Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello Start-up Nation

I need to know how to recruit & hire a solid management team and a board of directors for my company.

Recruitment process: Where do i even start to look? How much is really enough for a solid start-up management team?

Hiring process: How much $ should i expect to pay?

Thanks,

Matt



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Matt Battle

Networking is the answer.  If you`re new to your industry and don`t have the contacts talk to accountants and attorneys.  Give them your business plan and see if any of their clients would fit your needs.  This can be a very effective and efficient process.

As for your question, how much is really enough for a team.  You absolutely need marketing/sales (can be one person) and operations.  You can probably fumble through finance enough in the beginning by yourself, but I like to have a gray-haired finance person on the team that`s been there and done that with startups.  So 2-4 is enough, and probably all you want - you know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen.

As for pay, there are too many choices to cover here with equity, options, warrants, cash, etc.  Talk with your attorney - assuming that they`ve done this sort of thing before.  If they haven`t get a new attorney!  And you`ll have to wait and see what each player bring to the game.

That`s a great post by Engineers Can Sell.  Networking is the answer.

In regards to how much you should be willing to pay, there will be a lot of people who will be willing to help you out for free granted you use your ears and mouth in proportion. 

The last thing you need to do as a startup (bearing any focus on intellectual property) is spend a lot of cash on legal work.  Focus on building your business and networking.

Seek advice early on and often. This is a great place to start. Many people on  here (including the Sloan`s) are willing to take some time to give you free advice.  Take advantage of that but don`t take it for granted.



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IdeaBuyer.com - Sell and License Your Patents      
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I`ll wade in here not knowing enough about the kind of company you`re starting because it makes me feel really hinky when a brand new entrepreneur with no management experience starts looking to hire people.

What are you hiring them to do? My suggestion is to find a business accountant/CPA and a business attorney first. Usually you can get a one hour consult free, take it! It sounds as if you might want to consider first recruiting a few other business owners to act as your advisory team before you start throwing money at a problem you may not have and just might create by not knowing what not to ask.

Is your business already operating, is that why you`re looking for a management team? If so, forget the above and just talk to business contacts you`ve made locally or industry insiders.  Most will recommend a few people you can speak with before you spend money.

 



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"Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom."
General George Patton - http://thesologazette.com

Networking is great.
Also decide what your needs really are.  Find people who share your vision, and fit well with your style.  I`ve turned down working with companies where I knew it wasn`t going to be a good personality fit, regardless of how great the idea was. 
Also you might get lucky and find professionals willing to take equity or some combo of cash/equity for payment.  Depending on how vested I am in an idea, I`ve done both for clients.

Good luck out there!
Chris




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Rogue CFO
Virtual CFO helping launch startups.
RogueCFO.com
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Other places you may use to network 

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Aaron Agassi -=- FoolQuest.com

First get your board of directors into position. Some of them may be able to provide you with advice. Remember get an attorney on to your board.
Whom do you want to hire for the management team? Are you going to look out of town? You could ask a recruiting firm to do it as you seem to be well stocked with finances. You would act as  a second line of quality checking  in this regard.
As for what you are going to pay, look at industry standards. Pay out with equity stocks? For a  start up you will have to show up with a very strong business plan for employees to believe in it.

Hi Matt,

I am assuming here that you have the funding for whatever it is you are trying to do and I will infer from your post that you are looking for a team (plural in terms of number of people) and multiple directors. Actually, you have made it clear in your question.

anyhow, I would say that you need to have two totally different mind sets for the two tasks of hiring a board  and hiring a management team. with the board, you are trying to bring diversity of view point in the management of your investments in terms of shareholding, ownership etc. With the management team, you are bringing in skills and experience that can make the company more revenue, better products, new business etc. So, you need to be looking for different type of people.

Once you have setup your mind/ideals for what you want, you will want to look for those people. Start with the board first. The board is supposed to look after shareholder(your) interests. Find people in the industry who are knowledgeable and approach them straight. You can find these people as contributors in trade publications, at trade events and in news papers. You can also start with college professors. Essentially you are looking for people who can advise you on doing one of the following few exemplary things: 1) Acquire new capital, 2) Technolgy vision 3) regulation 4) economic situations 5) Marketing vision 6) Hiring managers 7) government formalities etc (whichever apply to your business).

Networking is a great idea and will take you a long way into the process, however, I think with networking, you are limiting yourself to people you gel with. you are also limiting yourselves with people who network for people like you. Further, you are investing the most precious commodity (time) into your recruitment process. I would say that you should complement your networking with paid recruitment. You should also delegate a lot of your recruitment too trusted advisors (e.g. your board). that way, you are sure to hire someone who is not just like you... (not that more of you is bad - but lots of people who think like you and no one else is not that hot either).

I have tried not to get too specific because I dont know anything about your business. Hope this helps in some way.

Best,

Sachin Dole