{"id":18533,"date":"2020-08-20T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=18533"},"modified":"2020-08-20T14:40:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T21:40:27","slug":"how-to-build-a-winning-startup-team-with-max-shapiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/how-to-build-a-winning-startup-team-with-max-shapiro\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build a Winning Startup Team with Max Shapiro"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great companies run on great talent. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/maxshapiro\/\">Max Shapiro<\/a>, founder and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/peopleconnect-staffing\/\">PeopleConnect<\/a>, explains the key questions every founder must ask when sourcing and hiring an all-star startup team.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s often said that startup investors make decisions partly on the strength of a team. It takes strong talent people to build a great company &#8212; and for that reason, staffing decisions are some of the most consequential choices a founder can make.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/maxshapiro\/\">Max Shapiro<\/a>, founder and CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peopleconnectstaffing.com\/\">PeopleConnect<\/a>, has been helping startups to land top talent for 20 years. In the wake of the dot-com bust of 2001, Shapiro created a unique recruiting model called Employees Without Paychecks that enables cash-strapped startups to pay in equity before raising capital. Over the years, he\u2019s seen firsthand what it takes to build a successful startup team, and shares his insights with <a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/\">Founders Network<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, it\u2019s a mistake for founders to lean on a limited personal network to find and recruit talent in the early stages. Register to <a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/function\/how-to-build-a-winning-startup-team-with-max-shapiro\/\">Max\u2019s full webinar<\/a> and see if you <a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/request\/\">qualify for membership<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/\">Founders Network<\/a> and get tips on:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sourcing a Talent Pool<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Working with Agencies<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimizing for Experience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asking the Right Questions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building a Team<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CMost%20startup%20entrepreneurs%20don%E2%80%99t%20have%20the%20time%20or%20expertise%20or%20experience%20to%20find%20candidates.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cMost startup entrepreneurs don\u2019t have the time or expertise or experience to find candidates.\u201d - @Max_PplConnect <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CMost%20startup%20entrepreneurs%20don%E2%80%99t%20have%20the%20time%20or%20expertise%20or%20experience%20to%20find%20candidates.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMost startup entrepreneurs don\u2019t have the time or expertise or experience to find candidates,\u201d Shapiro says. \u201cBut relying on friends, family or advisors for referrals naturally produces a much more smaller pool of candidates.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen you\u2019re working with an agency, like PeopleConnect, we\u2019ve put together a list of 150 people, interview 20 of them, and present three well-qualified candidates within three weeks. Our universe is much larger,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere are a few characteristics that startup founders should be looking for in a candidate,\u201d Shapiro explains. Prior experience <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/blog\/five-entrepreneurship-lessons-from-siri-founder-adam-cheyer\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">working at a startup<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0tends to be extremely helpful &#8212; those candidates are used to an environment that often demands long hours, versatility, and the ability to wear many different hats to get the job done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%20%E2%80%9CThe%20most%20important%20thing%20is%20you%20have%20to%20hire%20people%20with%20startup%20experience.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> \u201cThe most important thing is you have to hire people with startup experience.\u201d - @Max_PplConnect <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%20%E2%80%9CThe%20most%20important%20thing%20is%20you%20have%20to%20hire%20people%20with%20startup%20experience.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou may be the product person, but you might be helping out in sales or marketing or making coffee. If you\u2019re not used to that, it\u2019s hard to make that adjustment,\u201d Shapiro says. \u201cThe most important thing is you have to hire people with startup experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, a resume can only tell you so much about a person. Other traits that tend to correlate with startup success are optimism, a team mentality, and the ability to maintain discipline even in challenging circumstances. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/blog\/thinking-like-a-ceo-with-cam-kashani\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">smart CEO or hiring manager<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> knows how to ask the right questions to suss out what makes a person tick, and how well they\u2019re likely to perform at your startup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou know you\u2019re working at a startup when you\u2019ve worked a 40 hour week, and it\u2019s lunch on Wednesday,\u201d Shapiro says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen mistakes made by startups when they hire people that don\u2019t have startup experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asking open-ended questions &#8212; such as a simple \u201ctell me about yourself,\u201d or prompting them to discuss what they most enjoyed in school &#8212; is one way to learn about a candidate\u2019s life and how they approach work. Even asking questions about their early life experiences can better reveal what challenges or adversities they\u2019ve had to overcome, and how they learned to do it. Extracurricular activities that may not show up on a resume can also be revealing: Participation and success in team sports, or other group activities, that require collaboration and team building are a signal that a candidate can work well with others to overcome problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CTeam%20activities%20are%20a%20good%20indicator%20of%20the%20ability%20to%20work%20hard%2C%20have%20discipline%2C%20and%20work%20with%20other%20people.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cTeam activities are a good indicator of the ability to work hard, have discipline, and work with other people.\u201d - @Max_PplConnect <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CTeam%20activities%20are%20a%20good%20indicator%20of%20the%20ability%20to%20work%20hard%2C%20have%20discipline%2C%20and%20work%20with%20other%20people.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTeam activities are a good indicator of the ability to work hard, have discipline, and work with other people,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, a college athlete who has gotten a scholarship shows they\u2019ve been part of a team and can handle a lot of pressure.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other illuminating questions include asking candidates to rate how lucky they consider themselves to be as a measure of optimism: \u201cYou have to get someone who is upbeat, positive, and has high energy,\u201d Shapiro says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Above all, your startup\u2019s recruitment process needs to be organized, methodical and uniform for every candidate &#8212; which is why the assistance of an agency like PeopleConnect is often so essential for the busy founder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThe%20recruitment%20process%20needs%20to%20be%20organized%20and%20the%20same%20for%20everyone%3B%20you%20need%20a%20level%20playing%20field%20to%20evaluate%20candidates.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cThe recruitment process needs to be organized and the same for everyone; you need a level playing field to evaluate candidates.\u201d - @Max_PplConnect <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D18533&#038;text=%E2%80%9CThe%20recruitment%20process%20needs%20to%20be%20organized%20and%20the%20same%20for%20everyone%3B%20you%20need%20a%20level%20playing%20field%20to%20evaluate%20candidates.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40Max_PplConnect&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe recruitment process needs to be organized and the same for everyone; you have to put everyone through the same process and have a level playing field to evaluate candidates,\u201d says Shapiro. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Great companies run on great talent. Max Shapiro, founder and CEO of PeopleConnect, explains the key questions every founder must ask when sourcing and hiring an all-star startup team.\u00a0 It\u2019s &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/how-to-build-a-winning-startup-team-with-max-shapiro\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":18534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[21,8256],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-startup-advice","tag-san-francisco","tag-startup"],"acf":[],"featured_image_data":{"src":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Max-Shapiro-4.jpg","alt":"Max Shapiro","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18533"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=18533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}