Early-stage hiring: the chaos and the fun

🚀 Why speed matters in startup hiring One of the biggest challenges I see when supporting startups is time-to-hire. The best engineers and product leaders are rarely “available” for long - most have multiple offers or conversations lined up. When hiring drags on… ❌ Candidates lose interest. ❌ Competitors swoop in. ❌ Teams lose momentum. The difference between landing a top candidate or losing them often comes down to: ✅ Clear role definition (everyone aligned on requirements) ✅ Fast feedback loops (within 24–48h) ✅ Streamlined interviews (not 5–6 rounds over weeks) Startups can’t always compete with Big Tech on comp packages 💸, but they can compete on clarity, speed, and candidate experience. In my experience, when founders prioritize these, they build stronger teams — faster. 👉 Curious — how many interview steps do you think are too many for a senior tech hire? #Recruiting #Hiring #Startups #Talent #bnvrecruiting

How a startup should operate in a candidate short market 👇🏻 In recent months the market has picked up, with more and more companies hiring However the demand for high calibre AI/ML talent versus the supply is still very much weighted towards the demand.. So how can your startup optimise your chances of success? - Have a clear and compelling mission statement ✅ - Offer a market competitive compensation package which has a realistic split between liquidity and equity ✅ - Clear and aligned job descriptions internally and externally ✅ - Streamlined interview process especially for top candidates ✅ These might seem simple things, but you'd be surprised at how many founders just assume people will want to work at their startup 🙏🏻 What else would you add?

📈 September 2025 Executive Hiring Update: What Founders & Investors Need to Know Startup formation has cooled. Job growth has stalled. And tech layoffs — nearly 95,000 YTD — are still reshaping the talent pool. Meanwhile, AI continues to dominate capital. The top 1% of AI startups are now raising at 3–10x higher multiples than peers, creating a two-track venture market. This month’s data makes one thing clear: The labor market is softening at the edges — but executive demand remains strong. Search volume in August was up 31% YoY, keeping the race for top leaders tight. In our latest Bearhug Market Trends & Talent Insights update, we break down what we’re seeing across: - Live executive searches - Investor conversations - Founder decision-making at the $10M to $100M scale stage You’ll find quick, high-signal takeaways on: ✅ Why business deaths are moderating — leaving leaner, stronger startups ✅ What 263K jobless claims and a +22K jobs report mean for hiring timelines ✅ How layoffs are surfacing rare execs — but the best vanish in days ✅ Why AI-native startups are trading in a different valuation universe ✅ The leadership roles most critical to unlocking $100M+ scale 🎥 Watch the short overview video + 📊 Download the September 2025 deck (offers additional insights) + 📚 Read the blog recap over on the Bearhug website 👇 Link in comments to access the video + deck. If you’re advising startups or hiring yourself, this month’s data is worth a quick look. And if you’re seeing different signals in the market, let’s compare notes. 📝

📈 September 2025 Executive Hiring Update: What Founders & Investors Need to Know Startup formation has cooled. Job growth has stalled. And tech layoffs — nearly 95,000 YTD — are still reshaping the talent pool. Meanwhile, AI continues to dominate capital. The top 1% of AI startups are now raising at 3–10x higher multiples than peers, creating a two-track venture market. This month’s data makes one thing clear: The labor market is softening at the edges — but executive demand remains strong. Search volume in August was up 31% YoY, keeping the race for top leaders tight. In our latest Bearhug Market Trends & Talent Insights update, we break down what we’re seeing across: - Live executive searches - Investor conversations - Founder decision-making at the $10M to $100M scale stage You’ll find quick, high-signal takeaways on: ✅ Why business deaths are moderating — leaving leaner, stronger startups ✅ What 263K jobless claims and a +22K jobs report mean for hiring timelines ✅ How layoffs are surfacing rare execs — but the best vanish in days ✅ Why AI-native startups are trading in a different valuation universe ✅ The leadership roles most critical to unlocking $100M+ scale 🎥 Watch the short overview video + 📊 Download the September 2025 deck (offers additional insights) + 📚 Read the blog recap over on the Bearhug website 👇 Link in comments to access the video + deck. If you’re advising startups or hiring yourself, this month’s data is worth a quick look. And if you’re seeing different signals in the market, let’s compare notes. 📝

Too many early-stage founders fall into the “perfect fit” trap: holding out for the hire with the flawless resume, shiny logos, and headline-worthy wins. The problem? That search can stall growth faster than anything else: 📆 Critical roles sitting open for months 💸 Missed pipeline and revenue 📈 Competitors gaining market share The truth: The people who thrive in startups aren’t always the pedigreed unicorns. They’re the gritty, adaptable builders who can: ⭐ Create from scratch ⭐ Pivot under pressure ⭐ Learn and scale faster than the playbook crowd Shoutout to Casey Erickson, Captivate Talent's Head of Executive Search, for breaking this down in her latest piece (link in comments). How do you balance speed vs. pedigree in your hiring? #startups #SaaS #hiring #leadership

"Why Founders Struggle to Get Jobs After Shutting Down Their Startups" We often celebrate founders as risk-takers, innovators, and multi-taskers. A founder’s day can involve everything from product design to customer acquisition, team management, fundraising, legal compliance, and even late-night troubleshooting. In short: they know everything, but are masters of none (at least in the conventional sense). Yet, when a founder shuts down their startup and enters the job market, a harsh reality surfaces. Recruiters and hiring managers often hesitate. Resumes go unanswered. The same professionals who once built teams and drove growth now find it difficult to secure interviews, while their corporate peers who stayed in defined roles for years switch jobs smoothly. Why does this happen? > Perception of lack of specialization – Founders wear too many hats, making it harder to slot them into a single functional role. > Stability concerns – Recruiters worry if a founder will “stick around” or leave to start something new again. > Narrative mismatch – A founder’s journey is rarely written in the “corporate language” recruiters are trained to screen for. Being a founder is like doing an MBA in real life (on steroids). Yet the market often undervalues it because the experiences don’t fit neatly into job descriptions. After all, the best employees aren’t just those who followed processes, they are the ones who once built them. #StartupLife #Founders #JobSearch #CareerGrowth #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #Operations #Strategy #BusinessGrowth #Networking

A few weeks ago, I spoke with a software engineer who told me: “I don’t think I’m startup material. I’ve only worked in large companies.” Fast forward to today. He just accepted an offer with a startup client of mine. At first, they didn’t see how their enterprise background could translate. After digging deeper, we uncovered that their experience with scale, structure, and problem-solving was exactly what the startup needed. What looked like a mismatch became the missing piece. The founder told me yesterday: “We didn’t just hire someone. We leveled up.” For me, this is the win. It is not just about placing a candidate. It is about rewriting someone’s career story. It is about helping startups realize that diverse backgrounds fuel innovation. Recruitment, at its best, is not matchmaking. It is transformation. Have you ever been in a role or environment where you thought you didn’t fit, only to discover later that you were exactly what was missing? Humza Rafiq | JPJ Staffing #Recruitment #StartupLife #Hiring #TalentAcquisition #CareerGrowth #TechCareers #Leadership

Startup life can flip from calm to chaos in days. When that happens, there's one thing you MUST avoid... Overreacting. I’ve been guilty of mistaking a surge of demand for a new normal...and rushing to hire before we had the foundation to support it. Every time, it backfired w/ more stress, less efficiency, and worse outcomes (esp. if the increased demand was only temporary/seasonal). This past week, things heated up at ClosedWon Talent. We went from steady demand to adding 12 roles across 5 clients almost overnight, with a few more clients likely on deck 🤞. Instead of panicking & thinking about adding headcount, Jake Citrano, Kaylie Martin, and I are meeting to plan our attack and divide responsibilities to ensure our clients get the results they deserve. For now, the three of us can absorb the surge. It might mean longer days, but it also means better results and more revenue for each of us. If it becomes the new normal and cracks appear in the coming months, that’s when we’ll adjust and potentially hire. This is the same playbook I recommend to SaaS early-stage founders: Don’t hire AEs before demand arrives. Overload your current team with inbound until they’re begging for help, then hire. Your team will love the pipeline, candidates will drool over the opportunity, and you’ll scale with confidence instead of chaos. Hope everyone reading this has an incredible week!!

September is when hiring goes from slow burn to all-out chaos. If you’re a startup or high-growth company and you need a strategic hire before year-end, waiting until October is already too late. Here’s what’s happening: ▫ 40% of executive searches kick off in September–October. ▫ Top candidates often wait for end-of-year bonuses before making a move. ▫ Holidays and reduced availability shrink your hiring window. The data is clear: companies that move fast in September get the talent that drives Q1 growth. #StartupHiring #HighGrowthStartups #ExecutiveRecruiting #HiringTrends #ScaleUp #EOYHiring #TalentAcquisition #Founders #VCs

Recruiting at VC-backed startups is broken (we would know - we used to run it) After years leading recruiting inside VC-backed startups and now 2 years running thrively, here’s the truth: Most companies don’t have a recruiting problem. They have a process problem. ❌ Roles stay open for months ❌ The ATS becomes a mess ❌ Headcount plans change and everyone panics ❌ And worst of all? Candidates just aren’t excited to move We built Thrively to fix this. Not with fancy dashboards or fluffy decks but with a done-for-you, embedded recruiting model that moves at operator speed. And when headcount shifts? We let you reallocate searches. Because that’s just how startups work. If this sounds familiar, let's talk. Or just follow along. We’re sharing everything we’ve learned building Thrively from the inside out. #recruiting #founders #engineering #keepthriving