This is the third in a series of articles featuring insights from experienced founders and CEOs in Nauta’s portfolio. We've distilled their experiences into easy-to-read chapters to help others navigate the challenges of growing a B2B software startup.

Highlights include:

• Hiring at the right time
• What makes a hire successful?
• Avoid common hiring mistakes

Finding the right people to join your journey is pivotal to startup success. Hiring isn't just time-consuming; it’s a high-risk, high-impact activity. Don’t rush it for the sake of speeding up the process to get your first hire, because it could cost you big time later. Mis-hires can lead to decreased team morale, potential reputational damage, and lost productivity. So, what should you avoid? What are good practices?

Finding the right time to expand your team

Before you start listing job requirements on a job board, take a moment to consider: Could the tasks be delegated amongst multiple people with the right skills? Does anyone on your team have the bandwidth to take on these tasks? Can the tasks be automated? Roope Heinilä (Haiilo) advises that “Hiring should also be the last resort for fulfilling that goal. First resort should be all other options”.  

However, waiting too long to hire can also create bottlenecks. Vedran Cindrić (Treblle) reflects, “I would definitely start hiring some people sooner. We were late to hire some of the people that we ended up hiring either way, just later in the journey.” This highlights the importance of finding the right balance between assessing alternatives and taking timely action when hiring becomes necessary.  

Vedran adds, “You can’t wait for somebody who has no experience to get there because there’s not much time for you in a startup. It would have probably saved me so much time if we hired a bunch of people six months to a year earlier”. This insight highlights a common challenge for startups: balancing the need to budget for experienced hires with the urgency of building a capable team. In many cases, startups may need to hire junior employees earlier than anticipated, accepting that they’ll grow into their roles over time.

Look at all your other options before deciding to hire but recognize when it’s time to bring in additional help. Delaying critical hires can cost you time and momentum, especially in a fast-paced startup environment.

“Don’t ignore your hiring mistakes. Deal with it, have the hard conversations.” Dave Holden (Techspert).

But what makes a hire successful?

You might be wondering, “How do I know I’ve hired the right person?” The truth is you can’t be 100% sure. There isn't a perfect formula for finding someone who is right for a specific moment and challenge in time while adapting to a fast-changing world. However, you can look for essential traits such as hardworking, passionate, curious, and coachable. These qualities can make a huge difference at the early-stage.

There’s also an element of chance involved in hiring. Dave notes, there’s “luck with hiring certain people.” Despite careful planning, finding the right fit often depends on a bit of serendipity but having and upholding a suitable culture is vital. As a founder, “you define it [culture] by the hires you make.”, explains Roope. Your first hires play a critical role in shaping company culture, as “culture will exist from the day you have two people on the team.” Behaviour, work ethic and interactions will ultimately impact the norms and values that define your company culture. So, choose wisely!  

Roope adds “even if you do it perfectly, a third of your hires will not work out”, highlighting unpredictability of the hiring process. Possibly because “after a year or six months, you might find that you’re not in the right industry, and that’s fine - people change”, according to Abhishek Sen (NumberEight). These shifts in circumstances, whether due to evolving role demands, unforeseen cultural mismatches, or personal growth, are often beyond a founder’s control, even when following the right steps.  

Given these pitfalls, onboarding becomes an essential step to set new hires up for success. Facilitating this step makes their process smoother, helping new employees get up to speed quickly by providing the knowledge and resources they need to succeed in their role. If you want to know more about onboarding practices, check out the following article. (read: 14 Onboarding Best Practices)

Avoid common hiring mistakes

A poorly written job description can cause confusion, misunderstandings and even disappointment among team members. Be clear and specific about the role’s responsibilities and what is expected; avoid an overwhelming list of requirements; and instead, focus on the essential qualifications that will make a difference.  

Rushing the recruitment process can lead to missing potential red flags and overlooking candidates who might be a great fit for both the role and your company culture. As Vedran mentioned earlier on, start the hiring process early and also make sure to involve others in your company to align on the qualities and attributes you’re looking for in an ideal candidate.  

Reflecting on a key mistake, Vedran shares, “I didn’t spend enough time with the early employees at all; I didn’t have time. I would constantly be in meetings, constantly doing something else, and always afar. So, I didn’t have enough time to take care of individuals and help move them forward.” This highlights the importance of dedicating time and attention to nurturing early hires, ensuring they feel supported and are set up for success within the company.

Finally, an inefficient interview process won’t allow you to determine if a candidate has the right skills and is fit for the job. Roope offers a valuable tip, “make the person you’re hiring do an assignment that showcases how well they can actually do the job”. To truly assess a candidate’s capabilities, design interview questions that evaluate their qualifications and core strengths, which gives them a chance to show how they can excel in the role.

There are numerous assessment methods; Index Ventures’ ‘Scaling Through Chaos’ provides practical examples and suggestions for structuring interviews and conducting assessments systematically.

Key takeaways

Hiring successfully and at the right time is crucial to the growth of an early-stage company. Given you’re dealing with people, there are so many variables to consider and so make sure to have a strong process in place for preparing roles, interviewing candidates and onboarding new recruits.

Key actions:

• Assess your requirements carefully and ensure you have a clearly defined role before beginning the process

• Ensure the right candidate aligns with your company culture and values (and make sure you are setting the right culture in turn)

• Be specific about what you need in a new hire and ensure the interview process allows them to show their ability to excel in the role