How to lure corporate talent to a startup?

How to lure corporate talent in a Startup?

I think most entrepreneurs will know that it never goes right ... you see stories in the media of overnight successes ... but most founders will know this is not the case.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

The FounderWe talk to William Laitinen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-laitinen-93282/, https://twitter.com/WilliamLaitinen), co-founder of Exige International an executive search agency (https://www.exigeinternational.com/).

During this interview, we are talking to him not only as a founder, who bootstrapped his company, sleeping on his cousins’ couch, but also who survived the global financial crisis starting in 2008.

A lesson to learn - from early on as possible - is: You are going to be facing problems in your team and your organization.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

Affiliate LinksThe hard thing about hard things

https://amzn.to/2S62X30Ben Horowitz tells his story from an employee, afraid to lose his job to CEO of a company caught in the dotcom bubble to VC investorZero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future https://amzn.to/37H2MSpPeter Thiels, the famous investor tells you his mental framework to think about innovationBlitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies https://amzn.to/2Ob0xySReid Hoffmans, the founder of LinkedIn, advice on scale fast

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The Startup William started headhunting in financial services (Mergers and Acquisitions) and strategy consultancies during the early 2000s, with a laptop and a phone. He classically bootstrapped his company, starting crashing on the couch of his cousin and working his way up from there. He called it “the golden age of headhunting,” and like many others he thought it would always go on like this. So, he was in a great spot, just before the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers which almost froze hiring in Investment Banking and strategy consulting.

I was in the worst place you could be in the financial crisis ... I didn’t do a deal for 18 months.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

William used the global financial crisis to change his focus and now is working primarily with insurance companies in Western Europe, specifically in Switzerland, as well as with insurtechs.

You will face a whole heap of problems and challenges starting a company ... Who you want to hire is really really important in overcoming the problems you will be facing.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

Advice in Hiring

People leave their job for just two reasons: Logic and emotions.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

William talks about hiring for startups, especially about the importance of the first hires. He is recommending looking for four core values in the new hires:

IntegrityHumilityAssertiveResilienceYou could add curiosity

I love hiring people smarter than me! You turbo charge your environment.

William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige

William also encourages founders to look for cognitive differences, especially in the first employees. Ideally, you hire someone smarter than you with different thinking, so he/she will be able to attack problems in another way. He is recommending a different gender, ethnicity or different demographics.

Lay down your val...

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