William and I were 22 and 24 respectively when we started Plaid, and thus had a limited network of friends and colleagues from which we could hire. Our early recruiting efforts were therefore almost entirely outbound for the first few years. Our candidate pool is now more balanced across referrals,…

In early-stage startups, titles tend to be toxic. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to see a five-person company with three C-level execs and two directors. Granting titles too early tends to cap the quality of candidates you can hire, and lead to retention issues when those with titles are layered.…

We’ve often found it effective to do a reverse-sell discussion with candidates before we extend an offer (but after we’ve determined that we’d like to do so). Therein, we tell them all the reasons that they should not join our company: we’re a startup which might…