You're not Google.
Yet you use their hiring process - a process built for a tech giant with stable products and predictable needs. As an early-stage company, this approach isn't just inefficient—it's potentially harmful to your growth.
Pre-PMF companies need a radically different hiring playbook for one strong reason:
Your immediate goal isn't to build flawless, infinitely scalable systems. It's to find product-market fit before your runway ends.
And so, your hiring strategy should be reflective of this.
Hire for Versatility Over Deep Specialization
When Google hires, they can afford to bring on engineers who spend all day optimizing database queries. You can't. In the early stages, you need generalists. You want developers who can wear multiple hats and adapt as your product evolves.
Look for candidates who demonstrate:
- Experience across multiple parts of the tech stack
- A track record of learning new technologies quickly
- Comfort with moving between different types of tasks
Last year, one of our clients picked a versatile developer who had shipped full products solo over a talented React specialist. Six months and two pivots later, that "generalist" hire had adapted to three different tech stacks and even helped with customer support.
A specialist might have struggled with this constant change.
Prioritize Shipping Speed Over Perfect Code
Perfect code doesn't matter if your product doesn't solve a real problem. Your first hires need to understand this in their bones.
Rather than asking candidates to solve complex algorithmic puzzles, ask:
- How do you decide when to ship something that's 'good enough' versus perfect?
- What's your approach to building MVPs?
Red flags include candidates who:
- Can't stop talking about scalability before you have users
- Insist on rewriting working code to make it "cleaner"
- Have never shipped a project under tight constraints
If you are a pre-PMF startup, consider this test: Give candidates a feature to build in four hours. Explicitly state that rough edges were fine. Once you have submissions, filter based on candidates who prioritize getting a working solution deployed over a clean code.
Ditch the Google-style Long Hiring Cycles
Most startups unknowingly create hiring cycles that drag for 6-8 weeks: A recruiter screen, followed by a hiring manager call, then a technical assessment, three separate team interviews, and finally a culture fit panel.
But here is the thing:
The longer you take to hire, the more pressure you put on these hires to be "perfect."
So, reduce the span of your hiring cycles. Take a hard look at your process and ask:
- Does every team member need a separate interview?
- Often, three engineers end up asking the same technical questions in separate sessions. Combine these into one focused panel discussion.
- Is that take-home project adding value?
- If you’ve already reviewed their GitHub or portfolio, it might be redundant. Use it as an early filter instead of a final hurdle.
- Are you following habits over necessity?
- System design interviews are common, but if complex architecture isn’t relevant for six months, skip it for now.
The solution isn't a one-size-fits-all timeline.
It's questioning every step of your process and keeping only what directly validates must-have traits for your specific needs right now. Sometimes that's three weeks, sometimes it's five.
What matters is that every hour spent hiring directly maps to a critical signal you need.
Cultural Fit Means "Thrives in Uncertainty"
Forget about traditional cultural fit interviews. They are meant for organizations that have existed long enough to have a culture beyond the initial chaos of building.
For you, cultural fit means one thing: Can this person thrive in chaos?
The right candidates should:
- Get energized by ambiguity, not paralyzed by it
- Take initiative when specifications are unclear
- Be comfortable with rapid direction changes
- Show resilience when things go wrong
A simple way to assess this: Ask them about a time when a core assumption in their project turned out to be wrong. The best candidates won't just tell you what went wrong—they'll light up talking about how they adapted and what they learned. That's the mindset you need when you're still searching for product-market fit.
Build Your Own Playbook
Your hiring bar should be just as high as Google's but measured against completely different standards.
After all, your biggest competitor in hiring isn't Google or other tech giants. It's time. So, build a process that reflects your reality. A process that works for YOUR context, your constraints, and your current battles. Start there.
Now, if there is one thing you should take from this blog, let it be this: Focus on finding adaptable, fast-moving builders who can help you reach PMF.
You can always hire specialists later—if you survive long enough to need them.