How do early stage startups recruit hackers?

[pedrogk]

I am considering providing hacker recruiting services specifically for startups (bootstrapped or in seed stage), but I am not sure if I should establish my channel strategy directly to startup founders, or through recruiting agencies/headhunters. So, my question is ... how do early stage startups recruit hackers? Do they only rely on people they know? Do they hire headhunters or recruiting agencies? Do investors have a say on how/where you should hire the dev team?

[ChuckFrank]

Having been recruited, and been forced to hire through a recruiter, I can honestly tell you that both employers and employees want to find a way around them. These are the guys that hang out in the most trafficked areas (certainly monster.com) and just try and pick off either the employee or the employer early so as to distort the market and increase barriers and inefficiencies. If the market is weak, then create something like behance.net or dribbble.com or github (and never throw in an extra 'b') where people can meet each other. Brokers distort Markets.

[anamax]

> I am considering providing hacker recruiting services specifically for startups

Okay.

> So, my question is ... how do early stage startups recruit hackers?

Shouldn't you know that?

Seriously - if you don't know how people do it now, what makes this a good biz for you to get into?

[pedrogk]

I run a magazine for software developers, so my strength is in the access/contact with hackers as well as detecting who is a good fit for a given startup.

What I am unsure of, is if I should sell my services directly to founders or if my direct customers should be headhunters who are already working with startups.

[anamax]

> I run a magazine for software developers, so my strength is in the access/contact with hackers

Okay

> as well as detecting who is a good fit for a given startup.

how do you know that? Maybe you've got something else, but your stated strength has nothing to do with startups.

[arturogarrido]

For co-founder and early employee roles I only rely on people I know and/or their recommendations.

[wpietri]

Ditto. I'm hiring right now for employees #3-5, and I can't imagine using a recruiter. The incentives for a recruiter are perverse. And I suspect the people I really want are the ones who are energetic enough to find what they want on their own.

[pedrogk]

Would you consider a recruiter if the pricing was much lower than what is charged by traditional headhunters? (thinking $3k USD per person)

[wpietri]

Did you notice I didn't say anything about price?

[sdfjkl]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet are technology specific job sites. I.e. if you're looking for a Python hacker, hit the Python Job board (http://www.python.org/community/jobs/). I assume other technologies have similar things.

[erikpukinskis]

I'm still actively looking for cofounders. I go to tech events (Rails/Ruby user groups, etc), I went to the Cofounders Wanted meetup here in Austin. I put big banners on the product site advertising open positions. I put an ad on Craigslist looking for people.

I think the people who rely on their social network must either be friends with other hackers (I'm mostly not) or live in the bay area or something where there are lots of hackers. I mostly run in hippie/activist/academic circles and I'm not swarmed by people with tech/business chops so it's been a more difficult process for me. I would welcome a site or a service that would innovate around this problem.

[ChuckFrank]

Hey erik, I was in the same boat. Here's my advice. Be proactive and target specific individuals who are doing interesting work. Then invite them out for beers, and pitch them your idea. If they are not interested, then their friends might be. Most people are not looking for work, if they are working, and these are the people that you want to meet. So just invert your search, and instead of broadcasting, start focusing on the individual.

[wpietri]

Totally agreed, Chuck.

Advertising broadly for a co-founder is like running an ad that says: BRIDE NEEDED FOR IMMEDIATE BABY PRODUCTION. You might get somebody eventually, but I doubt it will be the caliber of person you want.

I found my cofounder after 3 months of energetically working my personal network. I corresponded with maybe 200 people and met at least 25 in person. If I was going to be spending the next 5-10 years working with somebody, I wanted to be happy with my choice. And I sure am!

[ChuckFrank]

Wait? --> BRIDE NEEDED FOR IMMEDIATE BABY PRODUCTION <--

That's brilliant.

[jdsadow]

I think the key here is to create a forum that connects the two pieces of the puzzle: engineers and business folk.

I've struggled finding a co-founder as well and have milked my network for everything I can squeeze out of it. I'm determined to find an engineering partner who I can really build many projects with for years.

If you're looking to build something, find a way for people to connect directly and strip away the antagonism/jaded-ness that usually shrouds business people & engineers from connecting effectively.

[shareme]

recruiters/headhuntes are never used. In fact all hackers avoid using headhunters/recruiters as its the first sign that the startup does not get it or know how to hire

[diego]

That is not true. A startup uses all resources at their disposal, including recruiters if necessary. A good recruiter can hire very specific people that you couldn't reach easily yourself, especially if you are young and haven't had the time to build a good personal network.

[sdfjkl]

But finding a good recruiter is even harder than finding a good hacker.

[Peroni]

I completely disagree. I've assisted multiple start-ups with their first few hires. The process is entirely different to how you would assist an established business and I can categorically say that helping start-ups with recruitment issues is infinitely more rewarding than helping corporates.

I understand where you are coming from though. Your perspective is that if you know your product and you know your business then you should know the people with the skills to make the business a success without the need for a middle-man.

Recruiters/headhunters aren't just keyword matching, human search engines. I'm a consultant and the service I offer is entirely consultative. I have years of experience assisting all sorts of companies, big & small with their various requirements. I know what works and to dismiss that experience is pointless.

We aren't all gold digging, phone bashing, clueless pests. Some of us (only a few admittedly) actually try and help people.

I have had a few people from this particular community approach me and ask for advice on various issues concerning their startup, something I have yet to charge a single penny for, so to say that all hackers avoid people like me is the opposite to what I have experienced in my time on HN.

[MenaMena123]

Early stage things only go off of friends or people they know or met already. So forget about those services the founders already know what they want at that early stage. Maybe it would work for large established companies only.