Finding talent, the new start-up challenge

By Celeste North (@celestenorth) of emprende.la

The amazing growth of Start-ups emerging in Latin America has given way to new challenges to overcome. Finding the right people to work with is most definitely one of the most common ones, a challenge that Silicon Valley has faced for several years.

One of the most valuable things of Silicon Valley is that it is crowded with entrepreneurs, designers and developers eager to start their own projects or join an interesting team. The fast pace at which Start-ups start and close operations is almost frenetic. Still, talent is always difficult to find. Many big companies end up buying whole startups just to “aquihire” the founders (“aquihire: being the acquisition of a startup by a large company where the acquirer is not interested in the startup’s product, technology or user-base, but only its employees.)

Frequently we find great founders with an idea and maybe a little bit of funding looking for the right people to start their product or service. Not finding the right people is one of the most common causes of start-up failure, so what can you do when you are a solo founder? These are some strategies on how to find and convince talented people to join your start-up

1) Attend networking events
Networking events are specifically to bring people together and find opportunities of collaboration, this goes from partnerships and potential investors to customers and of course, co-founders. Find events in your city and pitch your idea to as many people as possible. There aren’t any events in your city? Great opportunity to start organizing them and gain some visibility.

2) Post an offering
What kind of person are you looking for? Why should they join? What will they gain for choosing to work with you? Publish your post in an attractive way, remember that a co-founder is a partner that will be with you through thick and thin, it’s not as just recruiting someone for a job. In the same way people won’t be looking for just a job, but to commit to a project in a more personal way.

3) Search for specific people
Do you know who the expert in what you are looking for is in your city? Do you think they might be interested? Maybe the right person you need is already working somewhere else and you are only searching for people that are free. Do some research on who near you might fill the qualifications you need and talk to them. Getting them to quit and join your Start-up might be easier than you think.

If everything else fails and to continue on your own seems like the best way to go, don’t feel discouraged and keep going. Outsourcing development, design or marketing will be more expensive and probably will take longer than doing it all in-house, but launching in such conditions is always better than no launching at all.

How did you find your co-founders? What recommendations would you give to solo founders?

Emprende.la focuses on entrepreneurial innovation in Mexico.