It's known YC prefers teams. Do you have a preferred shape or size for the team (2 tech, 1 marketing, or 1 tech, 1 web, 1 marketing and business etc); is any combination shown to be more likely to succeed within YC?
How do you view teams too heavy on tech? It's common for a group of tech people to have the idea, but as a team have some gaps on say the marketing side, and probably other areas.
A startup I was involved in, years ago, lacked much depth in sales and marketing. Filling that gap was a nightmare. Candidates would happily talk out of their hat, claim allsorts they didn't have, and those we trialled failed hard then invent no end of "reasons" why it's working perfectly. Suddenly recruiting programmers was easy!
Even people we've known in this area suffered from at least some of these habits, sometimes meaning it's a case of "nice guy, don't trust him as co founder". Made it hard to resolve, so the least worst techie got stuck with site copy etc.
No surprise, I've learnt much more about online marketing since those days. :)
Some tips I've found for finding/actuating a good marketer;
1) Dig into exact contributions to campaigns for past roles. Ask for the logic around decisions. Often marketers talk about their campaigns results but really they were a body in a room with little input. Dig for detail and motivations to decisions and you will find out who is who.
2) Look for initiative. Many marketeers repeat what is always done optimising here and there. Especially for dynamic businesses i'd look for people that see the world independently of their enviroment, have the initiative to shift how things are done. This is someone that will deliver results vs turn wheels for the sake of it.
3) Look for someone that has experience working big and small companies. The big brands will train comms, project management and procedure. Small brands should give the 'getting it done' skills, generalist experience and show they can get technical/dirty hands. Larger brand experience can look impressive but often the work is more project management for agencies and doesnt suit hand on. Likewise if you're business is big enough to run agencies if someone has always been hands on they can be weak project managers and communicate needs ineffectively.
4) Find someone that can analyse data vs report it. There's a big difference in the 2 and the former is surprisingly rare.
5) Avoid anyone that shows narcissistic tendency or is generally 'me' focused. This personality tends to be bad comms people (especially with social) as they see the world from their POV, not the customers.
6) Give marketers product input. They should have their finger on the customer pulse and valuable views on what sell/motivates users. Dont let tech side shut out marketing.
7) Don't go cheap. I often see startups advertising low paid roles a couple years experience, while they pay for experienced developers. Half the price sounds great but they will bring a fraction of the value.
8) Make sure they have a budget. This goes well with the above point. Generally I'd say a 10-20x marketing salary would be a good rule of what you should be looking to spend if bringing a permanent marketing role in.
9) Sales and marketing are not the same thing. Know what you need. They dont often come all-in-one.
10) While not an absolute I usually check linkedin contacts to skill endorsements ratio. Typically this ratio is higher for the people I know are good marketers. I wouldn't make my decision by this but is seems one of those soft indicators.
11) When you interview give a 10min exercise before to discuss and cover up real-time actual skills. E.g. show them some relevant to role campaign materials (e.g. landing pages/EDM's) and ask them how they would improve. Ask them what they would do with $50k. Typically I add in some spelling/grammar mistakes to also look for attention to detail as it tends to be a 'you have it or you dont' skill (like initiative) and not something you can train up.
As the spouse of a marketer, I think this is great advice! I only have three things to add:
> 11) When you interview give a 10min exercise before to discuss and cover up real-time actual skills. E.g. show them some relevant to role campaign materials (e.g. landing pages/EDM's) and ask them how they would improve.
Be very careful to keep an open mind when judging this one! If you are a non-marketer trying to hire a Director of Marketing, you are not going to be able to answer this question better than a qualified candidate. If their answer seems wrong to you, be sure to dig into their reasoning, past experiences, etc. to see why they answered the way they did.
If they omitted something that you thought was important, it's probably worth saying, "What about that big, ugly, magenta call-to-action button? Shouldn't it be green and fit with the rest of the design, perhaps?" You might be wrong! At least give them a chance to say, "I noticed that (how could I not?), but I've been surprised in several A/B campaigns to find that call-to-action buttons that stand out trump aesthetics in terms of conversion rates. If the design team wants to change it, I would certainly work with them to come up with a solution that looks good and converts. Otherwise, I have much more certainty that initiatives X, Y, and Z will have a real, measurable impact on discoverability and conversion."
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Secondly:
> 5) Avoid anyone that shows narcissistic tendency or is generally 'me' focused.
I totally agree here (but I'm biased because my spouse is not at all a narcissist). Be sure that your hiring process doesn't select against these people! If you're hiring for qualities like (over-)confidence, where you favor candidates who seem certain of themselves, you're doing it wrong.
In general, before writing off a candidate, try to dig into what you perceive to be their weaknesses. They may be stronger than you think in those areas. Again, if you think they're wrong about something, investigate that, too, as you may be the one who is wrong.
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Thirdly and finally, do NOT make the mistake of selecting for familiarity with your market. This is akin to hiring a senior developer based on what technologies they know. It is the job of a marketer to dive into a market with little-to-no prior knowledge and understand it quickly. A good marketer will join all the relevant forums, follow influencers on social media, etc. and understand your market better than you do within a few weeks.
If you see a marketing candidate with experience in several sectors, none of which include your own, that's an excellent sign, not a negative one.
It's known YC prefers teams. Do you have a preferred shape or size for the team (2 tech, 1 marketing, or 1 tech, 1 web, 1 marketing and business etc); is any combination shown to be more likely to succeed within YC?
How do you view teams too heavy on tech? It's common for a group of tech people to have the idea, but as a team have some gaps on say the marketing side, and probably other areas.
A startup I was involved in, years ago, lacked much depth in sales and marketing. Filling that gap was a nightmare. Candidates would happily talk out of their hat, claim allsorts they didn't have, and those we trialled failed hard then invent no end of "reasons" why it's working perfectly. Suddenly recruiting programmers was easy!
Even people we've known in this area suffered from at least some of these habits, sometimes meaning it's a case of "nice guy, don't trust him as co founder". Made it hard to resolve, so the least worst techie got stuck with site copy etc.
No surprise, I've learnt much more about online marketing since those days. :)