Here’s Why You’re Not Hiring the Best and the Brightest

Here is how I hire, listed in priority order.Bandwidth. I'm a snob for intelligence. I like to surround myself with people who are much smarter and faster than me. People who can juggle ten things at once, and handle curve balls. This is a requirement in an entrepreneurial activity, as by definition you are doing something new, so you have to learn... See more

Here’s a quick outline of some of the things I’ve encountered: 1. Hiring T-shaped people versus specialists2. Try to get doers3. More candidate flow solves a lot of problems4. Interview for the actual work you’ll be doing, not skillset trivia5. Raw intelligence is just one factor – don’t overestimate it.

Talented people don’t need to work for you; they have plenty of options. You should ask yourself a more pointed version of the question: Why would someone join your company as its 20th engineer when she could go work at Google for more money and more prestige? Here are some bad answers: “Your stock options will be worth more here than elsewhere.” “

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OK, I didn’t tell you the most important part—how do you know whether to hire someone? In principle, it’s simple. You’re looking for people who are Smart, and Get things done.