Speaker: Polpat (Popp) Songthamjitti, CMO &Co-Founder, GetLinks

1. STARTUP HIRING 101
by Polpat Songthamjitti (Popp)
CMO & Co-founder, GetLinks
AGENDA
• Startup Hiring Intro (5 min)
• Who to Hire (10 min)
• Interview Hacks (10 min)
• Q&A (5min)
by

2. POLPAT SONGTHAMJITTI (POPP)
CMO & CO-FOUNDER
GETLINKS
Snapshot
• CMO & Co-founder of GetLinks
• GetLinks, Leading Curated Tech Hiring Marketplace
• 40 Employees, 7 Nationalities
• 5 Operating Countries – TH, SG, VN, IN, HK
Quick Journey
• Consultant at HR Consulting, Korn & Ferry
• Senior Online Marketing Manager at Lazada SEA
• Co-founded GetLinks
• JFDI Startup Accelerator in Singapore
• 500 Startup Accelerator in Silicon Valley
• Country Director at Kairos Society TH
• Funded by Cyber Agent Ventures & 500 Startups
• Speaker:
• Startups 101 / Intro to Startup
• Tech Hiring / Hiring Hack / Startup Hiring
• Growth Hacking – How to skyrocket & scale your startup
• Category Design – How to create new market and
dominate it

5. STARTUP
HIRING
INTRO

6. What is the most important
part of a startup?

7. a) The idea
b) The technology
c) The sales and marketing

8. a) The idea
b) The technology
c) The sales and marketing

9. People are the most
important part of a startup

10. Differences between
people are massive

11. Therefore, hiring is the most
important thing you do

12. Best piece of startup
hiring advice:

13. Don’t do it

14. Don’t do it
(yet)

15. Stay small as
long as you
can

16. Build a culture
of leverage and
efficiency

17. Eventually, you’ll
need help

18. During early stage,
founders spend >20%
of their time on hiring

19. You must spend this
time wisely

20. WHO
TO HIRE

21. WHO to hire
1. Co-founders
2. Early hires
3. Later hires
4. What to look for

22. WHO to hire
1. Co-founders
2. Early hires
3. Later hires
4. What to look for

23. You need a co-founder

24. to fill in your weaknesses

25. to talk you out of bad ideas

26. to share the work load

27. to share the sweats & tears

28. Yeah.. It’s like..
Getting married

29. Two or three founders
works best

30. Building a successful
startup takes 10 years

31. So be careful when
picking a co-founder

32. Look for someone
you’ve worked with before

33. College classmates &
former co-workers are ideal

34. Remember, a successful
startup takes 10 years

35. You need everyone to be
bought in for the long term

36. “Focus on 3Ds”
Developers
Designers
Digital Marketers

37. WHO to hire
1. Co-founders
2. Early hires
3. Later hires
4. What to look for

38. Early hires are
like bringing
new DNA into
your company

39. Choose the first
10 employees
very carefully...

40. ...as they
determine the
next 100

41. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
would ask early candidates:

42. “If you had a year left to live,
would you take this job?”

43. Early on,
prefer
generalists

44. In the early
days,
everyone
has to do
everything

45. “You don't want
someone
saying
that's not
my job”

46. “Focus on 3Ds”
Developers
Designers
Digital Marketers

47. WHO to hire
1. Co-founders
2. Early hires
3. Later hires
4. What to look for

48. Later stage startups
can hire more specialists

49. Prefer “T-shaped People”

50. Experts at one discipline (vertical leg of T)

51. Broadly skilled at others (horizontal leg of T)

52. WHO to hire
1. Co-founders
2. Early hires
3. Later hires
4. What to look for

53. Smart and
gets shits
done

54. Smart
because
you
constantly
have to
learn

55. Gets things
done
because
you must
ship

56. Good communication skills

57. Can you understand their
writing?

58. Can they explain
complicated concepts?

59. A good culture fit

60. Similar tastes & appearance
is NOT culture fit

61. It’s discrimination

62. Real culture fit is
about shared values

63. E.g. at Zappos, providing amazing
customer service is a core value

64. Everyone who is hired
answers customer calls

65. That’s culture fit.

66. “Focus on 3Ds”
Developers
Designers
Digital Marketers

67. INTERVIEW
HACKS

68. GIVE > TAKE

69. LIFE > WORK

70. HEART > HEAD

73. “You will get it if you really want ~”
Polpat S.
E: polpat@getlinks.co
T: +6686-520-3778
Line: polpat.s
www.getlinks.co
POLPAT SONGTHAMJITTI (POPP)
THANK YOU