Presented at Hiring Unicorns - Tech Talent Summit. Friday 2nd August 2013.

1. Forget Hiring
Start a movement,
unicorns will notice

2. Mayel de Borniol
The “Universal Translator”
powered by people
Hello! Bonjour!
Hola! Kalimera!

3. How to start a movement

4. onlookers
-> fans
-> participants
-> ambassadors
-> team members

5. Having a crazy big vision
and impactful mission
“we aim to do to language barriers
what the aeroplane did to geographical barriers”
Having social values
“making interpretation accessible and affordable to
as many people as possible, while also creating a fair
source of income for our community”

6. “Multiculturalism 2.0”
“These guys are genius. Babelverse
introduces Web 3.0.”
“wonderful, useful & humanitarian project.”
“I think they're going to go ballistic!
Unlocking massive untapped potential!”
“exceptionally ambitious.”
“in love with babelverse”
“could be a dent in the universe”
...makes people are crazy about it!
“The world is changing and I love it! :)”
“LOVE this idea. please crush it...”
Love what babelverse is doing!
“Truly EXTRAORDINARY.”
“Congratulations on a revolutionary product!
I'll be using on my next trip...”

7. ... who become ambassadors
Multiply the impact
Spread the word
Advise on local languages & cultures
Help grow & preserve community
Raise awareness in press
Beta testing

8. Not being stealth
• Putting ourselves out there at
every opportunity
• Very transparent
• Speak with community 1-on-1
• Meet-ups

9. ...results in recognition
People’s Choice - TechCrunch Disrupt NY
Award Winner & People’s Choice - The Next Web (B2B & People’s Choice)
Award Winner - LeWeb
Finalist - The Europas
Finalist - Dublin Web Summit & Pioneers Festival
Finalist - Startup Britain 2012 Olympic Games
Award Winner - Pulso Social - Top 2 Startup in Latin America
Finalist - Bloomberg & TechStars “Next Big Thing”
Award Winner - Startup Weekend Athens, Greece

10. hiring globally
• multiplies your chances of finding right fits
• distributed team helps become a global business
• many tools available for remote collaboration
IM, video chat, Facebook groups, IM, Google Docs, GrexIt for shared email
• still important to have regular get-togethers

11. Happiness: Perks vs. Freedom
do we want spoilt & entitled kids who are looking for
the newest, shiniest toy?

12. #todaysoffice
...or independent &
passionate “glomads”?

13. “leaders lead by
example, whether they
intend to or not”

14. look where the “A players”
stand out among their peers
for example:
• good coders on stackoverflow, github
• passionate designers on dribbble
• eager interns on enternships
• experienced people on escapethecity
• industry events & communities

15. Cover letters & resumes suck
• boring & don’t tell you much
• start a real conversation instead:
somewherehq.com, video chat or coffee shop
• see what they’ve actually done:
open source, GitHub, Behance, etc.
• get to know them & their network :
LinkedIn,Twitter, Facebook, splinter.me

16. Titles suck
• Things change anyway
• Enable initiative
• Close collaboration
• Task-based project management

17. Skills vs.
self-learning & curiosity
• Generalists with strong foundations
• More variety & flexibility
• Tech changes so quickly
• Less hand-holding

18. Hiring never stops
• Build relationships (face to face
but also via social media)
• Pool of people to call upon when
you need them

19. Dating before
moving in together
• Are they “the one” for you?
• Are you “the one” for them?
• Test drive with small projects
• Takes time, don’t settle

20. Thank you. Questions?
Join the movement!