My ideal hires for future startups

By Charles Jo

3/7/15

Intelligent, hard working, ethical, – these are the basic requirements when hiring. I’d add teamwork, professionalism, ability to learn quickly, friendly, someone who can handle stress and not turn toxic at every downturn. Of course, I’d add diversity as well – not only to get wider range of perspectivesand strategies in tackling problems but because I want everyone in the world to use my product, my company should reflect the global population.

One quality that many may miss or avoid altogether is entrepreneurship. Old school of thought is to hire loyal employees who commit themselves to you but who you can fire any time depending on business conditions. I challenge that view to those building new companies. Rather than being captive to this limited view, founders and business owners should look at the life time value of the employee, or more correctly, a business partner.

Every hire at my future companies would have a dream of starting their own venture some day. From front desk office support to CTO, each employee should have an itch to learnabout how to step out on their own. Sure, I’d want to avoid direct competitors but instead, I would court everyone as an entrepreneur who after graduating from my firm, comes to me first to invest in their startup. We’d have trust built already to launch as partners.