hiring for startups — breaking down culture, dna

i started my career at d.e.shaw & co. a great organisation with fantastic people. after 2 years of great memories, friends, and learning, i moved to a company that was transitioning from foodiebay to zomato and was still working out of a home in gurgaon. i remember walking into the office in early 2011 with 20–30 odd people and fell in love instantly. you could taste, smell, and feel the hustle.

i have now spent 12 years in high growth startups (5 at zomato over 2 stints and nearly 7 as an entrepreneur (over 2 start ups) with moving goalposts, ambiguity, shit storms, crazy highs, lowest lows. i still love it. a lot of folks ask me questions on what’s been my biggest learning. and the only answer is — get the team and hiring right. here’s why -

dna — what’s that

everyone talks about culture. some use buzzwords to define it, some their mission and some do not define it at all. to each their own and no way is right or wrong, all depends on how well you execute. but the one crucial thing that i have learned is there is something that precedes culture, something that silently builds your culture. and that’s dna. dna is what we are made of, the actions that make us, what we appreciate, what we shun.

more examples -

• there are companies that make flexi timings work. ‘as long as the work gets done’. i am not a fan of flexi timings. if you have hit pmf then my views might be different. but in an early stage setup, i am a fan of people logging in at a certain time. there is a lot of collaboration needed + helps us move faster. what you are ok with and what you are not ok with sets culture.
• i believe that 80% is ok and have a strong bias to build, launch, learn, rebuild. i believe that we never really get to a 100 and launching early is key. if you are a student of the same school then that’s the culture you set for your org.

these seem like simple examples. but in my experience it’s the simple everyday actions that build culture.

my key takeaways -

• before you start defining the culture for your org, think hard about what your dna is. what your co-founders dna is, as that will set culture. no buzzwords or wall hangings will help. our actions, how we take decisions, who we decide to build with, what gets rewarded, why we ask people to leave — all of this sets culture.
• if you are a young startup that is now hiring leaders, make sure your dna matches with that of the leaders. different perspectives, approach is great but if dna is a mismatch, i rarely see things work out.

best way to test if dna is a match -

• simulations. imagine that you are making big tough announcements about changes in processes, reducing the team size, opening or shutting a new vertical. put the candidates in these situations and ask them to draft announcements, responses. have a mock exit conversation. does their style match yours?
• case studies — share an idea that you have been playing with in your mind. ask them to draw up a non elaborate business plan. how much time do they spend and on what? how are they recruiting? how are they thinking of sales? is your approach and theirs similar? how do they take feedback when you disagree with their point?
• probe them on who they promoted in their teams and who didn’t grow. what were the behaviours that they rewarded and what did they not appreciate and why. would you have done the same?
• respect what they have done in the past, but what really matters is how they handle the future. the days on which it all breaks down, that’s the day true dna → culture comes out.

p.s. — dna is unique for everyone so the purpose of this note is not to tell you what’s right or wrong. i like to document my learnings. it’s in my dna.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.