The Startup Life: Why Passion and Problem Obsession Are Key
Summary:
In this episode Dr. Jim welcomes Mike Staffiej, the dynamic CEO of ERIN, to debunk common myths in leadership and HR. Dr. Jim and Mike have a candid discussion about the entrepreneurial spirit within HR tech, and the power of specialized, passion-driven startups in cultivating profound impacts on the business landscape.
Mike shares his outlook on the nuances of growing a successful startup. He emphasizes the importance of laser focus in problem-solving and the importance of immediate impact. Mike also opens up about the challenges and realities of hiring in the startup world, asserting the need for passion and fit over mere expertise.
Mike dissects the common belief that hiring good people alone can drive success. Instead, he advocates for a combination of skill and adaptability to intense business environments. This conversation underscores the necessity of thoughtful recruitment processes that align with a company’s unique demands and culture.
Key Takeaways:
Selective Recruitment: A strong hiring process that evaluates passion and adaptability is crucial for successful integration in a high-growth startup environment.
Niche Focus: Specializing in a particular aspect, like employee referrals, can cut through the noise and deliver targeted solutions for complex enterprise workflows.
Start-Up Passion: The intensity and dedication required in a start-up setting go beyond professional competency; raw passion and problem obsession are key.
Hiring Philosophy: Adopting a "hire slow, fire fast" mentality, while sometimes viewed as controversial, can lead to more effective team-building in dynamic business landscapes.
Transparency in Hiring: Open communication about the rigors of the hiring process helps set clear expectations and aligns candidate motivations with company culture.
Chapters:
Introduction to the conversation with Mike Staffiej, CEO of ERIN
Mike introduces himself and talks about his passion for HR tech
The allure of startup life and the satisfaction of immediate impact
Choosing the employer referral space as the focus for ERIN
The myth of "hire good people and the rest will follow"
Common themes of failure in the startup environment
The importance of problem obsession in startup success
Validating problem obsession in the interview process
Balancing the interview process with candidate experience
Hiring slow to get to the heart of things
Importance of transparency in the hiring process
How to get in touch with Mike Staffiej
Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk
Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung
Connect with Mike Stafiej: linkedin.com/in/michaelstafiej
Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda
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Transcript
So Mike, welcome to the show.
[:[:
[00:00:30] Mike Staffiej: So we help big businesses turn their employees into recruiters,. It's that simple. Very straightforward. The I've been doing this for about five, six years now. And this is the longest job I've ever had.
[:[00:00:41] Mike Staffiej: But I'll tell you, I love HR tech.
I love this space talking to people like you, it's way different than anything else I've ever done. And it's been a wild ride.
[:[00:00:56] Mike Staffiej: Somebody asked me this earlier. You have a little bit of OCD.
ay every has a little bit of [:You can see that impact, whether it's like, Oh, you like grew the business or you're like, you just even made a cool marketing poster, something like that, you stare at it and you just soak it in and you're like, this is why I'm doing it. Like it, it manifests as like OCD just smoothing over, it's really cool.
[:[00:01:39] Mike Staffiej: Exactly right. Like it's a high, right?
You're chasing the high.
[:[00:01:56] Mike Staffiej: I lived my childhood saying I'm going to make referrals great for [00:02:00] everyone. That is the lifelong dream. Honestly we were looking for areas of improvement, like in recruitment just seemed on the surface, like why are people outsourcing anything for recruitment? And there's a reason for that.
But could you supplement that another way? Ultimately, we ended up on referrals and doubling down on that and achieving what ultimately became a workflow tool, . Like we're an enterprise workflow tool. All that means is they were doing this on spreadsheets and stuff before. Now we. Automate that to scale it.
It's not like a glamorous story, but the best HR, the best tech startups ever are basically taking a manual complicated process and making it better. Like the squiggly lines become a straight line,.
[:So you have two different strategies. You can try to be the all things to all [00:03:00] people variety of a solution, or You can look for that one small thing that nobody is really focusing on and be really excellent at that. And then that gives you a different pathway to success.
[:Quite literally laughed at me. But when you get that niche and that narrow. That's when you actually can start breaking into businesses that have no business talking to startup because we have this very specific problem and you have a very specific solution. We'll give you the time of day and we'll talk to you.
It can be sometimes not all solutions are businesses,. So sometimes you got to find your solution and then build that into a business. Like the business came later which is an interesting experience, but yeah it's a great way to, to don't try to be everything.
Try to be one thing really well and get it done right.
[:[00:04:07] Mike Staffiej: I. Always been a, an attitude of if you hire good people, like you'll get there, right? It's actually not true. The it was in startups, right? And what I mean by that is that it takes it's not just a person that's good and knows their field. They also need to apply in a high growth.
Startup environment that can be intense. Like it's not for everybody. And time again, we've hired amazing people that have just completely missed,. So we really adopted a higher, slow fire, fast mentality. And that, that sounds harsh, but what that really means is like making sure that it's not just a person that understands this, their field, it's not just a a good professional, but it's also somebody that can apply that.
is really hard thing to do, [:We really bought into. Hire good people and the rest will follow. It's more than that. You actually need to hire good people that apply in this scenario and then the rest will follow.
[:So you talked about hiring slow and firing fast, and not everybody's cut out for the startup life. When you look at, when you're doing a loss review of everyone that might have had to exit the organization, what are the common themes that came up that led to failures?
[:Like you can be great at what you do. You could really understand the space, but if you don't have that raw passion, where you're going to wake up in the middle of the night and be thinking about a problem that we have at this stage of a business, again, high growth startup, you're not going to get there.
n that, but it's cooked into [:Or do they have that passion? That's never been tapped into and you're just ready to unlock it. And those are actually the best hires. The ones that are like, I'm going to kick and scream and claw my way to the top at all costs. And and they learn the stuff later. Like they they learn the space, they learn everything else driven by that, that raw passion.
And it's a really hard thing to interview for, . Everybody's passionate in an interview. They're going to tell you they love it. They're going to want to do it. But are they putting in the extra hours or are they letting inspiration hit them at any moment of the day? That's tough.
Honestly, with this, with the post COVID workforce, like people want to rightfully live their lives outside of work. And. It's startups, the, often it's the long hours and the long days that make the difference.
[:In order to be successful in the startup world, whatever niche you're in, [00:07:00] you need to be obsessed with the problem that your product is solving. Yeah. So my question to you is, When you're trying to validate a candidate on the level or degree of problem obsession that they have, what are some of the things that you've done in the interview process that helped identify somebody that's going to work out?
And somebody that might not be as successful.
[:And like, when can you really see through Kind of the the veal that they put up cause they're on top of the game, they're there to sell you. How do you break them down so that you can start seeing things? And part of them is asking is giving them some homework to say like, how would you approach this?
. And again, I don't want to [:And put them put them to work. And when they come out the other side saying I really enjoyed this. And I thought of some really cool stuff. And you can see when they're explaining the plan to you, there's a difference between Oh this. And they're like, Oh, and then I found this thing.
And then I'm really excited about this one. That's when you start knowing, like you got the right person.
[:So You're going to lose a lot of candidates that just don't have the time for that. And there's, there could be some impact on your brand in the marketplace. So what are the things that you're doing to guard yourself or insulate yourself from those sort of things?
[:So I think the easiest way to minimize that is to tell them up front this is our process, [00:09:00] right? And this is where we're going to go in each stage. I'm going to pass you along. So like some people may self select out. Like I've had people Hey, like I have other job offers. Like I need to know in a week and a half and I'm like, we can not do it in a half.
Just like hiring slow does not happen in a week and a half. So you need to be transparent and upfront about that. You need to openly communicate with people about what's going on. And the ones I agree with you that it may filter out, like you may filter out some really solid candidates. But ultimately like you, you gotta believe in some of the evidence of the process that you've put together and the results that you've seen in other cases.
And as long as you're transparent and they know what they're getting into, and you're respectful of their time, you're not, I'm not talking long interviews for the sake of long interviews. I'm just talking about a long process for the sake of getting to the heart of things. I think the right people will respect that and just be, just treat them like humans every step of the way.
[:And you're like, what the hell is going on? Great insights. And I appreciate your perspective and sharing your philosophy on why hiring slow is the better way to go, especially if you're in a high growth startup to make sure you're maximizing each hire. So if people want to continue the conversation with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
[:[00:10:25] Dr. Jim: Thanks for hanging out with us, Mike, and helping us bust a myth. Stay tuned for more
