We just hired our first non-technical person. Her responsibility is sales. Her skill is business analysis. I've known her for a while and did wish there was a way for us to work together. Yet she is a classy and well kept young lady. We're a bunch of dudes making bad jokes and fun of each other. I honestly did not think there was any way she would like our gang. Then I introduced her to one of my partners, they hit it off and the next thing I know she's in the office blending in with the rest of the team as if nothing ever changed. She continues to analyze the team and presents her grand plan of achieving growth which I found absolutely amazing. She fits incredibly well and is determined to reach her targets in sales. I can't even figure out how this all happened and here we are.

Culture and results. Talent doesn't help the team and hanging out really well does neither. We need to be on common ground, understand eachother and strive for the same goals. What's our recruitment process for this? It's simple.

A new recruit gets an interview with the founders and any interested party, like the team they will be joining. The interview's only purpose is to get a gut feeling of the person. Dreams, passions, personality. Best recruits just hit it off naturally, but we do give time if we see potential.

We may read your CV and GitHub to get a feel for technical skills beforehand, but we don't take that too seriously. I seldom open those links actually. We don't give you a fake assignment either. The only way to be sure of your skillset is to get right to work! We pay for a day or a week of work just to see how far you get. I don't care if you graduated top of your class if you can't write a simple function. I also don't care that you're a beginner, if you actually advance the project.

So we hire fast. We also fire fast. One dude didn't last a day, because he just plain ignored my instructions for the task. We don't do this to be a startup. We do this, because there is no other way to make sure we match.

We also fired a partner (two, actually). Because while a great fit culture wise, the results were either small or just in a different direction. I'm not proud of any firings. But I'm glad to see the company continue in a mutual understanding.