Hiring great people is hard. But even harder -- and far less understood -- is the art of great team composition.
Most founders evaluate candidates in isolation, asking “Is this person great?”
The better question is “Is this person great for us, right now?”
The “move fast and break things” candidate could boost product velocity. But too much time hacking things together, and you’ll find yourself spending more time fighting avoidable fires than making progress.
The “let’s build things right” candidate could solve many of your reliability issues. But too much time spent engineering for scale, and you won’t ship product quickly enough to survive.
The “expert in this niche” candidate could solve that specific problem really well. But too many specialists, and you’ll struggle to pivot to anything new.
With teams, as with any complex system, too much of any one element can screw the whole thing up.
So what do I do?
When you’re deciding who to hire next, spend more time thinking about your current team.
Ask yourself:
Do we make too many mistakes? Do we make too few mistakes?
Are we struggling more with finishing projects or with starting projects?
How long does it take for us to pick up something new?
Who’s currently doing a job they hate?
What are we avoiding because nobody wants to own it?
Then make sure whomever you hire brings the team closer to a happy equilibrium.
Remember, the goal isn’t just to build a team of superstars. It’s to build a superstar team.
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