The document provides advice on recruiting a great team for a startup, including deciding what types of skills and experience are needed, evaluating candidates through a structured interview process, and motivating team members when cash is limited through stock options, recognition, learning opportunities, and having pride in their work. It also outlines focusing on the customer problem first, designing for ease of use, prioritizing work, launching to get feedback, and listening to customers.

1. Recruiting a Great Team for Your Startup
Dan Olsen, CEO, YourVersion
Startup Leadership Program
March 9, 2011

2. Agenda
YourVersion Story
Recruiting Team Members
Startup Advice
Quick poll of audience
Stage: Idea, coding, private beta, public
Background: engineering, business, other?
Looking to hire?
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

3. My Background
BSEE, Northwestern & MSIE, Virginia Tech
Stanford MBA
19 years of Product Management Experience
5 years managing nuclear submarine design
5 years at Intuit, led Quicken Product Management
Cofounded consumer web startup in Madrid, Spain
Led Product Management at Friendster
PM consultant to startups: Box.net, YouSendIt, Epocrates
CEO & Cofounder of YourVersion, startup building
“Pandora for your real‐time web content”
Will post slides to slideshare.net/dan_o
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

4. Problem: Amount of Relevant Content
Far Exceeds How Much Time We Have
Amount of new
info created each
day that’s
relevant to you
Hours per day you
have to consume
content
Time
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

5. YourVersion: the Best Way to Stay on
Top of the Topics You Care About
Most Personalized: add any topic to profile
Brings you latest news, blogs, tweets, webpages, videos,
Quora Q&A
Delivers Best Blend of Relevance with Recency
Easiest to Use: innovative user interface
Most Complete Discovery Solution
Sharing: email, Facebook, Twitter
Link shortening: yv2.me
Bookmarking with auto‐tagging
Mobile apps: iPad, iPhone, Android phone & tablet
Browser tools
Personalized email digests & widgets
Harnesses Collective Intelligence
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

8. YourVersion iPhone App

9. YourVersion Android Tablet App

10. Praise for YourVersion
Launched Sep 2009 at TechCrunch50, won
People’s Choice Award
Complimented by Marissa Mayer & Robert Scoble
Also won awards at Berkeley Digital Media
Conference, FailCon, SF NewTech, & SF Beta
iPad App: Apple featured us as “New &
Noteworthy” app
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

11. Recruiting Team Members

12. Deciding WHAT type of people you need
Skills
Experience level
Full time vs. part time
Local vs. remote
Eligibility to work
Personality fit
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

13. Team Chemistry
Myers‐Briggs
Extroverted vs. Introverted
Sensing vs. iNtuitive
Thinking vs. Feeling
Judging vs. Perceiving
Motivation
Work ethic, schedule preferences
Attention to detail
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

14. YourVersion Phases
Phase 1: “Food equity” phase
Friends on weekends
Cofounders or not?
PHP vs. Java
Private beta milestone
Phase 2: After incorporating
Phase 3: After public launch, winning
TechCrunch50 People’s Choice Award
Phase 4: After angel round
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

15. Resources for Finding People
Your Network
LinkedIn, Facebook
Ping more than once over time
Local events
Meetups
Startup matchmaking
Specific technologies: iOS, Android, PHP, JavaScript
Plancast
Startup orgs: SVASE, TiE, etc.
Coworking spaces: Hacker Dojo, Office of SV
Incubators / angels
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

16. Resources for Finding People cont’d
Universities
Job fairs: JobNob
Job posting sites
Jobs section on your website
Your user base
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

17. Evaluating Candidates
Write job description
Agree on evaluation criteria
Define your process
Step 1: review resume (also check on LinkedIn & Google)
Step 2: phone interview (check list of questions)
Step 3: in‐person interview
Resume review
Interviewing is a skill, need to practice to get good at it
Phone interview
In‐person Interview
Work samples are best
Behavioral interviewing, real‐time exercises
Ask where your company stands in their mind
Check references
Trial period
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

18. Success with Interns
In interview:
Really probe motivation & thought process
Cover logistics
Set expectations
May be their first job
For them
Make sure it’s a real job, give ownership
Ensure dedicated manager/mentor
Identify & clearly define projects
Learning experience: ok to stretch, grunt work bad
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

19. How do I Motivate my Team
When I don’t have Cash?
Stock options
T‐shirts / schwag
Positive feedback / recognition
Training / learning
Resume builder, be a future job reference
Launching/using their work, accomplishment
Positive feedback from customers, press
Pride of a job well done
Advice, skills barter
Food, Fun
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

20. Startup Advice
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

21. 1. Focus on the Customer Problem First

22. Problem Space vs. Solution Space
Problem Space Solution Space
A customer problem, A specific
need, or benefit that the implementation to
product should address address the need or
A product requirement product requirement
Example:
Ability to write in space NASA: space pen
(zero gravity) ($1 M R&D cost)
Russians: pencil
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

23. Iterating Your Product Vector Based on
User Feedback in Solution Space
Problem Space Solution Space
(your mental model) (what users can react to)
Help user Help user
book travel plan travel
Mockups / Code
Customer Feedback
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

24. 2. Go After a Big Opportunity

25. High Importance + Low Satisfaction =
Importance of User Need
Opportunity
High
Competitive
Opportunity
Market
Not Worth Going After
Low
Low High
User Satisfaction with Current Alternatives
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

26. 3. How Will Your Product be Better?

27. Kano Model: User Needs & Satisfaction
User Satisfaction
Delighter (wow)
Performance
(more is better)
Need Need
not met fully met
Must Have
Needs & features
migrate over time
User Dissatisfaction Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

28. What is Your Value Proposition?
Which user benefits are you providing?
How are you better than competitors?
Competitor A Competitor B You
Must Have Benefit 1 Y Y Y
Performance Benefit 1 High Low Med
Performance Benefit 2 Low High Low
Performance Benefit 3 Med Med High
Delighter Benefit 1 Y ‐ ‐
Delighter Benefit 2 ‐ ‐ Y
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

29. 4. Design & Ease of Use Are Critical
What most
people see
and react to Visual
Design What good
product
people
Interaction think about
Design
Information
Architecture
Conceptual
Design
Recommended reading: Jesse James Garrett’s
“Elements of User Experience” chart, free at www.jjg.net Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

30. 5. Prioritize and Stay Focused
Limited resources
10 high priorities = FAIL
What’s most important?
Manage scope
Avoid feature creep
Bread down big items
Strategy = deciding what
you’re not going to do
Must say “no”
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

31. 6. Launch so you can Learn & Iterate

32. 7. Listen to Your Customers

33. “Ramen” User Feedback for Startups
Anyone can do it!
Ingredients:
Solution‐space product/mockup to test
1 customer (with laptop if testing code)
1 desk
1 person to conduct the session
Pen and paper
Optional note‐taker and observers
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

34. Typical Format for Customer Session
5 ‐ 10 min: Ask questions to understand user
needs and solutions they currently use
30 ‐ 50 min: User feedback
Show user product/mockup
Non‐directed as much as possible
When necessary, direct user to attempt to
perform a specific task
5 ‐ 10 min: Wrap‐up
Answer any user questions that came up
Point out/explain features you want to highlight
Ask them if they would use the product
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

35. Dos & Don’ts of Conducting Usability
Do
Explain to the user:
Their usability test will help improve the product
Not to worry about hurting your feelings
“Think Aloud Protocol”
Ask user to attempt the task, then be a fly on the wall
Ask non‐leading, open‐ended questions
Take notes and review them afterwards for take‐aways
Don’t
Ask leading questions
“Help” the user or explain the UI (e.g., “click over here”)
Respond to user frustration or questions (until test is over)
Get defensive
Blame the user
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

36. 8. Startups are like Roller Coasters
Exciting with scary moments Find at least 1 cofounder: 1 + 1 = 3
High highs, low lows Get through the dips, share the highs
Challenging turns & dips Enjoy the ride!
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion

37. Try it out at:
http://www.yourversion.com
Free apps:
iPad http://bit.ly/yv‐hd
iPhone http://bit.ly/yv‐app
Android phone http://bit.ly/yv‐ap
Android tablet http://bit.ly/yv‐tab
Copyright © 2011 YourVersion