But I do not advocate starting off finding pple you do not know but possess talents you need. I think starting with friends is preferred, because talent does not equate character & integrity (for non-friends) and talent is not necessarily non-existent for friends. Provided the assumption stands true that the right talents is available among one’s friends, I would strongly prefer going with my own friends instead of someone else unfamiliar who might have bigger talents than my friends.

THis is of course, within the context of a very early-stage startup, where iteration is the name of the game and uncertainty the only constant. I believe in this because i also believe in a highly collegial work culture that i believe can only develop naturally as an extension of one’s existing social networks.

In any case, it is natural to hire one’s friends because they represent “shortcuts” for HR purposes. i would prefer working on my rev model and product rather than spend time going to networking events finding random pple i do not know but which i know are capable. EVen if a startup is founded by a group of unfamiliar pple, I am sure the second circle of hires are highly likely to come from within their own separate group of friends.

As the startup matures, the need to hire greater talents gets more important and this is the time when founders realize they really dun have too many friends. However, with the right culture already set, you will ensure that new hires fit in and have a higher chance of being assimilated.

My two cents.

My point is actually simple. If you want to build a big team, you should be trying to gather and find people who you do not know, but possess complementary set of talents.

Let’s go back to the point about “your friends and you”. I am not going to dispute that in 95% of the cases, we assemble student teams based on asking our friends and people who you know in your clique. It’s normal and I don’t think that we can do away particularly, we live in Asia where relationship is an important trait. Initially, you may assemble a team with a group of friends, but if subsequently you need to build a big team, this approach will not work.

This sets up two problems for yourself particularly in student enterprise: 1. your friends can make excuses and behave unprofessionally and not accountable, 2. it’s hard to hire new people unless they are from your circle of friends.

While I lament about the student teams I mentor at times not trying to hire people during our events, I would say that networking events are the best place to hire new people and of course, people who you don’t know.

The best is to assemble people from different disciplines and use their skills to complement the different aspects of the team. We are tweaking the way on how our student teams work based on our experience here in Singapore.

It sounds counter-intuitive because you have no idea who these people are and how they behave. The worst is that you are not even sure whether they are competent or they are suitable to work with you. That’s why it’s a good exercise while you are students, to learn to work with unfamiliar people to get a sense of how the world is like.

I did a startup by only meeting the other founders of my startup in UK on the day before the deadline of the competition. They were told by many people that I would be vital to their team, and I just met up with them. We felt that our interests aligned and we went on to get it started. We succeeded after going through constructive conflicts and struggles and made it work. Importantly, all of us put the organization before us.