dietz tech recruiting

Recrui'ng A Great Tech Team

Sco$ Dietzen CEO, Pure Storage

[email protected] [email protected]

(Alumni of

Zimbra, WebLogic, and Transarc)

Original content herein available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

GeFng a Product Right is Very Hard

§  GeFng a tech. product right is very hard §  Ease of use/design

§  Even on the enterprise side: consumer-‐ificaQon of IT

§  Reliability & performance §  Security & manageability §  Maintainability & packaging (SaaS, Appliance, etc.)

§  Building a new product from scratch is much harder than enhancing a successful product

§  Top talent essenQal given amount of work to get done Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 2

The intellectual level needed for system design is in general grossly underestimated. I am convinced more than ever that this type of work is very difficult and that every effort to do it with other than the best people is doomed to either failure or moderate success at enormous expense. –Edsger Dijkstra

Start-‐Ups Need the Best §  It takes top talent to shape a new product from whole cloth

§  Many more degrees of freedom to navigate §  ExponenQal gaps between producQvity of great, good, and average engineers §  Also gaps between starters & finishers §  Top talent thrives when unconstrained by legacy

§  Dietz’s best recruiQng line: “Do you really want to spend the next year turning 10 year-‐old so?ware into 11 year old so?ware?”

§  Beware sense of enQtlement; Hire great athletes, not resumes §  Interview process must facilitate the cream rising to the top –

You should push candidates past their comfort zone §  Make them think §  Real-‐Qme coding,

debugging & opQmizaQon exercises §  Do they challenge poor assumpQons?

§  But have fun too! – New hires need to feel a cultural fit

Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 3

RecruiQng Effort §  25-‐50% of founders/leaders Qme

(albeit in waves, heavier early on) §  Worth the Qme – Beside geFng a great team,

you may well work together again down the road

§  Time savers §  Pre-‐interview hurdles

§  Online quizzes (think C.S. GRE) §  Phone screens

§  Manage the day §  Hard interviews up front §  Opaque & flexible schedule

§  However, keep in mind, you don’t want to alienate those that for whatever reason don’t make your cut §  Marten Mickos – “You should touch 20 or more candidates for each

one you hire. The other 19 should become good-‐will ambassadors.”


Sourcing & References §  Sourcing

§  Employee referrals §  Handful or two of good external recruiters §  Online job posQngs, LinkedIn, et al. §  CommuniQes (open source or otherwise) §  Internships (typically short-‐term loss for long-‐term win)

§  As soon as you have sufficient personnel to on-‐board them §  Leverage VC recruiQng arms

§  References §  Back-‐door be$er than front-‐door §  Trusted back-‐doors be$er than untrusted §  Ask hard quesQons probing for gaps

§  Seek grades or stack rankings relaQve to peers §  “If you were giving the candidate career counseling, where could they have improved?”


Team Building §  Despite your efforts, you will sQll make hiring mistakes §  As soon as you realize you don’t have a fit, make the change

§  As hard as it is, if handled well, managing out a less effecQve contributor can actually boost morale of the rest of your team

§  Aler all, not everyone makes an elite team

§  Go the extra mile for those that do §  Don’t skimp on basic benefits, laptops, other cost effecQve things that juice producQvity

§  Don’t reward negoQaQon, reward merit


Scott Dietzen 7

Entrepreneurial RecruiQng §  (Blind, stupid) opQmism required §  Sell hard! §  But don’t over promise – Be

honest and open about the opportunity §  Ideal candidate develops fire in the belly during the recruiQng process

§  Be a team player (there’s no i in team)

§  But also be in charge – The right candidates are looking for leaders and a mission

The Charge §  Greatest thing about our industry is what

a small group of passionate people can accomplish

§  Mobile devices, open source, and clouds have dramaQcally reduced the hurdles to your success

§  You just need the spark for an amazing product! §  Four golden rules for converQng that spark to success

§  A stellar, func'onal team is your strongest asset §  But cash is your life blood, manage it ruthlessly (for most of you, that means not over staffing, in numbers or in seniority)

§  Get the first version out the door quickly & iterate ... don't wait for the perfect product

§  Make decisions fast. Some will be wrong. Make sure you have enough feedback in the system to course correct


Best Quote on Entrepreneurship? “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-‐-‐-‐which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.” Admiral Jim Stockdale

Thanks you! Comments most welcome.

[email protected] Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 9

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