VentureHire

Why should you consider a career in Android in India?

VHire — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 06:32:24 +0000

Your next career: Android app developer in India? | Infographic

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VentureHire — No, not gangnam style; Hollywood style!

VHire — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:33:37 +0000

VentureHire – No, not gangnam style; Hollywood style! from VentureHire on Vimeo.

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If you are serious on winning the – talent war – start with a good Job Description (JD)

VHire — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:37:50 +0000

In his book, “Winning“, Jack Welch points out — “Hiring Good People is hard. Hiring Great People is brutally hard.” Every CXO tells us how hiring is critical for their success and we believe so! However, we often see half-assed job description, a “copy and paste” from another job posting etc. We understand startups are struggling to keep all the balls up in the air – investment pitches, product launch, customer acquisition, resource allocation etc – and hard pressed for time. However, it is worth your time, if you consider “people” as your most important – asset. Our suggestion – start with writing a good job description. Below are some of the reasons why a well written JD can make your hiring processes effective and efficient (saves you a lot more time) –

Role clarity and standardization – Most importantly, it helps you think through the role/tasks in details, type of person – skill set and personality and how the recruit fits within the organization. It creates hiring standards for your startup as it evolves. You don’t want too many “jack of all trades”, you need a well rounded team with specialized skillset.

Filtering tool – If used well, it can serve as a tool to filter candidates and evaluate their seriousness. You can ask pointed question such as – what did you see in the JD that appealed to you? how does the position align with your long term goals? and so on. This clearly shows if the candidate read through the JD before applying for the position.

Feedback, evaluation and performance tool – As you share the JD with other founders, colleagues, subordinates, it also gives you feedback on the pressing problem they are facing and the skillset needed to fill the gap (get subordinates involved). It also allows you to use certain metrics defined in the JD to measure the success of a candidate once they are hired. You can set measurable goals for performance evaluation.

Selling your startup – We feel this is perhaps the most important piece where we see a lot of startups fail. They often “under sell” themselves. It is quiet important to showcase what your company is all about and why should someone leave their current position to join you. It is important to showcase your technology, management team, technical capabilities, press coverage and investors (shows stability). This is possibly one of the main reasons why someone will join the bandwagon to the Promised Land.

What are the ingredients for a good JD? Erica Swallow in her article “How to write a Standout Job Description” in Mashable sums it well.

Requirements	What do you need to include?
Job Title & Summary	Title and level (assistant, senior, lead, etc.) should accurately reflect the work that the employee will perform.
Key Responsibilities	List all of the essential functions of the position, at least 5 – 10 points. Be transparent about how frequently a task will be performed or what percentage of the employee’s time will be spent with each task.
Department & Supervisor	Include details on who the person would report to and where that person falls within the company’s structure.
Skills & Qualifications:	List all qualifications that are mandatory, along with those that are preferred. Such qualifications should include skills, years of experience, certifications, licenses, education level and necessary technical proficiencies.
Company Overview	Include information about the company’s mission, goals, industry and headquarters location.
Location	Include details on where the position is located. If travel is necessary, note what percentage of time the employee will spend traveling and where he or she will be traveling.
Type of Employment	Be very clear about whether the position is full-time or part-time.
Salary Range & Benefits	salary range and benefits , vacation days [stock options, cool things etc]

Source: Erica Swallow, Mashable

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Everybody’s a salesperson!

VHire — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:52:14 +0000

Why sales? Everyone lives by selling something. – Robert Louis Stevenson Sales is the lifeblood of any organization and perhaps the most important activity for startups. Even the best technology without customers is just a – technology – and not a business yet. What is Not Sales?

People often flinch when they hear the word “sales”. It is often associated with words like – manipulative, sleazy, pushy, inauthentic etc. However, SUCCESSFUL salesperson’s modus operandi – People are not Stupid. They understand that it is an art to connect to emotions and being genuine. It’s not the first sale but the relationship you are able to build with you customer over time.

Misconception

Reality

Selling is manipulative

Selling is annoying

Selling is boring

Selling is actually helping

Selling is actually sociable

Selling is actually learning

Source: Geoffrey James, Inc Magazine. What is a sales personality trait? No, it’s not the – fast-talking slick car salesman. Steve Martin’s statistics sums it up well.

Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople by Steve W. Martin

Modesty – 91 percent of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility.

Conscientiousness – 85 percent of top salespeople had high levels of conscientiousness.

Achievement Orientation – 84 percent of the top performers tested scored very high in achievement orientation.

Curiosity — 82 percent of top salespeople scored extremely high curiosity levels.

Lack of Gregariousness — Top performers averaged 30 percent lower gregariousness than below average performers.

Lack of Discouragement — Less than 10 percent of top salespeople were classified as having high levels of discouragement and being frequently overwhelmed with sadness.

Lack of Self-Consciousness — Less than five percent of top performers had high levels of self-consciousness.

Source: Steve Martin, Harvard Business Review Blog.

Can introvert be successful in sales? Absolutely, yes! Most times a calm, composed, confident listening sales person wins over their babbling counterpart. Research by Adam Grant, a psychological scientist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School showed that introverts have proven to be more successful. How do you become successful? Do you need to be a “born sales person”? In my opinion, it does not exist. Some people have “gift of the gab” but like everything else, success is achieved by being focused, tenacious and honing your skills time-to-time. VH is launching a 6 session sales program to provide the basic framework on – identifying opportunity/pain points; market segmentation, value proposition, building a sales funnel, managing pipeline, making sales call, follow up and closing. For more information, please click here.

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What Does it Take to Build ? FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER?

VH — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:51:16 +0000

It’s been over a month since the 2012 Summer Olympics, a great coming together of every country to showcase their finest. But what makes up a winning team to perform consistently – population, funding, facilities, GDP, superior athletic genes etc. We believe it’s a – process driven approach to recruit and train athletes. China’s Project 119, an initiative that started in 2001 after it was awarded the Beijing Olympics is an example of a process driven system. You can see the results below. In twelve years – 1996 to 2008 – they doubled the medal count from 50 to 100. China Medal Count – Summer Games

It works and we have seen it within the Indian system as well - Gopichand’s academy [Parupalli Kashyap & Saina Nehwal] and Chaudary Devi Lal Sports Center [Sushil Kumar & Yogeshwar Dutt] are two good examples of process driven recruiting and training system to churn out champions. It’s been about 2 months since we started VentureHire. Initially, we set out to “connect talent to awesome companies”. However, we’ve realized that the problem is not connection, it is lack of – startup ready- trained talent. To address this issue, we partnered with startup founders and the community to launch - Propeller, a structured training program- for the community, by the community. We recently launched our first course on “Big Data” in partnership with Hudki, a search platform. We look forward to your participation in supporting the ecosystem.

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Stock Options — the Carrot to Attract Good Talent

VH — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:21:41 +0000

How does startup attract the best talent? Yes, most often ? after all is said and done [salary comparison, location, job spec etc] ? Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) ? may be the carrot to attract qualified candidates to their leave a cushy job.

Here?s what some of the global technology titans created for their employees ?

10,000 Microsoft millionaires created by the year 2000 [Richard S. Conway Jr., a Seattle economist]
850 Facebook employees became millionaires after the IPO [Source: ITWorld]
1,000 millionaires (approximately) that Google’s IPO created [Source: ITWorld]

In India ?

Mint had an article last week on ? Stock Options ? and its adoption by Indian companies to attract and retain talent. Just few data points from the article [Source: Mint, Stock Options Back in Vogue]:

Just Dial: Stock options are offered to only 10% of the employees. 50 of its 6,000 employees benefited from the ?up round?.
One97 Communications ? Expects to create more than 10 crorepatis through its ESOP plan.
Flipkart ? 50 employees with stock options valued more than Rs. 1 cr.
InMobi ? 25 to 30 employees ?very wealth? on paper

It seems like companies are headed in the right direction with their ? share the wealth ? attitude. However, it is important for employees to examine and do their due diligence before taking the ESOP plunge since the upside is ? only for the winners. Below are few basic questions companies/employees need to evaluate before participating on any kind of stock option plan.

For employees:

Basic Understanding ? What is an ESOP?
Read the fine prints ? Vesting, Lock-in, Dilution, Transferability, Expiration?
Are you getting in the right bus? Belief in the company/management team, investors etc.
Promised vs. Signed ? It must be signed at the time of employment and NOT promised at a later date [Source: University of Hard Knocks]

For Startups:

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail ? What to offer, whom to offer?
Company structure, choosing the right ESOP Plan
What percent is your option pool, pricing stock option?
Accounting and legal implications?

What has been your experience as an employee/company?

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What is your best personality trait?

VH — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:34:02 +0000

Companies at different stages of their business are looking for different types of people. Of course, the cliché ? more risk, more reward ? does not fit for all. It is important to understand your skillset before you choose your path. Sometimes a high-flying executive from a blue chip company who gets enamored by ? early stage companies ? may not necessarily be a good fit, and vice versa. In reality, the “roll up your sleeves” environment may be more challenging than perceived.

John Greathouse, partner at Rincon Venture Partners, a US based early stage venture capital firm shows how companies require different skillset at different stages of growth. As John puts it ? Proper Stage = Proper Hire.

You can read more about it in his blog ? infoChachkie (click on the link)

As founders of venture backed companies, what personality trait do you look for in candidates when hiring?

Few resources (Click on the link):

Quora: What questions should you be asking before you decide to leave your current (non-startup) job and work at a startup?

Fast Company: 8 Reasons to Choose a Startup over Corporate Job

Steve Blank: A Startup is Not a Smaller version of a Larger Company

Economic Times: Reality of start-ups: Executives used to privileges now have to make do with small budgets, fewer perks

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Show me the Money ? Wages in Private Equity (PE) vs. Non-Private Equity Backed Companies in India

VH — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:56:06 +0000

?Show me the Money? ? a popular phrase from the movie Jerry Maguire (1996). There is a myth among professionals in India that startups, venture and private equity backed companies don?t pay well. That may be the case with bootstrapped startups (of course, due to limited resources), however, on the contrary venture and private equity companies pay competitively and of course if you are a superjock, companies are likely to throw in those sweeteners ? stock warrants and options.

Private Equity Impact 2011 is a report compiled by Venture Intelligence and Professor Amit Bubna of ISB. This report outlines the impact of private equity on every facets of business ? efficiency to governance. It also shows the impact on wages and its growth rate for PE backed companies. In the past 3 years, PE and VCs have invested over $22.6 billion. Venture and PE backed companies have positively impacted in the following areas ?

Efficiency in business processes
Scalability
Positive impact on top and bottom line
Access to more capital ? loans at favorable rates from financial institutions, equity markets
Improved governance [important] etc

How does it relate to wages? Wages at PE backed companies are significantly higher.

Source: Venture Intelligence

For more information, you can download the report at http://ventureintelligence.in/peimpact.htm

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Ready to Work for High Growth & High Stakes?

VH — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:52:10 +0000

Working at a venture-backed company is the best of both worlds – you get a steady paycheck and work for high growth with high stakes. It is an exciting place to be at any point in your career. For a growing company, you are a lot more valuable and powerful than executives at large companies. These companies can’t wait to change and grow and adapt to the marketplace. They are eager to learn more about the customer, meet their needs, and win on merit. If that speaks to you, join us in growing the zeal of entrepreneurship in India. Register here and clean up your resume. Adventure is on its way.

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