At HubSpot, Elias Torres built an exceptional team, hiring future founders of companies like Klaviyo. His strategy was to ignore credentials and instead screen for hunger, grit, and intelligence through conversation. He believes giving people with non-traditional backgrounds a shot is key to finding outliers.

The initial period of struggle and repeated failures, while painful, is what forges a resilient team and a strong, frugal company culture. These early hardships create shared experiences that define the company's DNA for years to come.

To recruit for the declining Pampered Chef, the team didn't sell the kitchenware product. They sold a compelling story: the chance to learn and grow quickly in a meritocracy, and be part of a historic business transformation. This attracted ambitious talent who wanted to build something unique.

Delaying key hires to find the "perfect" candidate is a mistake. The best outcomes come from building a strong team around the founder early on, even if it requires calibration later. Waiting for ideal additions doesn't create better companies; early execution talent does.

To succeed in its proprietary sourcing model where the default answer is often "no," TA Associates specifically hires individuals who have overcome adversity. They believe this trait builds the necessary resilience and motivation to persist through constant rejection without losing drive.

Counterintuitively, being brutally honest with candidates about the low odds of success is a powerful recruiting filter. It selects for mission-driven individuals who are mentally prepared for the inevitable tough cycles of a startup, ensuring they won't quit when things get difficult.

Ainsworth believes a responsible biotech entrepreneur envisions the end goal—acquisition or IPO—from day one. At RetroSense, this meant constantly engaging with potential acquirers like Allergan to understand their needs and generate the specific data required to become an attractive M&A target.

Actively recruiting entrepreneurs whose own ventures recently failed brings in smart, driven individuals with high ownership and a hunger to prove themselves. This is invaluable in the early, capital-constrained days when you need a team with a founder's DNA.

By adding resilience as a core hiring criterion, Pinterest naturally attracts diverse candidates from non-traditional backgrounds who have overcome adversity. This focus shifts hiring away from traditional signals of success, increasing diversity and bringing in employees who are better equipped for business challenges.