Hire Entrepreneurs!

By Frank Addante

Is it safe to hire entrepreneurs?

Last week I attended the ad:Tech conference in my hometown, Chicago. My company, StrongMail Systems (Startup 5.0), was exhibiting. While at our booth, I ran into many of my former teammates from L90 (Startup 3.0). We exchanged stories about where our other former teammates ventured off to after L90. I was happily amazed to learn about how many of them went on to start their own, successful companies.

I've written in the past about how powerful our team was, and how little experience (if measured in years) that they had. But, they all had a certain rare fire in them that drove them to learn and grow faster than others. They were problem solvers, visionaries, hard-workers, over-achievers, evangelists; they continually thought outside of the box and had tremendous pride in their work. These are all prerequisites for a good entrepreneur. When we hired, we always said that we were looking for entrepreneurs to join our team. I’m sure to many that sounded like a gimmick, but it turned out that we actually attracted a lot of very talented entrepreneurs.

So, it was no surprise to me that many of them would go on to start their own companies. They range from technology companies to marketing companies to apparel companies to real estate investments and non-profits... If I were to take a rough guess, I'd say that about 40-50% of the team (we had hundreds of employees) either started their own company or joined a startup company founded by one of their former L90 teammates. Personally, I think that is an outstanding ratio.

I’ve talked to many people about this topic and the most common objection that I hear is “If I hire someone who wants to start their own company, I run the risk of them leaving someday.” My response: “So what?” You stand that chance no matter who you hire. Why not harness the entrepreneurial spirit and use it to grow your business as long as you can? It will be rewarding for both of you. Chances are, as long as they feel like they are contributing and playing an important role in the business, and they are being rewarded and recognized appropriately, that you will both have a very long-lasting relationship. Entrepreneurs, by nature, are loyal and extremely dedicated.

Almost all of the L90 entrepreneurs were dedicated to the company long after the IPO and until the company was acquired by DoubleClick and Focus Interactive (Ask Jeeves.) Funny enough, as I was (proudly) discussing this fact with one of my former teammates, they chuckled and were quick to point out that of all of the former L90 team members who went on to start a new company, the first one to leave was me…

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My visit to Chicago re-enforced a very important lesson for me: Hire entrepreneurs! Treat them as entrepreneurs; empower them, challenge them, inspire them and reward them.

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