 Hello everyone, I'm Julio Martinez co-founder and CEO of abacom. It's a blast to be here Okay There we go Hey, very quickly about myself. I Launched for fintech products to market from a scratch and honestly many others that didn't work. I For spend too much time in investment banking and I'm looking for redemption And I'm seeing some horns in the audience as well here maybe former consultants or something I'm a three times father and You know my kids give me busy. I'm very happy and finally My biggest accomplishment I'm a pro paella cook. So if you want to get some tips come me grab me later quickly on abacom we are the leading meat market financial planning and analysis solution and We held finance teams Drive performance with having all the operational KPIs from all business systems in one single place And we make reporting forecasting and one click scenarios feel like a breeze We are headquartered in New York What I'm best and we have operations in London and Barcelona where I'm from as you can tell by my thick accent Good, why am I here giving this stock or making early hires, right? What what are my credentials really? Hey, you need to know something right? I fucked up a lot many times all over the place, right from sea levels BPs meet management heads of junior people across product technology sales marketing. So, you know it's very embarrassing actually and During that journey, I've learned a few lessons. So what I'm planning to do today is to share a very tactical actionable Pragmatic stuff that hopefully is helpful for those making early hires Let me one go back a click because all these people were actually very smart So something I want to say is that, you know, I carry a heavy burden, right? I failed in conducting a amazing hiding process to attract the right talent and actually I failed them in bringing them to success Right. I also want to be clear on that. So that's why, you know Mastering hiding is very important. You want to avoid and first situations and you know feeling guilty later on in your journey okay First things first This is your top priority, right? There are no shortcuts. This is your top priority You need to put in the work to make this happen, right? I used to spend at least two days per week just hiding It needs to become, you know, the bulk of your agenda the bulk of your week because the stakes are really high It's very easy to get this wrong, right? first of all The caliber of your early talent is gonna heavily determine the quality of your next 100 and 200 people in the company second your investors Your customers are actually judging you for your capacity to attract talent And then finally in early stage frankly, you don't know much yet, right? So uncertainty is very high and it's difficult to understand what talent you need So you need to put the hours you need to put the intention you need to be very mindful about your hiding process Good. We're gonna be covering three main topics who to hire How do you hide them and then hey once on board? What do you actually do? Let's move on who to hire, right? Who do you want to hire? Hey? In the startups it feels easy you build stuff you sell stuff, right? That's it When it comes to product hires Engineering design and then product We got this very right our first engineering team our first first five hires were engineers And then our first 15 out of 20 were also engineers and they they are man-blowing team out of this wall So we were very lucky there. What did we do right? We went for very senior people like 15 20 years if possible of experience people that have been there and done that So don't compromise on seniority. That's really important Second you want to go for Betty pragmatic and business oriented engineers And you can prove for that in the interview process, right? If the questions they ask is hey Do I get to build an exact on an architecture here? You know, what about your micro services? Wrong, right? So the questions that you need to be hearing is Am I really gonna solve a real customer problem the code I commit? You know, what's the impact that this is really having right? This is a business mindset that you need your engineering team to have especially in early stage When it comes to design we were very fortunate here We got a first stellar designer probably the smartest person. I know and It's been transformational. I think arguably at the beginning you can outsource design for some time Eventually you will be paying the price in this market. I bet everybody has at least five to ten competitors, right? Use design as your competitive advantage build in-house and amazing experience So the type of designer that you need to get on board is interaction Go very deep on interaction as opposed to brand visuals research, you know, all that is good You can outsource that to get on board an amazing interactive designer that builds an amazing experience for your product Like that was a key success factor for us And then when it comes to product, right? Hey, many companies out there don't believe in product management, right? So and they're very successful or they bring pms very late in their journey like stripe or linear or many others That's all right. I I've seen pms having a huge impact in our business and You know, I'm a big believer in having strong pms. The only thing that matters here is to get them right and hey many pms will focus more on maybe frameworks and passwords and theories Instead of obsessing about becoming the person that knows the customer the most in your company, right? You need to get those pms. You need to prove for that. How often do you talk to customers? It's that daily. How do you derive insights? That's critical, right? No frameworks. No Lenny newsletter That's for fine. But hey, are you obsessed with the customer? Do you know your customer better than the founder? When it comes to managing pms. Actually, you can bring you can bring a head of product as well You know, I would suggest that you stick with managing pms for as long as you can as a founder You know very close to that product building and I didn't do that for some time and you know, I've regretted Okay, how do you nail your distribution? How do you nail go to market? two types of hires here growth and of course your closing capabilities when it comes to growth and Okay, this is somebody that loves to experiment every day all day, right? Also, something I've learned is that at whatever it takes attitude Matters a lot. So this is people that are extremely driven. So former bar cut bankers and consultants tend to work very well here and that are willing to go through that wall to deliver your pipeline or ARR metric and They don't care, right? Maybe it's fixing half spot. Maybe it's building a cold sequence Maybe is a launch in an event Google LinkedIn campaigns, whatever They are not optimizers, right? They are not gonna be scaling the business for you, right? But this is a supposed to design which is very interaction. So very core these guys are four wheelers And really can cover a lot of ground when it comes to delivering growth and pipeline Closing you need people closing business, right account executives I think there is an argument about having a full cycle To full cycle yours one two right to make them compete to full cycle account executives that move from sourcing deals I'm building pipeline all the way to signature Full cycle is you know more efficient when it comes to resources and you know usually in early stage It can work if you have a complex product like we do, right? So we sell to sophisticated CFOs sophisticated BP finances We have a technical conversation our product, you know, there is a high degree of complexity, right? So probably you need some degree of a specialization And that's why for us it worked better to have initially two three BDRs Then two account executives, right? So you can specialize those roles and you know half account executives go deeper into the technical Later on in your journey, of course, you might want to have sales engineers solution architects, you know to get more technical Which is what we've built now, but at the beginning, you know, this is how you close deals basically Okay So who are these people? What is the common denominator? Those early hires are mad lovers Right. This is people that enjoy staying in the dirt like this guy, right? Smiling there and they love to build from scratch Look, that also means that this is people that are excited about taking Shows of shit just like you as a founder, right? And therefore some amazing talent is either former founders or people that want to become a founder and That really are you seeing working with you as an step in a stone into their own journey, right? But hey also something that I've learned is that in the in the interview process Everybody feels they can build from scratch Everybody feels I can do this. I'm a builder from scratch. No problem. I got this You know what, you know, we people tend to over, you know misunderstand what we really want in life oftentimes and And hey, it's very difficult to live in the mat day in day out for many months, right? So in the interview process you need to do a very good job in understanding their true intentions And if they are capable of do that and you you will need to get very close to a rectal examination Like it's it's very difficult. They are not lying to you. They honestly believe they can do it, but then they can't And that's an issue Okay They also need to be generalists, right? In general, you want to have people that eat problems of any kind for breakfast And second focus on getting your next 12 to 18 months, right? Everybody gets super excited about, you know, you know this candidate. It's amazing You know, we can we can grow with him for three to five years and you know all these all this amazing stuff Well, your job is really to get 12 to 18 months, right? Right and then during that time you will judge if this talent can bring you to the next step Obviously take take seniority into account and if they have really gone, you know Beyond certain points, but really focus on on your 12 to 18 months good moving on We know who to hire How do we hire these early people? Well, first of all You have to be extremely rigorous and discipline about your hiding process. So this is all about Managing your hiding process like a go-to-market funnel like your marketing and sales funnel First of all get your operations, right? You need to be very strict in defining the steps in the funnel who is taking care of each step What are you proving in each one? What exactly you need to see in the candidate in every step so that they move on? Where are they dropping? Why are they dropping? It's very important to get these operations, right? There is plenty of literature out there. It's operations, but really this will increase your chances of avoiding mistakes Then the big question arguably more important even is, you know, how do you fill up the funnel with world-class talent, right? So now I'm starting my company and now, you know, where do I start? Well, something that worked for us was really go for You know, we went for a coffee over those basically, right? So you go out there and then you start Buying coffee and talking to everybody, you know in the ecosystem literally And it's not only that actually what we did is I tried to recruit everybody even if I had no conviction, right? I just wanted to flex those muscles I just wanted to get excitement from people to to build that momentum and then people will feel flattered, right? And then some of them will actually join you in that funnel So then you start, you know running the machine and then some others out of that excitement will open their network to you So you don't finish any of those coffees without two or three referrals that are actionable and then you keep the ball rolling So referrals is also critical Reach out to your network, build excitement and then either, you know They come and join you in the funnel or they sell your vision on your behalf to their friends Of course, there are other Accelerators here. So why combinator was instrumental to us It's a very strong brand for early stage Any other fundraising can also, you know fundraising can also establish the credibility for your company. So that's helpful And then of course advisors, right advisors. I Know you might be thinking well, you know, but holy advisors are totally overrated, right? So you you lift a stone and there are 20 advisors, you know And it's probably true, right? But but there is something here the truth is that the one you get right can be extremely Transformational to your company. So if you find the right people, they can be amazing and actually in our case For instance that amazing early engineering team that we hired that, you know, are humbling me still today Every day they came through an advisor, right? So, you know, it was amazing for us Good some more tactical some more tactical lessons. I've learned Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt, right? You need to feel the inner excitement You need to have that strong gut feeling. It's black or white You have to be in high conviction. Don't cheat yourself. I did it, right? So you cheat yourself, right? You know, no doubt, but there is a doubt and then you fuck up, right? So no doubt is no doubt Something that will help you to do that is Understand what great looks like I Go very well prepared to these meetings with amazing operators like, you know, you reach out to different people and Meet with them you will learn a lot go there well prepared with your business problems And then you bring that Intel back and then triangulate and calibrate better your candidates It's very important that you spend as much time hiding people than talking to amazing people So you understand what you really need When it comes to the process, right? Everybody still does 30 1690 day plans we we actually did a lot of them only to learn that they are mostly useless, right? What you want to what you want to understand is hey Do they think like an owner? In early states, that's very important, you know, are they gonna be challenging me challenging me as the CEO because they disagree Do they own their mistakes? Do they do they really feel ownership about the destiny of the company? That's very important. Are they a talent magnet? I've seen my best players like assembling a world-class team in one month two months And then all of a sudden like that magic happens eight players are a magnet and bring amazing talent to join your company That's the best thing that can happen. So try to prove for that stuff right in the interview process Okay, who's joining you now? So, you know, imagine you join this company give me five names, right? What are you bringing on board be very clear and and and a specific about it and then finally Write down your ways of working That's just a user guide of what what it feels like what working with you, right? That means, you know your accountability how you think of performance your rituals your obsessions How you how you drive performance That's important of course that you share with your teammates So you have a lot of clarity but also share with candidates and you will be surprised Right, some people will get very excited about your madness and how you like to work and some other people will feel Okay, you know, maybe I just need to drop now and then you know, you have provided a lot of clarity already good You know the drill here the drill is always be fundraising always be selling always be hiding Right a few more tactical stuff be intentional You may you are able to provide a very embalming experience to your Candidates that essentially means bring them on board bring them one or two days to your company pay for that If needed, of course to work with you to discuss to white war, right spend time with them to see if there is a match Second be very fast be aggressive actually as an startup you can add money over Bigger companies that will take more time So be very fast be very aggressive and that's also helpful for you because if the candidate takes too long In giving you an answer. That's very clearly a red flag for you, right that you can address up from with the candidate Yeah, man, I need to see the spark in your eyes You're about to embark into into a very muddy journey like, you know, you need to be ready So, you know, you you need to have a very fast answer from candidates. Otherwise have a conversation And then finally be competitive, right? Keep company simple at the beginning. You need to understand from both salary and ease up just the numbers What's market in early stage? What's market in later stage and then what's market internally? Basically, how much they are paying in salary and ease of comparable companies like in early stage in later stage and internally That means how much are you really paying? You want to avoid creating and first situations in the company and a lot of gap between some of your early hires and then your next hires and You know first of all because you want to be fair to your people and secondly because you know, you want to be smart People talk over coffee, right? So be practical about it Okay, so they joined you convinced them you close the comp everything is working and you know, they join your company So now what do you need to do? Maybe you're feeling like I felt at some point. Oh, you know We just have hired this hot shot. It feels like you're having Frank Slotman joining your company And you are so you know, I'm gonna build the best relationship I want to avoid unnecessary tensions at the beginning, you know, I can wanna, you know, be the right culture I'm gonna take it easy, right and Well, that's that's just wrong right what I've learned is that your job is to have Performance-based relationships in the company, right? So maybe you want to have the right culture and have fun along the way and make it enjoyable That's all fine. You know, don't get me wrong But the nature of your relationships with everybody in the company needs to be performance and you have to be pretty brutal about it Best players want to be empowered. They want to be owners. They want to be accountable So be sure that during even the hiding process But actually the first day you address the metrics that matter the objectives your expectations the milestones with deadlines Get ready to have Uncomfortable difficult conversations in your first week your first one-on-one right the first one-on-one that is a welcoming coffee and it's chit chat Okay, fine, but jump into the mat right go into the details. These are my expectations. These are your objectives These are your metrics. You need to flex those muscles and build performance at the core of the company Hey, don't buy the you know, it's my first quarter I'm learning I'm ramping Fine, you know, everybody will say that it's natural But the best way of learning is actually by doing the best way of learning is actually by delivering results Right there is always low hanging fruit to execute on so on your first one-on-one You go and agree on some quick wins right quick wins where you're gonna be executing and Delivering and maybe there are some other complex topics where you know They will need to learn more, but you get shit done from day one right and this is very important especially in early stage good Hey, what's the most unfollowed? Founder advice, you know, I would love to ask you guys, you know any ideas Well, my opinion my opinion is I've been following amazing founders like you guys for for a long time and you know iconic founders and they are interviewed neatly in the stage and you know What did you do wrong right or what was your biggest mistake and they all get like? They think about it. I Wish I had fired fast enough right and And and and you know this seems to be a classic right this seems to be a cliche almost Like everybody's saying that and still we founders continue making the same mistake At least I did right so it's embarrassing I've had underperforming people in seed for a year and you always have excuses right you You know you are in another fight in the business. You feel responsible. You want to make it work, right? Whatever it's never a clean cat right and mistake right that is really the moralizing your best players You don't you know, nobody wants to deal with underperforming people and actually this is very bad for your teammate as well Right, they are struggling. They are under pressure. They are in pain. They realize they are not a good fit And they keep on trying and you keep on pushing You know, it's just a very Heartful situation, right? So I think it's better to be bold to address that up front be clean be amicable Three people the right way, but everybody's better off both sides Good. It's time to start wrapping up. So I'm gonna go with my top three learnings And hopefully, you know, it's a small and small recap from what we've seen Hey, referals are your best hires, of course a players attract a players not only from advice source and your friends But actually from your employees. So make sure you put in place and Aggressive incentive program So pay money to your people for for their introductions of their good friends, right a players will extend their own credibility To your company and they will be a talent magnet compensate people for that second Let's be honest. No matter what you do, you know We you will screw up, right? Probably so, you know, be ready for that Be prepared for that have those performance conversations. We've discussed early on and be ready to fail be ready to move very fast That's critical. It'll happen. So, you know That go that up front and Then finally do not hire right do not hire I feel most of us here are venture-backed companies Right and and hey, first of all, probably we were not smart enough to bootstrap our own business and we have some level of pressure to you know grow and hire and I don't know what's wrong, but I feel Hiding feels cool and people ask questions about, you know, how many employees are you like a measure of success? But I think we all can be smarter than that and really focus on the ROI that the next hire will bring and really focus on the Fundamentals of the business and the couple ourselves from, you know, the hype of more employees and Stuff and that's it. I really appreciate your time There is a Q&A session. So if you want to learn some pro paella tips or more stuff about early hiring Let me know and thank you so much for your time and to slash. Good luck everyone. Thank you