MARCH TO IPO (Part of a series): Finding GREAT people is Task Number 1

"Where do I find the people I need for my startup? How do I attract them to work for my new enterprise?"

Here are some tips from serial entrepreneurs I respect:

• Finding people will take 20% of your time as CEO for the rest of your startup life. Every day you will be recruiting. It will become as natural to you as brushing your teeth. It will be as important to you as breathing (without it, your startup will die).
• Start early -- years early. Great startup CEOs line up their core team and key techies many years before doing the startup. Yes, I said years, not months. That is how they decide that the people are great people. They know they will work well together on the job.
• Get the people before the money. Read yesterday's blog and think about it. Great investors invest in people, not ideas. Just ask them if you do not believe me.
• People you know are better than strangers. It would be foolish and dangerous to leave your children with a baby sitter you did not know. Your startup is also precious. Serial entrepreneurs do not turn their new enterprises over to be managed by strangers.
• Ability is more important than friendship. You may have to fire the person. That's how to lose friends. Better to focus on the ability of a person than a relationship. Don't pick them for religious reasons, or because they love one brand of computer over another, or because they saved your life once. They have to deliver results. Chose ability.
• "A people hire B people hire C people". That adage was cited recently in a private dinner for serial entrepreneurs that I was moderating. Time brings compromise. It is inevitable. Fight it. Keep the average as high as you can as long as you can.
• Do not compromise on quality. Serial entrepreneurs always tell me "I have learned bitter lessons about compromising on people: in a word, don't. Ever." Enough said. It is hard to do because you desperately need to fill the open position.

So where do you find the missing people? Here is the pattern that I see working in successful startups:

1. Start with people you know well because you have worked with them before.This is the quickest way to get going with quality people.
2. Fan out from your core team, get the entire company recruiting. You hired A people so get them to find more A people. Serial entrepreneur E.C. built an entire company that way, without a penny of venture capital. Amazing. But it works.
3. Birds of feather produce flocks of startup people. For instance, your university alumni organization. And small groups of people at work who like to talk quietly about startups. Forums about new enterprises attract startup people you can meet. Find out where they hang out and go there. Become one of them.
4. Recruit a great HR person, even if part-time. The HR stands for Heavy Recruiter. Able and eager to find the missing great people. That's the payoff for a true HR person in an early stage startup. Soon it will become a full time position because you'll be doubling the number of your employees each year.
5. Choose your recruiters carefully. Once you have cash, you'll grow fast and soon need to user recruiters. Pick them wisely. Serial entrepreneurs choose recruiters like they choose people, after interviewing them in depth.
6. Be patient with your company recruiting. The chances are low of you finding great people arriving in your Job email box. But it will happen. So read them all. I'll never forget John Morgridge CEO of Cisco sitting reading resumes the day I came into his office to interview him. Every resume is valuable. The haystack has some great gems hidden in it. It's your job to find them.
7. Your unfair advantage is the honey that attracts the bees. The great story that attracts the great people is about your unfair advantage. Prepare it well. Then have fun telling it. Over and over and over and over.

BOTTOM LINE: Great startups are built with great recruiting by the CEO and core team. It is a skill you've got to have. Learn it at work so when you are ready for your startup, you can be an outstanding recruiter. Plan recruiting weekly at your startup. Discuss recruiting daily. Make it a way of life for every employee. Get an army of great people recruiting for you. Your startup will then be built with great people. Leave the rest for your competition. When you can do this, you'll be well on your way to building your unfair competitive advantage.