Startup founders often have to juggle numerous priorities. When it comes to HR-related tasks, they are often caught up in *tactical* problems instead of *strategic* ones. This presentation outlines 3 critical and strategic challenges that should command significant attention from startup founders (and early stage employees). This presentation was originally delivered as part of Communitech's Level Up series in Waterloo, Canada.

1. The 3 Most Critical HR
Challenges for Startup Founders

2. Where these opinions came from:
2002 2012
Involved in 5 Startups in the last 10 Years
The most important thing I’ve learned from
them is the importance of…

3. Priority 1: Ruthless Prioritization

4. Spend your time like it costs you $1500
per hour

5. How much is your time worth?
Imagine this (crappy) consulting offer:
“We agree your time is worth $150/hour.
However, we can’t pay you for four years, at
which time we will pay you in one lump sum.”
Source: Jason Cohen, http://blog.asmartbear.com/value-time.html

6. Bill Yourself $1500/hr
15% chance they exist and pay their bill
$150/hr ÷ 15% = $1000/hr
Add 10% annual premium for making you wait
$1000 × 1.14 ≈ $1500/hr

7. The Extremely Scientific Way
I Picked The Top 3 Challenges:
Would I pay someone $1500/hr if they
could solve this problem?

8. Separate Strategic and Tactical
We don’t often hear about HR as a core challenge
in startups, but when we do, we hear these:
• Recruiting
• Development
• Project Management
These are tactical issues, not strategic ones!!

9. The 3 Most Critical Challenges
• Personality
• Transparency
• The Why Forward

10. Challenge 1: Personality Matters

11. Groupthink is deceptive and
Impossible to avoid

12. Where is it a critical problem?
• Groupthink in hiring decisions
• Groupthink in product decisions
• Groupthink in marketing decisions
• Just about everywhere else…

13. It is Often Oversimplified
Because we are most comfortable with people
that think like us
social circles and industry groups end up with
skewed distributions

14. We are surrounded by like people
(Using the MBTI Indicator, we see some interesting things)
General Population Software Engineering Industry
"TJ"
Other Other
"TJ"
"FP"
"FP"
Source: Capretz, LF, Personality types in software engineering,
Department of Electrical an Computer Engineering, University of Western Ontario

15. Ask Yourself:
How likely is it, that your customers and/or
market have the same personality breakdown as
your company?

16. Tactics to Overcome Problem Areas
Marketing  Customer Personas
Customer Support & Sales  Customer Profiles
UX Design  Verify & Mouseflow
Product Management  Customer Shadows

17. Conflicting voices will emerge
and must be embraced

18. This Can Be Very Isolating…
CEO
VP Sales Developer Developer

19. The Hardest Personality Problem
“If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A
Change” - Michael Jackson

20. How do I setup a mirror for myself?
Here’s how one Canadian entrepreneur tackles
it: he gives a blueprint of his quirks to new staff

22. To Solve for Personality We Need To…
• Counteract type clustering
• Reinforce idea that differences are good
• Constantly use that mirror

23. Challenge 2: Transparency

24. How much transparency is the
right amount?

25. Here is an example TribeHR Board
Meeting Agenda
Let’s highlight the sections we share with staff
after the meeting

28. We Are Easily Tripped-Up By
• Shifting Priorities (e.g. Product Roadmap)
• Over-Weighting (e.g. Investor Relations)
• Irrelevance (e.g. Corporate Structure)

29. Issues of Transparency
Cost You Speed

30. Speed is Critically Important
In a startup, you have limited time. Use the
highway analogy – you’ll see why.
You’re in a car, travelling from A to B (100 miles away). You
hit traffic and it takes you an hour to travel ½ way, how
fast do you need to go for the last part of the trip to
average 100 mph?
Answer: It’s impossible – you’d have to teleport instantly

31. To Solve for Transparency We Need To…
• Determine the right level of sharing
• Adjust that level as the company grows

32. Challenge 3: The Why Forward

33. Dan Pink is way smarter
than I am …

34. … and so is Simon Sinek

38. Early Team Members are Flag-Bearers
• Formal On-Boarding
• Articulating Company Values
• Championing Your Culture
If you can help them understand the “why”, they
can take care of the rest.

40. To Drive The Why Forward We Need To…
• Figure out the “why” for ourselves
• Share it with the team
• Trust them to run with it

41. The 3 Most Critical HR Challenges
• Personality (distribution, conflict & mirror)
• Transparency (identify level & adjust)
• The Why Forward (identify & communicate)

42. Feel free to connect at joseph@tribehr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/josephfung
http://www.twitter.com/josephfung
Photo Credits
Brain Hue Collection - http://www.flickr.com/people/lapolab/
White Vinegar - www.flickr.com/people/mgrimord/
Wrestling - http://www.flickr.com/people/slagheap/
Flow_Charts - http://www.flickr.com/people/reactionphotography/
Milestone - http://www.flickr.com/people/mdesive/