As the CEO of a startup, I’m really nothing more than the Chief Hustler. 

I hustle to attract team members, capital, advisors, etc.  I also hustle to ensure that we’re moving along quickly enough to be ahead of the market, though resource constraints and ambiguous choices always want to slow us down. 

The ability to attract resources (team, capital, etc.) is probably the most important job that I have – most people who write about the startup CEOs job mention the visionary, cultural or managerial aspects of the job.  For me it’s the constant hustling.

My hustle starts as soon as I wake up in the morning – pick up my iPhone and start reading and replying to emails at around 04:30.  Then I move on to reading articles from news sources, keeping an ever vigilant eye out for potential competitors (especially ones with abundant funding or interesting technologies).  There is an element of a negative flutter in the stomach whenever I come up on one of these – how will they affect the market, will they try to poach my carefully developed team, what is their technology basis, how do I find out more about them…

As a hustler, I’m basically a sales person. 

I’m selling investors, potential team members and anyone who wants to listen or who can potentially affect the development of what we’re building in a positive manner.  And as a hustler, there has to be a little of the “confidence man” in me – providing security where none can be had.  Making people believe that the impossible is possible, not because I’m trying to cheat someone out of hard earned cash or time, but because I truly believe it myself, and with their help it will come closer to being reality.  Hustling to create something out of nothing.

This hustler is very grateful for the people he’s getting the pleasure to work with to create something that is slated to be industry changing.  I just got a sneak peak of the UI/UX and I’m really happy with the initial cut.  Of course, it will have to be completely redone after our beta trials, but it’s so revolutionary that I’m now getting positive flutters in my belly – the kind of excitement that makes me want to shout from the roof-tops, “We’re coming!” 

But I have to temper my excitement – we still have a long way to go.  Months of hard work with the team, more delays and disappointments, and more insecurity about whether we’ll succeed or not.  Every day, however, is a joy because of the people I have around me; my woman, my friends, my family, my team.   To say “my” doesn’t clearly denote how I feel – not ownership, but privilege in being able to be part of their lives and have them in mine.

This is the essence of entrepreneurship at its best – good people, good goals, good development and good prospects.  It’s a pity that it isn’t always like this.  It does, however, make me appreciate the good times when they are here.

Thank you all.

Wayne Jackson, CEO of software security firm Sonatype, has a favorite question he asks when interviewing.

“Can you tell me about a time when you almost gave up, how you felt about that, and what you did instead of giving up?”

My favorite question is also a three-parter, but looks at company instead of self.

“How did you/your team do X, did you agree with the approach, what would you have done differently if it was your decision.”

Both questions address the most important issue of an interview, how the candidate’s mind works, i.e., how she thinks.

Getting insight into how she thinks trumps any other information you can discover during the hiring process.

Understanding how a person thinks gives you insight as to how she will interface with the team, approach her work and handle challenges as they arise.

How she thinks is also key to how well she’ll fit your culture.

And cultural fit is the key to productivity, engagement, happiness and everything else.

Hat tip to KG Charles-Harris for sending me the Inc article.

Flickr image credit: bpsusf

A couple of weeks ago KG wrote about ageism and attitude and I followed up by considering an often ignored basic fact about age and change.

However, what I realized is that we had never shared the primary article detailing the situation.

But that’s OK, because it’s been turned into visualization for those of you who would rather watch than read.

 Credit: Jonathan Ezer

The results of a new survey of 500 business leaders drives the home the importance of personality, which makes perfect sense, since it is “personality traits” that underlay “cultural fit.”

78% cited “personality” as the most desirable quality in employees, followed in importance by “cultural alignment,” and then finally “skill-set.”

“Skill-set” as a distant number three makes perfect sense considering the speed of change, especially when technology is involved.

Skills can be learned.

For a prime example, consider Declara CEO Ramona Pierson.

In 1984, at age 22, Pierson was hit by a drunk driver. The car tore her body apart, slicing open her throat, gouging her chest, leaving her heart and lungs fully exposed.

Pierson was in a coma for 18 months. She was totally blind for 11 years, though she has regained partial sight in her left eye thanks to a corneal transplant. It was the process of having to learn just about everything from scratch (including how to breath and walk) that made her realize how important it was to be a lifelong learner.

Which shaped her approach to hiring.

“We don’t hire people for a job. We look for very smart people and look for roles that let them continue along their path.”

KG Charles-Harris has a similar attitude and since I’m helping him with staffing I thought I’d share his Hiring Manifesto with you today.

It’s one I hope more managers/companies adopt.

QUARRIO HIRING MANIFESTO

Quarrio has used AI technologies (natural language processing & machine learning) to create the technology that enables natural language querying and analytics of structured and semi-structured data sources.  We believe this will change the analytics and enterprise software markets.   

We are seeking programmers to join our team who are willing to work for options until we are funded.  We expect funding to be in the coming 3-4 months.

Our compensation plan is completely transparent and we are happy to share it once we establish mutual interest.

WHAT WE WANT

Most companies, especially startups, look for “stars” with extensive experience in specific skills sets.

Quarrio has a different approach.

We seek people willing to work hard, constantly learn new stuff and who are diligent and dependable. People who perform at their peak because they care and constantly strive to improve. Our current team is truly world class and we plan on maintaining that standard as we grow.

We are a company of experience; our current team members are all over 40 with extensive and varied backgrounds. While their knowledge is deep they love learning; they know multiple languages and operating systems, are familiar with many others and have learned new ones as needed for our product.

WHAT WE NEED IMMEDIATELY

Programmers with

• Ruby or related knowledge
• Ruby on Rails
• HTML 5 & CSS3 & JavaScript

OR

• willingness to learn them coupled with a viable technical base on which to build.

WE DO CARE ABOUT

• Your attitude and
• fit with Quarrio’s culture.

WE DO NOT CARE

• If your experience comes from a formal background, working/OJT experience, self-taught at home or different tech background, but strong desire to learn and branch out;
• where you live (current team includes Seattle); or
• what you are.

One or another of our current team has faced and overcome every prejudice that is/was active in the workplace.

First and foremost, we care about getting the work done, so by hiring your mind and attitude as opposed to your body and proximity we have the luxury of finding talent that many companies miss. For example,

• wounded warriors and others with disabilities;
• minorities, including extraterrestrials;
• mothers re-entering the work force;
• “old” people;
• women;
• people with no interest in relocating to Berkeley.

In spite of the current prefunded status I honestly believe that Quarrio offers a unique and real opportunity or I wouldn’t post it here.

Yes, along with the right attitude you need to be willing to take the risk—but everything is a risk these days. And you owe it to yourself to take the time to evaluate this one.

I also hope you will share this post with your friends and network wherever they may be.

Please write miki@rampupsolutions.com or call me at 360.335.8054 for more information to discuss the opportunities.

Flickr image credit: Tim Green

Can male founders create great, woman-friendly cultures?

And if they do will the company become mind-blowingly successful?

Ask Pinterest co-founders Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra.

Better yet, listen to their female engineers.

People would say things like, “Pretty girls don’t code,” or “I assumed you weren’t very good at coding because normally physical attractiveness and technical ability are inversely correlated.” It was a revelation to join the team at Pinterest and feel like I was treated like an engineer first, not as a female engineer. In most other places, I felt like people always treated me as a “female engineer,” like I was a novelty. People even called me a unicorn to my face. It was really nice to come here and not have that gender modifier in front of who I am. —Tracy Chou

But once she started working, she quickly got tired of having to explain her role at the tech companies she worked for to strangers who assumed she was in HR or community management. “Now, I tend to always preface with, ‘I work at Pinterest and I’m an engineer at Pinterest,'” (…) We have a lot of support from the company to put on events for women in engineering in particular, whether through logistics or funding.—Nadine Harik

The most exciting part for me is that I get to work on a product that I love and feel like I can actually make a big impact on what we do. It’s cool to be able to focus, and learn and grow as an engineer. — Jennifer Tsai

These comments reflect a culture friendly to women, but in a company that is certainly not dominated by them.

Looking at the Pinterest team picture you see a lot of chronologically young males, but based on the women’s comments the frat boy mentality isn’t what’s shaping the culture.

Nobody can quibble with the level of talent Pinterest has hired or the October 2013 valuation of $3.8 billion.

The point is that talented people of both genders will migrate to a place they feel both valued and comfortable.

Creating a culture that equally values women and men doubles the likelihood of finding, hiring and retaining top talent.

And it’s that talent that paves the road to success.

Image credit: mkhmarketing

Let me start by saying that I’m the CEO of a company that specifically seeks older developers – most of my team is over 40 years old.  In fact, my belief is that before professionals have at least 10 years of experience under their belt, it is rare that they have developed the deep experience and judgment I need, regardless of their field of endeavor.

Recently, there have been a number of articles describing vicious age discrimination in Silicon Valley.  I know firsthand that it’s real, but nothing is ever completely one-sided.

Along with ageism on the side of the young, there is a certain amount of self-sabotage on the other side—foremost because as people get older and more experienced they have expectations that are very different from those of younger developers.

As a pre-funded startup EMANIO follows the path of other software startups, i.e., build a working prototype and have some customers using it before seeking funding.  

This is a more involved process when building an enterprise product than one that focuses on consumers, because consumers seldom have IT departments and processes that slow or prevent our gathering of information.

Doing a software startup requires a development team willing to work for stock options and/or with minimal cash payments until we have accomplished building the prototype and having some customers using it.  If older programmers aren’t in a position or willing to do this, it is impossible for a pre-funded startup to hire them. 

This is a clear advantage that younger developers have – their expenses are generally lower as they haven’t yet bought homes, started families, etc.

Another thing that may come from age and experience is a certain annoyance in once again having to prove oneself—or learn new tricks. 

Many of the programming languages and methodologies that were popular have changed.  Agile methodologies and new languages abound and older programmers must take the initiatives to become familiar with them—usually on their own time.  Few young companies have the time or money to teach people these skills.

However, with the number of free, online classes available from places like MIT, Harvard and others, learning new languages and methodologies should be an easy task for those with the right attitude. Few, if any, companies care where or how programmers learn Ruby and other languages, as long as developers are proficient and productive.

On another note, in our present economy most job opportunities come from personal networks.  As such, being part of a team and proving oneself is absolutely necessary in order to be asked to be part of another team.  

Spending 3-6 months in a pre-funded startup is almost a prerequisite for being asked to join another team, regardless of whether the initial startup was successful or not.  

Older developers have to adjust to this change in the job market—and even when their skills are highly sought after they may need to adjust their expectations. 

This includes learning how to relate to very young and/or inexperienced team members and at times acting as a mentor, without seeming like a parent or overbearing or a fun-killer.

Everyone is searching for talent—cheap, productive talent is always welcome most places I know.  The cheap does not have to last for a long time; usually just long enough to get your foot in the door.

(See Entrepreneurs: the Shallowness of Youth and the Myth of Age for more information and links to other articles.)

Flickr image credit: Cliff

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

I don’t think the list of 17 Traits That Distinguish The Best Startup CEOs were in priority order, but if they are I disagree and think the first two are out of order.

The list reads,

1. [Is] good at hiring AND firing.
2. Builds a culture, not just a company.

It should read,

1. Builds a culture, not just a company.
2. Good at hiring AND firing, but rarely needs to.

Founders who go into the game with a conscious sense of their own values, create a culture based on those values and make sure to communicate it rarely find it necessary to fire anyone.

In other words, they use their culture to filter their hiring and are tough enough to walk away from candidates with good skills who aren’t culturally compatible.

But how do you know? How can you evaluate culture compatibility in the short time you interview?

I explained how to do it way back in 1999 when the following was published by MSDN and have republished it here every few years; I think it’s time again.

Don’t Hire Turkeys!
Use Your Culture as an Attraction, Screening and Retention Tool to Turkey-Proof Your Company.

Companies don’t create people—people create companies.

All companies have a culture composed of its core values and beliefs, essentially corporate MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and that culture is why people join the company and why they leave if it changes.

Generally, people don’t like bureaucracy, politics, backstabbing, etc., but when business stress goes up, or business heats up, cultural focus is often overwhelmed by other priorities.

In startups, it’s easier to hire people who are culturally compatible, because the founders first hire all their friends, and then their friend’s friends.

After that, when new positions have to be filled the only people available are strangers.

So how do you hire strangers and not lose your culture?

Since your culture is a product of your people, hire only people with matching or synergistic attitudes. The trick is to have a turkey sieve that will automatically screen out most of the misfits and excite the candidates who do have the right values and attitudes.

Here is how you do it.

• Your sieve is an accurate description of your real culture.
• It must be hard copy (write it out), fully publicized (everyone needs to know, understand, believe and talk about it), and, most important of all, it must be real.
• Email it to every candidate before their interview and be sure that everyone talks about the culture during the interview and sells the company’s commitment to it.
• Everybody interviewing needs to listen carefully to what the candidate is saying and not saying; don’t expect a candidate to openly admit to behaviors that don’t fit the company MAP, since she may be unaware of them, may assume that your culture is more talk than walk or consider it something that won’t apply to her.
• Red flags must be followed up, not ignored because of skills or charm.
• Consider the various environments in which she’s worked; find out if she agreed with how things were done, and, more importantly, how she would have done them if she had been in control.
• Whether or not the candidate is a manager, you want to learn about her management MAP, approaches to managing, leadership and work function methods.
• Probing people to understand what their responses, conscious as well as intuitive, are to a variety of situations reveals how they will act, react, and contribute to your company’s culture and its success.

Finally, it is up to the hiring manager to shield the candidate from external decision pressures, e.g., friends already employed by the company, headhunters, etc.

Above all, it is necessary to give all candidates a face-saving way to withdraw their candidacy and say no to the opportunity. If they don’t have a graceful way of exiting the interview process they may pursue, receive, and accept an offer, even though they know deep down it is not a good decision.

A bad match will do major damage to the company, people’s morale and the candidate, so a “no” is actually a good thing.

Remember, the goal is to keep your company culture consistent, flexible and true to your core values as you grow.

From the time you start this process, you need to consciously identify what you have, decide what you want it to be, publicize it, and use it as a sieve to be sure that everyone who joins, fits.

Use your cultural sieve uniformly at all levels all the time. If someone sneaks through, which is bound to happen occasionally, admit the error quickly and give her the opportunity to change, but if she persists then she has to go.

For more help, download the CheatSheets in the right-hand frame and/or give me a call at 360.335.8054.

No charge:)

Image credit: HikingArtist

Discussion on company culture usually center on what a company does with regards to its people focusing primarily on perks and attitudes.

There’s recognition that in addition to the corporate culture there are dozens of subcultures, since every manager, no matter what level, shapes/tweaks the culture for her subordinates.

If managers want to hire successfully they need to understand that culture is a direct result of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and no two people’s MAP is identical.

Simply put, culture is the ‘what’, while MAP is the ‘why’.

It’s relatively easy to know the ‘whats’ of your culture.

Understanding the ‘why’ takes more effort.

But if you don’t understand your MAP, the ‘why’ of your and your company’s actions, there is every chance that you’ll have great difficulty implementing the kind of culture that’s attracts and retains great talent.

That’s because the ‘what’ needs to be, at the very least, synergistic with the ‘why’, whether it’s your MAP or the candidates, otherwise performance and creativity will suffer.

Knowing your MAP is like knowing what size clothes you wear—it keeps you from hiring people who would have little chance to succeed in the environment you provide.

Flickr image credit: lennox_mcdough

August 23^rd was an interesting reading day for me.

First I read about the ingredients that nine different entrepreneurs utilized to create great cultures and are applicable to any company of any size.

Then I read what some would consider a rant about how culture was used to enable legal discrimination.

The ingredients described in the first article made me smile and shout ‘yes!’, because they are the same things I’ve been preaching for years.

However, the twisted use of culture to legitimatize bigotry and discrimination enraged me—as it always has.

I have long recommended using culture as a hiring filter and still believe it is one of the best around, since attitude is far more important than skills when it comes to who you hire.

People who believe manipulation is the correct tool for getting ahead do not belong in a company that promotes strictly on merit and accomplishment; in fact; they can easily destroy it.

However, a talent for manipulating people has nothing to do with age, gender, race, creed, color, alumni status or the myriad of other differences that may take you out of your comfort zone.

Flickr image credit: Paul Dixon

How many times have you interviewed candidates who performed superbly in multiple interviews, but not once they were hired?

Conversely, have you taken a chance and hired candidates who didn’t interview well, but turned out to be some of your most productive and innovative performers?

Have you wondered why? More importantly, have you wondered how to avoid having this happen or at least have warning that it might?

An article details new brain research that explains what may be going on even though it is focused on kids and test-taking.

It comes down to the genes and brain chemistry that regulates an individual’s response to stress.

The researchers were interested in a single gene, the COMT gene. This gene carries the assembly code for an enzyme that clears dopamine from the prefrontal cortex. That part of the brain is where we plan, make decisions, anticipate future consequences and resolve conflicts. “Dopamine changes the firing rate of neurons, speeding up the brain like a turbocharger,” says Silvia Bunge, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. Our brains work best when dopamine is maintained at an optimal level. You don’t want too much, or too little. By removing dopamine, the COMT enzyme helps regulate neural activity and maintain mental function.

Here’s the thing: There are two variants of the gene. One variant builds enzymes that slowly remove dopamine. The other variant builds enzymes that rapidly clear dopamine. We all carry the genes for one or the other, or a combination of the two.

While you can’t condition the brains of your candidates to respond well to the stress of interviewing, you can provide an environment that allows the “worriers” to perform better and gives a clearer picture of the “warriors” true skills.

To some extent you can level the field by eliminating as much stress as possible for the entire interview process. For instance

• take time to put them at ease;
• avoid two and three-on-one interviews;
• avoid interviewing actions that feel like judgments or tests;
• make the process transparent;
• inform them about the process; and
• avoid surprises.

Lowering interview stress allows the “worriers” to perform better and removes the “warrior’s” edge.

Flickr image credit: Josh Gee Photography