expert.

Make your expectations clear:
1) This is the owners top priority
2) They will be in this role after the consultant leaves

Make sure they...
6/ Prioritize The Project

Whatever project YOU make important will be important to your team.

Explain to your Owner that they're in charge:

"The consultant will be out in 3 months. They are a resource to you but the results are your responsibility.

Ownership means:
7/ Accountability

Your internal owner/doer must show their work over time.

Check in weekly.

Ask to see a demo/deliverable. Ask about what theyโ€™ve learned.

It will let you know how things are progressing.

Sometimes this doesn't work. In those case you may need to hire...
8/ A good VP instead.

Sometimes you don't have the time, team, or talent to hire/train a good mid-level expert.

In those cases, hire a great VP.

Every great VP has 2-3 mid level folks who move with them. Itโ€™s a founder's dream.

VPs cost more, but get you moving 10x faster
9/ Don't Give Up

Hiring mid level domain experts is hard, but vital to the growth of your company.

If someone doesn't work out, don't get down on yourself. Consider the other options, and keep looking.

Can you pair a consultant with an internal owner?

Would a VP be better?
10/If you enjoyed this thread, follow me @jspujji

I tweet advice and stories about entrepreneurship and leadership like this every week.

Like this one on leadership and delegation ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
11/ If you enjoyed this, subscribe to my newsletter 3-1-4. It comes out every other week with 3 links, 1 thought and 4 opportunities.
getrevue.co/profile/jspujji

โ€ข โ€ข โ€ข

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
ใ€€

Keep Current with Jesse Pujji

Jesse Pujji Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jspujji

12 Nov
At only 27, this son of Taiwanese immigrants went from being fired on Xmas day to bootstrapping a BILLION dollar company.

The best part?

He built the whole thing by solving his familyโ€™s problems ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ Tim Chen was born in 1982 in Oklahoma to two computer scientists.

He grew up in Houston oscillating between math/science competitions by day and sneaking out of his house by night.

At 17, he got into Stanfordโ€ฆ
2/ There, many of his friends went on to start successful tech companies.

He dreamed of being an entrepreneur one day.

But couldnโ€™t resist the excitement and $ of Finance.

After a short stint at an Investment Bank, he landed a job at one of the most prestigious hedge fundsโ€ฆ
Read 26 tweets
10 Nov
In February, I launched my first DTC brand.

I put my name, $, and reputation on the line.

It was an utter failure.

Here is the story and what I learned ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ After ~10 years of running Ampush as CEO, I stepped into the chairman seat.

Ampush had helped countless brands build and scale customer acquisition including: Dollar Shave Club, Birchbox, Stitch Fix, and many others.

I had the obvious idea: why donโ€™t I start a brand?
2/ I was eager to get back to โ€œearly days entrepreneurship.โ€

I spent 2020 both decompressing and anxiously thinking "what's next"

Investing? Another company? Something else?

I love the process of building businesses so I went for my dream: A venture studio.

But now what?
Read 40 tweets
7 Nov
Bootstrapped companies now worth billions that fueled the e-commerce revolution.

3 of my most liked threads ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ Fashion Nova exploded by using IG content to turn customers into influencers
2/ Shopify is the easiest and fastest way to launch an ecommerce store:
Read 5 tweets
5 Nov
Bootstrapped entrepreneurs always have the last laugh.

A son of Iranian immigrants turned a single LA retail store into a $1,000,000,000+ ecommerce giant.

All with $0.00 in funding

Hereโ€™s the story ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ Richard Saghian was born in 1982.

His family was a minority group of Jewish-Iranians who fled during the revolution.

After moving to America, they got into womenโ€™s fashion retail.

In 2006, Richard followed in their footstepsโ€ฆ
2/ He started his own store. His idea was simple: affordable, unique clothes to wear to the club.

His goal was to open 100, but he stopped at 5.

Early on, he had the idea of opening up an internet store...
Read 24 tweets
3 Nov
You spent 18 months getting ready to launch:

- Researching your customer segment
- Designing a product they need
- Lining up suppliers
- Building a perfect website

YOU ARE READY TO GO

All you need is an agency to market your product, right?

WRONG

Hereโ€™s what to do instead ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ First, the biggest mistake I see DTC founders make is immediately trying to outsource growth right after they build the product or *anytime* its not working.

Should you hire an agency? a consultant? a full time person? A mix? None?

What's the right choice?
2/ It's all of the above.

Depending on your company's stage and the strengths of your team.

I believe there are a few major inflection points:

Startup stage is about finding P/M fit, and spending from 0 to $1,000,000 a year

Scaling from there...
Read 21 tweets
29 Oct
At 27, she took her $5,000 life savings, a good idea and tons of hustle to build a BILLION dollar business.

The Crazy Part?

She had almost no prior experience in business.

This story never gets old ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿฝ
1/ Sara was born in 1971 to an Artist Mom and Attorney Dad.

Her dad made it a point to ask weekly at the dinner table: โ€œWhat did you fail at?โ€

He drilled into her that if you are not failing, you are not trying

Sara had early entrepreneurial instinctsโ€ฆ
2/ A hustler from the start, she was always coming up with โ€œkid businessesโ€:

Sold special charm socks at school.
Ran the neighborhood haunted house.
And later started a babysitting service.

At 16, she faced a life altering tragedy.
Read 25 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(