📖 This article is part 4 of wider series on “How to build a winning startup culture” – you can check-out earlier instalments here.
The people you hire – especially in the early stages – will make or break your culture. Every new team member either reinforces your values or dilutes them. Early on, you have the luxury to take your time hiring.
Mostafa Amin recalls that at Breadfast’s beginning, all hires came through referrals and lengthy personal vetting:
“At the beginning, [with] referrals… you have all the time in the world to go and meet this person, talk, run reference checks, meet again… first time you get an Americano, second time a cappuccino… validating if this is the right person”.
This careful process meant the first employees were almost as culturally aligned as the founders.
Investing in the private markets shouldn’t feel like a full-time job.
Who has time for wet-ink signatures, back-and-forth WhatsApp messages, and asking your investors for their identity verification documents?
Zest gives deal leads a modern way to execute their transaction processes and bring together their investors, which means a better experience for their participating investors.
It’s why so many MENA deal leads choose Zest as the home for their investments.
Build your next deal with transparency now on Zest.
This careful process meant the first employees were almost as culturally aligned as the founders.
However, hyper-growth changes the game. When you need to hire dozens of people in a matter of months, you cannot personally hand-pick everyone or spend hours chatting over coffee with each candidate. The risk of a bad cultural fit or a “mercenary” hire goes way up.
“By time it will be super tough because you try to hire, let’s say, 100 people in two months… maybe you don’t have the right [culture] capability in the team, maybe you don’t have the right frameworks.”
Stay ahead in MENA’s tech landscape
This is premium content. Subscribe to read the full story.
