Why I no longer hire from Harvard & Google
Before we dive in two things… #1 - New podcast is live with NYTimes best-selling author Yung Pueblo on building his audience, community and product. Listen/watch: Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts. You’re going to want to listen to this one. There’s a reason Yung Pueblo has millions of die-hard followers. #2 - We’re going to close enrollment for Community Empire for now. Probably increase prices in the future when we reopen. If you want to build a cash-flowing empire powered by community, check it out here. And it’s pretty much free right now because it includes a $99/month Skool Subscription (which is the community software I generally recommend) “This literally gave me the kick in the ass I needed to build an empire, not a business. No brainer.” Ok let’s dive into this week’s post… Why I no longer hire from Harvard & GoogleTwo ways to create a winning business:
Let’s tackle a bit of #1 and #2 today - how to hire great people at 2-3x cheaper than usual. Your team is your lifeblood. Especially true in an internet business (where your teams are usually more compact). Instagram sold for $1B with 13 employees. WhatsApp sold for $19B with 55 employees. Each employee matters so much in internet businesses. Less is more. So the question becomes, “How do you reverse engineer the world’s greatest team for your business?” At Late Checkout, we use the 95/5 rule. 5% of our hires are been there done that expensive hires (often our operators of our businesses or senior talent), 95% are these non-traditional hires. There are two checklists you can use when interviewing potential hires: the standard interview questions, or non-obvious traits. You know the standard interview questions. They’re what most businesses look for.
Proven candidates who have “been there and done that”. The downside of viewing hiring in this way is typically you have to pay a lot more money for these hires. It’s not uncommon for the average Meta employee to make $400k+… and that’s a lot of money if you’re pre-product-market fit. And this matters so much in these non-VC businesses I talk a lot about here and in Community Empire. Another downside that I’ve seen personally is they tend to be less loyal than other candidates. They’re more likely to be looking for the next big thing and won’t hesitate to jump ship. These matter a bit, but I put much more stock in a different kind of resume… 6 Questions to Dig Up Non-Obvious Traits Sure, Harvard and Google look great on a traditional resume — but these non-obvious traits tell me much more about what kind of team member you’ll be.
This shows your ability to hustle on the internet. If you can sell anything online and make win-win business relationships, you can find your place in a larger company structure. It could be selling stuf via your Instagram or doing more complex ad arbritrage. Either way, being an affiliate tells me you from “the streets” of the internet. You graduated the school of hard knocks.
This shows that you understand copywriting for the internet, pricing strategy, and the ability to communicate with others. Plus, the importance of good customer service (need those 5-star reviews.)
You can write for the internet and specific niches within it. You can connect with wide ranges of people, foster community, and take marketing projects from zero to one.
Whether it’s something as simple as a DTC t-shirt brand or you’ve coded a SaaS project, the ability to take products from zero to one is a rare, invaluable skill. Zero-to-one is a completely different skillset than 1-to-N. Most big
It’s essentially the internet version of youth sports, plus the community aspect of building respect and authority through chat rooms. Teamwork, strategy, communication all come through in online gaming. So much of what I’ve become as a CEO I learned becoming a leader of clans in Counter Strike.
Think about all that goes into setting up a party.
Building community is just setting up parties on the internet. These non-obvious traits might not get you an interview at Facebook — but in my opinion, they’re true indicators of success when it comes to building on the internet. ❤️ Greg’s bookmarks:
That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Tag me on Twitter if you did. I read every @ mention. And if you want to learn more about building businesses powered by community, I’d check my Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. It’s free and will give you free startup ideas. And I’ll see you in Community Empire if that’s your thing. Greg P.S: One of the most common questions I get: How do I create beautiful websites and apps like the Late Checkout website? Well - I use Dispatch for my visual design. Websites, apps, social posts. Anything visual. Hire them here. And I use BoringMarketing for SEO growth but that’s another story. You’ve probably seen BoringMarketing on Twitter here. |
Older messages
The most important post I've written in a while
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Life visions and why you probably need one
I'M FEELING SPICY TODAY
Saturday, September 23, 2023
12 spicy takes on the the state of the tech industry
Building your Profitable Internet Empire
Sunday, September 17, 2023
I'm launching something big today. It's called Community Empire, it's a membership to get you to create profitable companies powered by community. It includes: Courses: 2 courses that teach
How I met my heroes
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Making an Impression vs. Monetizing an Impression
What kind of startup are you building?
Friday, September 1, 2023
Product vs distribution
You Might Also Like
BeautifulSouls.ai, WSTR, AdGPT.com, Buzzhref.io, and iListen
Monday, May 6, 2024
Summarize any article or webpage into a short podcast BetaList BetaList Daily BeautifulSouls.ai Get the spiritual guidance you need, quick and affordable AdGPT.com The world's first fully automated
🦄 AI-powered proactive care
Monday, May 6, 2024
Lilli is building AI-powered monitoring of those in need.
💃 If she can do it, you can too
Monday, May 6, 2024
Meet this mom Hey , Every day, we hear stories of individuals who had dreamed of a different life—a life where they call the shots, balance family time with personal success, and make a real impact…who
Week of May 6, 2024 - 12 Silicon Valley Startups Raised $461M. Island Raised $175M Series D led by Coatue and Sequ…
Monday, May 6, 2024
Week of May 6, 2024 - 12 Silicon Valley Startups Raised $461M. 🔥 Burn Book by Kara Swisher. 🤓 How to Pick the Right Series A Investors. 👓 Meta is Quietly Winning the AI Wearable Race. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
📂 Anchor pricing on a primary value metric
Monday, May 6, 2024
Today's newsletter is proudly supported by MarketerHire 🎉 I see more and more top-tier marketing talent going freelance these days. And as a 4x first marketing hire myself, I know just how
How to fend off a US competitor
Monday, May 6, 2024
Plus: Mushroom tech's many strands and Bolt's new debt funding View in browser Logo - Zoom_flagship (1) Good morning there, Spring is in full swing in Europe. The trees and plants are popping —
#178 | Real Estate Rush, Manufacturing AI, & more
Sunday, May 5, 2024
April 29–May 5th | Insights from FirstMark, Bessemer, Craft Ventures, and others ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
⭐ These are YC's Top Companies
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Plus: Design Review is back with a new episode! This Week at YC May 5th, 2024 As Garry writes: revenue is the clearest indicator of a startup's success. With that in mind, we've just updated
what do you want?
Sunday, May 5, 2024
update your content preferences. we'll send you the intel you want. Hi there, Have it your way. Tell us the insights you want, and the insights you don't. We'll update your content
Selling your company
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Before we go to this week's post: I'm co-hosting a free online workshop around finding the right audience/niche and what AI-tools I use to analyze niches (and how to use them). This step of