Resume

One thing I've seen again and again - whether I was sourcing manufacturers for my clothing brand, building a cross functional team for an iOS app, or working with my current dev partner - is that the resume only tells half the story.

Sure, you need people who can deliver, but real progress always seems to happen when things aren't working perfectly. And that's where the difference shows up.

The Hidden Signals

What's interesting is that you can't always spot it right away. More often than not, it's not in a bullet point or a portfolio piece, but in how someone talks about a project that went sideways or how they describe the part of the job that's messy - when you're deep in the weeds and the obvious solutions aren't cutting it.

I've hired people who looked like a perfect fit on paper, but when things got complicated, they froze up. On the flip side, some of the best people I've worked with didn't tick every box at first. What they did have was that dogged curiosity and the ability to figure it out, no matter how many dead ends they hit.

Building Momentum

That's the piece that matters, especially in startups, where nothing stays still for long. Skills get you started, but it's the perseverance that actually builds momentum.

The thing is you can't train people on skills but you can't train perseverance. That's something people have, or they just don't. That's why it's crucial to find that trait from the start - because once you're deep in the thick of it, you can't have people who bail when things get tough.

So when I'm hiring, I'm always thinking about that sixth sense. It's not something you can list out in a job spec. But you can hear it if you're listening: the person who sees an obstacle and treats it like a puzzle, not a wall. That's who I want on my team!