Founders consistently rank hiring as their hardest problem. Investors who make relevant introductions, take reference calls and help close candidates provide help that is specific, asked for and hard to buy.
10 min read · Level 5
If I could give an investor one instruction about helping after the cheque, it would be to become genuinely useful in hiring and to say so repeatedly. It is the problem founders report most often, the help that is least replaceable by money, and the contribution that most reliably improves what a company can actually execute.
Hiring is where investor help is most often requested and most often useful, because founders are competing for people against better-known companies.
What investors can realistically do:
Contribution What it looks like Candidate introductions naming specific people, not forwarding job posts Closing candidates speaking to a candidate considering an offer Reference calls giving honest references on the company as an investor Calibration helping a first-time founder judge what good looks like in a role Compensation context sharing what similar roles are paid and typical equity ranges
Closing candidates is the most underrated. A strong candidate weighing an offer often wants to know whether the company is well backed and what its investors think. A short, honest call from an investor at that moment can be decisive - and it costs twenty minutes.
What does not help: forwarding generic job listings to your network, suggesting the company needs to hire someone senior without offering candidates, or introducing people who are not genuinely suitable.
Honesty matters in reference calls. Overselling a company to a candidate who then joins and finds something different damages the candidate, the company and your reputation.
Because hiring determines what a company can execute, and early hires disproportionately shape it. An investor who improves one early hire may affect the outcome more than through any advice.
It is also help with a clear request attached. Founders usually name the roles they need, which makes this the easiest place to be useful without imposing.
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Two investors responding to the same ask for a head of engineering.
Investor A: forwards the job description to 200 contacts on a professional network. Investor B: names three people they have worked with, asks each whether they are open, introduces one who is, and offers to speak to any candidate at offer stage.
A generated eight unsuitable applications and some goodwill. B produced one relevant conversation and, two months later, a twenty-minute call that helped the founder close a different candidate who had asked to speak to an investor.
Treating hiring help as broadcasting a job listing, rather than naming specific suitable people and being available at the moment a candidate is deciding.
Get the specific profile rather than a title.
Use double opt-in introductions rather than mass forwarding.
Tell the founder this is available; many will not think to ask.
Describe the company's risks as well as its strengths; a mis-sold hire rarely stays.
Help first-time founders calibrate salary and equity ranges.
Whenever a portfolio company is hiring, particularly for early or senior roles.
Do not push candidates from your own network into roles where they are not the best fit. A poor hire made as a favour is worse than no introduction.
Founder surveys conducted by venture firms and startup organisations have repeatedly found recruiting among the most commonly cited challenges for early-stage companies, and founders frequently rate investor help with hiring above other forms of support.
Ask founders where they are stuck on hiring before offering help in other areas; it is usually where the need is greatest.
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