Stammtisch #78 Tech Team: Hiring and Managing your Talents

The “tyranny of software”

• Needless to say, “software controls us”
  • One must give to a machine enough information, in a machine-language
    •  This is what makes developers so important

How urgent is the need for a developer?

• Start small, then build your team
  • Build a prototype to show investors
  • You can start with a no-code approach –> you have to learn the basics
  •  You can use basic, simple tools which are accessible online
    • There are visual programming languages, so simple that even children can work with them

Outsourcing or internal resources?

• Depends on the technology and on the company’s goals
  • If you want to keep your business logic within your company –> keep front-end development internally
    • Outsourcing option mainly for back-end development

• Outsourcing can be a solution if:
  • You know about the team of the company that provides the service
  • You know what kind of developer you are looking for

• Outsourcing can be challenging:
  • Language
  • Culture
  • Communication
  • Quality
    • You have to build knowledge before outsourcing!
    • Such challenges also bring forth the necessity to change the policy of the Red-White-Red card in order to ease the inflow of talent to Austria (see the Austrian Startup Agenda)

Where/how to look for developers/tech-founders

• Plethora of ways
  • Platforms/websites like:
    • Brutkasten
    • Startus

• Networking events like:
  • Stammtisch
  • Brutkasten find your Cofounder
  • Developer Meet-ups
  • I2C

• Look for someone who is well informed
  • Knows IT news, challenges and trends
  • Should be able to explain complex problems in simple terms
  • Can develop into a CTO

• Provide motivation
  • Show your unique company value
    • Explain them your product and how this is different from other ones
  • Money is not everything
    • Communicate them your vision and show passion

How to keep talent

• Provide a dynamic and growing environment
  • Develop career paths
    • Opportunities for greater responsibilities
  • Money also plays a role but equally important is a comfortable and beneficial environment
    • Keep the passion alive
    • Provide motivation constantly
  • Keeping talent in a non-growing company is difficult

• Here comes also the relevance of stock options as an incentive
  •  Currently from a legal perspective this is not an attractive option in Austria

How to manage a team

• The main challenge is managing rather than coding
  • Find a CTO
    • Hire a co-founder who will develop into this position
    • The priority of the CTO should be team-management, not coding

• Build up a team
  • To grow you must have good developer skills –> need to have experienced seniors onboard
  • However, hiring people who are recent graduates is a good thing at later stages
    • Hiring juniors makes seniors happy since it makes them mentors
    • Though, do not hire juniors without seniors on board!

As always: never forget that the only thing that can stop you is your own self!