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Most Common Previous Roles of Startup Business Founders

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Human Capital: Who Works for Start-ups

Start-ups tend to employ the best of hands, they are on the lookout for the most talented persons to promote the company to the next level. This article looks at who really works at start up and how your relationship can get you hired.

Founding Partners

CB insights takes a look at the demographics of internet start-up founders that received the first round of venture capitalist funding between January and June 2010. From findings, the most likely start up founder according to the survey is a 35 to 44 year old white man who once served as the CEO of a company.

Age

The research revealed that 4% of that founding team were ages 18 to 25, 29% were between ages 26 to 34, 48% of the founders were between ages 35 to 44 while 19% of the founders were between ages 45 to 54.

Title

The founders were involved in some previous roles before they became founders. Here is the breakdown. 13% were involved in sales and marketing, 12% were involved in product management and development, 11% had knowledge of engineering, 8% were previously involved in business development, 6% previously had knowledge of software, 4% knew strategy while 46% performed other roles.

Founders Former Title

Prior to becoming a founder, founders bore titles in their previous roles. Here are some of the names and the percentages of those who bore those titles. 39% were CEO and founders, 10% were directors, 9% were VPs, 5% were senior VPs, 5% were Managers while 4% were consultants while 28% bore other titles.

New Recruits

Startups are looking to hire new recruits and this forms over 80% of startups plan to hire this present year.

Competitive

As the number of startups hiring increases, acquiring the best programmers becomes more and more competitive. Those in demand and the hardest to find are web programmers which forms 42% of the requirements, marketing and strategy experts forms 28% of the requirements, graphics and design forms 28% of the requirement, online marketers form 24% of the requirement and writers form 20% of the requirements.

Local

There is a possibility that the new hires will be locals. 86% are from the same area where the company is headquartered. 31% are form another US State while over 20% come from outside the United States.

Challenges

The reports from startups reveal several challenges of hiring new personnel. Here are some startups recruitment and management challenges. For software companies, they are more likely to cite the high cost of compensation as a challenge. High cost of compensation packages form 44%. High cost of living in respective areas forms 42% while to few skilled personnel forms 18%.

For hardware companies, it may be more difficult to obtain visas for non-US recruits. 18% of the companies had challenges with obtaining visas for qualified non US personnel. With respect to the management of a geographically dispersed workforce, 17% had challenges in this area, and 16% had the challenge of losing the best hands to competitors while 8% are challenges with low quality of education in the area. 4% had challenges in other areas while 19% identified no challenges what so ever.

Its Who You Know

From research, it has been discovered that those recommended for positions are 2.5 times more likely to be more qualified than those who apply in person. With respect to being invited for an interview, your connection matters a lot. Those who have more referrals from friends have more than a 50% change of being interviewed.

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