Startups usually have limited resources—financial, material and human—so founders must stay ‘clear-headed’ to avoid ‘basic’ mistakes. ‘Failure is the mother of success’ is only true if you can remain standing; for most startups, ‘failure means immediate bankruptcy’.
Choosing people and recruiting personnel for a startup is extremely important. Personally, I consider selecting people the most important matter for a startup.
So How Do You Attract Talent?
First, how should talent be defined for a startup?
“Talent” and “calamity” are 2 words that rhyme in Vietnamese, startup founders. Without the right awareness, “the chance of choosing the wrong person is very high.”
Talent Means People Who Fit the Job, Core Values and Vision the Founder Wants for the Startup.
In my view, finding talent begins with finding a co-founder. This is extremely important, far more important than hiring employees, because statistics show that founders are one of the three most common reasons startups fail.
Begin by addressing the challenge of finding a talented founder.
Startups are usually founded by groups of acquaintances or close contacts, such as friends, colleagues, and family members…, with little consideration of whether they meet the business's needs. Reflect on whether this is true! There are many reasons, but fundamentally, founders do not thoroughly understand the definitions above, so their choices are often hasty and emotional.
Let me share this with you: to find a co-founder for my current path, I met more than 20 people working in information technology. I spent more than 3 months looking for the right person and finally met someone with vision, aligned with my core values, who delivered on their promises and was exceptionally diligent and hardworking. I think it was luck combined with tireless effort. Let me reveal one more small detail: ‘My partner also went bankrupt once while starting a business,’ so their outlook is very practical. There are many things I can keep learning from this person for a long time, and I admire them.
I often say, half joking but entirely truthfully, ‘I prefer working with people who have gone bankrupt at least once.’ That is why I have many friends around me who ‘started a business and immediately went broke,’ yet remain positive and open to sharing.
How can you meet more than 20 talented people and persuade the right ones to collaborate with you?
That is a difficult question, not an easy one at all.
Let me use this example for discussion: how did Liu Bei form a sworn brotherhood with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei? Was that not the talent of a founder like Liu Bei? He was a positive thinker, a master at winning people's hearts, a well-connected diplomat, and deeply willing to sacrifice for others… According to the universe's law of attraction, compatible things find one another. Thus Liu, Guan, and Zhang became sworn brothers in the peach garden, a story that entered legend. He then won over Zhuge Liang, followed by Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and others — all exceptionally talented heroes with shining aspirations.
My message to founders is that they should learn from Liu Bei's spirit.
You must be the magnet that attracts talent: think positively, win people's hearts, build broad relationships, and have a philosophy of life.
If you have not learned Lưu Bị’s approach while you still have ‘nothing,’ the advice is to be Quan Vân Trường, Trương Phi, Triệu Tử Long, or at least a decent soldier.
Chương trình liên quan tại YUP Education: X-Startup – khóa học khởi nghiệp «Khởi Chánh Nghiệp» · The Journey – lộ trình phát triển doanh nhân
