The Founder Effect: Transforming Recruitment in Fast Growth Tech Scale Ups

In fast growth tech scale ups, recruitment moves from being an operational necessity to being what can be a strategic gamechanger. The quality of the hires that you bring at an early stage have the ability to set the tone for future hires as the business grows. While, accepting your recruitment process and systems will evolve, there will be one constant: the founding team will have a significant influence on your hiring success.

When working with tech scale ups, those businesses where founders remain visible and within the hiring activity, it was no surprise that the pipeline of talent increases, offer acceptance rates rise, and, importantly, alignment with the scale up’s cultural values remains consistent. 

Here’s the reasons why…

Founders Make Amazing Storytellers

In a scale up, the company’s story is a central part of its employer brand. Founders bring authenticity and emotional value that no amount of corporate messaging can replicate. Their narrative: why was the business created, what issue is the solution solving, and what’s at stake has a massive attraction value for the strongest performers who you want to attract.  So, help and encourage your founders to share their story across all channels whether that is at industry events, recruitment campaigns, and at final round interviews. All of this helps candidates to feel the mission before they have joined.

Founders Are The Visionaries

In tech scale ups, uncertainty and ambiguity abounds. However, a crystal-clear vision is what both retains and motivates the strongest performers in a scale up. Founders are the very best people to articulate the company’s direction and, importantly, what impact a new hire will have on that journey. So, bringing founders in on key interviews as well as onboarding sessions is paramount as they are best placed to communicate direction, momentum, and opportunity.

Founders Are Protectors Of Hiring Standards

There is an inherent risk of diluting culture and quality when hiring at pace. Founders have the ability to play a pivotal role in both setting and protecting the hiring benchmarks for the organisation. By involving founders, it reduces the risk down that growth doesn’t come at the expense of dropping below the benchmarks. Founders and hiring leads can work together to create those benchmarks then ensure that there is a structured interview process with scorecards and training for those involved.

Founders Have Amazing Networks

So often the very best and most effective hires come from our trusted networks. It’s of no surprise that Founders have some of the most amazing connections within investor, academic, and industry circles that can be leveraged for hiring into the business. Find a way to create a structured way to engage and leverage the founders networks which may include precision LinkedIn messages to alumni introductions or to investor referrals.

Founders Are Strong Closers

Strong performing candidates frequently make their decisions based on conviction, as much as compensation. A personal conversation with a founder can make all the difference in getting the hiring decision in your favour. My suggestion is to leverage the “founder close” for your senior and/or strategic hires. Founders bring the focus on role purpose, company vision, and a shared ambition all of which are key considerations for the strongest performers.

What Does This All Mean? 

Hiring at scale is not just an Talent Acquisition / Recruitment function; it’s a leadership responsibility too. When founders treat hiring as a core part of their role and not something to be delegated off to others, it enables them to contribute and bring significant value to the process and that can well be their contribution can be one that propels scale-ups into sustainable growth.