Talent Tuesday: Startups, Avoid Costly Mistakes with These Smart Moves
The Climate Talent Playbook
Helping Climate Founders Build & Retain Teams that Win — and Solve Climate Change
Really hard to believe it’s almost June now. But that’s what recruiting does to you.
In Today’s Issue:
👉 Startups, Avoid Costly Mistakes with These Smart Moves
👉 Jobs We’re Working On
👉 Word on the Street
Startups, Avoid Costly Mistakes with These Smart Moves
TLDR: Don’t Rush Your Hiring and You’ll Save a Lot of Money, While Surviving Longer, and Increasing Your Chances of Building a World-Impacting Firm.
Last week, I mentioned that 6K laid off a huge portion of their team as they are about to run out of money.
Throughout the past 12 months, we’ve seen a slew of other bankruptcies. Moxion Power. SunPower. Northvolt. Running Tide. Li-Cycle. Nikola. Canoo. To name a few.
From what I’ve heard in the market, there are others. Their mistake? Burning cash absurdly fast. Of course, this is not always the case, but in most it was.
I get it. Their investors were pressuring them to grow fast and achieve scale.
Problem is, the money went up in smoke, and so did the company.
But it likely wasn’t always this way. Often, it begins well. The company starts. Hits some milestones. Raises some money and grows the team. Hits another milestone. Raises even more money and keeps growing the team to keep up with all the growth goals.
Along the way, something happened, though. Just because you grow the team in the beginning doesn’t mean you need to continue to grow the team proportionally.
You see, one of the biggest expenses startups have is talent. And when the times are good, things tend to get frothy and unnecessary hires are made…often a lot of them.
All I want to do today is remind you there is a smart way to preserve cash while hiring the right people.
Here are my hiring tips that will help you preserve cash and extend your runway.
Trust the Process
Never rush. Find the right person even if it takes a looong time.
The teams that are disciplined enough to make the right hire, even if they are 5 months later than desired, almost always win over the teams that rush to hire.
Your resources are limited. That’s the reason you’re hiring. Don’t add problems to your plate by hiring the wrong person — or someone who requires a pile of training.Find Outliers
In case you’re not familiar, there is a legendary quote from Steve Jobs.
“The difference between the average developer and the best is 50:1; Maybe even 100:1”
This is true in almost all professions. There are people who cost ~20-30% more, but who provide 10x (or more) value than others in their profession.
If you’re following the first principle, you’ll have the time to find these outliers.
(Disclaimer, you’ll probably need a dedicated resource to do this, but it still pays off bc if they provide that much more value, they are worth the finder’s fee… or maybe I’m just biased).Hire Offshore
There are many jobs for which you can hire offshore. In some cases, you could go from paying $150k a year to $12k a year for someone of equal talent (and frankly, more hustle).
Personally, if you go this route, I think you should pay pretty above average. Keep in mind, point #2 still stands here, too. If you spend just a bit more, you can get a true outlier in other parts of the world, too.
If you’re worried about payment compliance, there are plenty of companies like Deel and Gusto that can help you manage compliance.Go AI First
If you take an aggressive approach to AI, you can likely find many hours of saved time each week.
The problem is, you need to invest the time upfront to discover those workflows. However, it’s worth it.
Again, you’re not rushing, so you can either figure it out yourself or hire an expert to help you. Remember, this will save you a lot of fixed costs over the lifetime of your company.Reflect Often
As a founder, it’s really easy to get wrapped up in the hustle — lost in the grind. But I’m telling you, you need time to stop and think… yes, just like Blue’s Clues.
By having regular time to reflect on how things are going, what the market is doing, if you’re in a winner-takes-all market, or not… you’ll be ahead of the competition.
Time to reflect can save you from getting swept up in the hubaloo of the market moment. It can prevent you from making too many hires too quickly.
You gotta go slow to go fast sometimes. This might be the best advice I've given in my entire life (it’s also the thing that has helped me the most).
There you have it. My 5 tips on how to preserve cash in your hiring practices.
Action Item: Schedule a reflection block in your calendar each week and keep it. Also, change your mindset — you’re not likely in a winner-takes-all market, so there is likely no need to rush.
Jobs We’re Working On 💼
Here are the jobs we’re supporting currently.
Sales Director - PowerGem | Remote (USA)
Director of Manufacturing - Helix Earth Technologies| Houston, TX
VP of Finance & Ops – EV Charging SaaS Startup | Austin, TX
Sr. Account Executive – Gravity Climate | Remote (USA)
Mid-Market Account Executive – Impact Startup | Brooklyn, NY
EHS Manager – Mission Solar Energy | San Antonio, TX
We might have a few more AE roles coming soon, so keep an eye out.
(→ Want your job here? Reply to this email.)
Don’t see a role for you? Submit your resume here.
PS: If you’re looking to find top talent in the US and struggling, reach out. We’ll help you find the best talent in a timely manner, accurately, and for about half of what other firms charge (we charge 12-15% others charge 20-30%).
Sponsored by ErthTech Talent: 70+ Placements since 2020. Affordable. Accurate.
Word on the Street
ClimateTech is not dead!
Okay, this may sound stupid to some of you — perhaps some of you resonate.
But, I’ve been living in the middle-of-nowhere-Wisconsin, and through the constant negative news, I’ve often felt like all the momentum is gone for Climate aside from the hardcore builders who keep driving.
However, on a podcast recording I did this week with a very well-known voice in the space, I realized I was wrong.
ClimateTech is still very alive. Sure, some people will rebrand. But these problems still persist, and there will still be founders solving them. Right now, we are just seeing a heavy focus on companies that either save money or produce new revenue streams for their clients (the podcast will be dropping on CleanTechies later this week).
Okay folks. That’s all for today. Sorry, I don’t have more gossip for you. I think no news here is good news for the space. See you next week.
~Silas
💬 Share your hiring win, challenge, or war story.
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