Ask HN: How to hire if you're a profitable bootstrapped startup?
Hi HN!
First off, I wanted to thank everyone here for providing me the inspiration to bootstrap a startup. (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1321724 or http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1448750 )
Starting with less than $10k of my own pocket money, I was able to find an idea (online games) that grew profitable.
With the $10k to start, I was only able to hire freelancers to build the app I wanted to sell, but now that cash is rolling in and users are demanding more complex features, it's time to upgrade to a full-time in house developer.
This is where I'm at a loss. HN has great articles on pre-profitable hiring (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1445500). In fact that's how we got started. However, there seems to be a lack of advice for how a startup with good cashflow should hire.
I don't mean interview procedures, but rather how do you even start looking for someone? We'd like someone longer-term and more tech savvy that the median applicant on Odesk/Elance. We're not a large corporation yet and can't do campus recruiting (plus we need someone sooner).
Are the only options left getting a recruiter and mass job sites like Monster/Dice/Craiglist? Where do developers looking for startups hang out? Where would you post your job in this situation? Any help from people who's been there?
Much thanks from someone who's learned a lot from this site and hope to give back someday!
Published in 2010, this chronicle by @btstrpthrowaway details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
I personally have had some luck with Joel's stackoverflow career postings when it first started out. I'm not sure what it's like anymore.
Also, are you a programmer yourself? If so it's much easier because you can just reach back to classmates and friends.
Otherwise, you probably have a much harder time. There's an entire article here about how it's hard to hire a good programmer if you're not good yourself: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html
A couple of the best recruiters I know just started an agency aimed primarily at early stage ventures. While they are recruiters, they are amazing, and understand building early teams.
http://lab8ventures.com/
My greatest success has come from sponsoring local user groups in the technology that I am looking to hire in. Great way to make introductions. Most recruiters are a waste of $$, unless you are looking for a very specific, hard to find skillset.
What city are you in? If you're in LA I know some good recruiters that recruit for startups.
In general, I would suggest reaching out to users of local meetups, niche job boards like 37signals, and recruiters that have a good reputation.
I think taking out a listing on http://authenticjobs.com will attract the caliber of people you are looking for.