As CEO and co-founder of GetListed, a social recruitment website that works on personal recommendations, Bosco Tan found himself in the interesting position of running a startup that wasn’t his.
Tan says the lessons learnt while at the helm of GetListed, a joint venture between APN and Pollenizer, have given him the confidence and the ability to go and give something else “a crack”.
“So many people are stuck in corporate jobs without a way out, because they lack two things,” says Tan, “either the passion for their idea, or the confidence to make it happen.”
Tan is moving on after six months at GetListed to take up a new challenge with friend and ex-school mate Alvin Singh, with startup Pocketbook. The skills learnt as part of the Pollenizer incubation process have put him in good stead.
“I was just beginning to get a grasp of what’s the right way to execute; what’s the appeal.”
“I could now get my head around how you isolate different parts of an assumption and run tests.”
Learning about how to put the lean principles into practice was one of the most useful parts of the incubator experience.
For example, says Tan, “three or four days in, Mick (Liubinskas, co-founder of Pollenizer) asked what’s the most important piece of information for a user?”
Tan thought it was salary, so the team ran a series of tests to confirm.
“Say I’m going for a position, and need to get salary information. We did an experiment to find out how willing people would be to share.”
Turns out 7 out 10 of Tan’s friends were willing to provide that information..
One of the differences between GetListed and some other startups is that its clients are corporates; that is, big institutions which tend to have a very traditional approach to recruitment.
“You need to get as much feedback as you can from ‘pro’ users. There are at least 20 or 30 companies using the site at the moment.”
“When you’re developing a product in the early stages, it’s always best to say ‘we want your feedback’; then, ‘do you have a problem we can try and solve?’ is the next step.”
By doing this, you can demonstrate the idea and that may lead to an ongoing relationship, says Tan.
How do you recruit for a startup?
- Find passionate people. Tan says you need people who are passionate about their work. You need to also be able to find “three or four people” who’ll not only vouch for them, but “say they’re great”;
- They have to believe in the startup. It’s no good having good talent, if their heart isn’t in it. Tan says a good analogy is a chariot: you can have the fastest horses, but if they are going in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter;
- Give them equity. While a recruit may believe in your idea, you need to provide the right incentives.
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