#3 The hiring process that helped me build a strong team

Hiring the right people for your company is one of the most difficult — and most important— tasks as an entrepreneur. The wrong hire can seriously hurt your business, while the right one can accelerate everything you’ve been working toward.

Over the years, I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates for my business. I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve also built an amazing team with great people. In this edition of Founder Notes, I want to share how I approach hiring, the lessons I’ve learned (so you can skip some of the mistakes), and what I would do differently if I started again.

Culture = key

If you haven’t done this yet, write down your company culture—or what I like to call your company DNA. I start with this instead of skills because I truly believe character matters more than skill. You can teach skills. But changing someone’s character? Nearly impossible.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to be the same. But they do need to align with your core values. If their personal values match your company DNA, you’ve got the foundation for a strong, cohesive team.

Skillset = next

Get clear on what skills are must-haves and what can be taught later. For example, if you’re running an e-commerce business and hiring a junior digital marketing employee, it’s crucial they can analyze data (hard to teach), but it’s okay if they haven’t used Shopify before (easy to teach).

Know what you need now, and what you can grow into together.

Writing the job offer

Don’t underestimate the importance of a great job offer page. You’re trying to attract great people—and great people are selective.

If culture fit is important to you, it’s equally important to them. Show what your business is about. Share your DNA. Make it clear what kind of place they’d be joining. Be honest—show both the good and the tough parts. If you only mention the fun stuff and skip over the stress of deadline days, you’ll lose credibility. Just be real.

The selection process

Here’s the process we’ve used:

1. First filter: resume + motivation letter
A bit old-school maybe, but it gives a first impression. That said, I’ve been wrong many times here, so don’t rely too heavily on this.

2. 20-minute intro call
A quick video call (we use Google Meet). This is to get a feel for each other, answer basic questions, and let them ask theirs too. Remember, it’s a two-way street.

3. 2x 30-minute interviews
First, a face-to-face with the founders. Then, a second meeting with one or two members of the leadership team. The goal: evaluate both culture fit and skillset, but in separate conversations.

4. Final round interview
A more in-depth session with practical exercises tailored to any doubts we still have. We also introduce the candidate to 2 or 3 team members so they can get a feel for the team—and the team can weigh in too.

5. Offer
If everyone’s aligned and we feel it’s a match, we send an official offer and check if it works on both sides.

🎁 Interview questions I like (feel free to steal 👮♂️):

❓ “It’s your first week. You’re on your own and notice a €5,000 overspend on a client’s account. There’s no one to ask, and the client just found out. What do you do?”