CEOs, do you hire B/C-players now, or wait for A-players?

[oceansedge]

We all know that we should hire someone who is better than you. But as a young startup in its very very early stage, it's so damn hard to attract A-players to join, and we are anxious to find people to speed up the R&D. So the question is, should we wait until we find some really good people, or just accept B/C-players so hopefully we could grow the business?

 

[613jono]

@oceansedge Don't hire for experience, hire for trajectory.

Hire a potential "A-player" that you can mentor, rather than settling for less.

 

[joyjohnson656]

@oceansedge I'm not a CEO, but my goal would be to hire someone who is ambitious that would want to grow with the company.

I'd be fine if they start out without experience and then outgrew my company. I would expect them to learn and get better the entire time. It would be mutually beneficial.

 

[birdofprey]

@oceansedge You should hire someone who you think fits the company culture and could do the required tasks based on his or her expertise. Any other considerations is trying to solve the wrong problem.

 

[rech]

@oceansedge I have a couple employees in a couple different states. Apart from two of them, the rest are just warm bodies fulfilling an easy role. I don't necessarily look for A game experience, but I have noticed the cream will rise to the top.

When that happens you're presented with the amazing opportunity to foster and nurture that performing employee, or let it stagnant into resentment towards the company.

I have found this to be true from both an employer and employee perspective. Your results may vary.

 

[sammyt]

@oceansedge CV's suck. If I need a copywriter, I ask them to write the funniest story within 30 minutes. If I need a designer, I ask to design. My own CV sucks and some businesses hired me and I was beating the crap out of graduates, who were a bit older than me.

Go by skill and character. Find a way to engage them with your business and test their skills.

 

[dsmallcpa]

@oceansedge A players. C player will always cause you pain in the long run and you will find yourself saying "I knew it"...

I don't know if you can do this, but in our company, if we are in urgent need of a resource, and cannot find an A player, we started offering 1 year contracts. This also helps the B players to perform better knowing they will be really seriously evaluated at the end of the year.

 

[oceansedge]

@dsmallcpa Yeah outsourcing might be an option. I'm wondering how do you make your employees feel safe if the team is only 4-5 people (including 1-2 cofounders) and you are not hiring but outsourcing. And why does it make B players to perform better?