Building an early team has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I find myself learning a lot about the world of startups and building a complimentary and cohesive team.

The first challenge I realized was the lack of a defined role. As with many startups, all of us wear multiple hats, and hiring for one can be quite perplexing. Roles are fluid, and we had to navigate through uncertainties. We interviewed a lot of people to figure out crucial things: how senior should this person be because they’d have to handle both strategy and day-to-day tasks, what kind of skill set are we looking for, and would we value startup experience or functional expertise more.

As we learned to be specific about role requirements, separating must-haves from nice-to-haves became more critical in helping us decide the best person for our team. We sought to hire someone who shares our passion for innovation, eagerness to build systems, and versatility to tackle unique challenges. Throughout the candidates I’ve met, the ones that impress me the most are those who are able to showcase their work ethics and go above and beyond – reflecting what I also learned in my early hires with Gensu. This process taught me the importance of clarifying our needs and roles upfront, enabling us to identify the skills and qualities we sought in this potential team member.

During the iterative process of each interview, we clarified what we hope to learn about the candidate in each stage and designated specific team members for each stage. This helped us avoid overlap and gather valuable insights from different perspectives. Additionally, by involving decision-makers earlier in the pipeline, I was able to speed up the hiring process. This fine-tuning of our selection process improved our ability to identify the most suitable talent for our startup.

The journey of building our early team has been a profound learning experience. From clarifying role requirements to iterating on our interview process, each experience has contributed to shaping my personal growth in recruiting for an early-stage startup.

Since welcoming Anu Joshi to our team, we have experienced a wealth of knowledge and growth. Anu’s ability to quickly learn about the new founder recruitment challenge we presented to her and to maintain an unwavering focus on actions and solutions inspired me. It’s an absolute pleasure to have her on our journey, and I’m really glad we found her.