How do I get a starting team in place?

decibel

Me and my partner have just started a venture in mobile communications space. While we both are tech savy, we are facing challenges in hiring smart engineers with 3-5 years of experience. We want to build a team of four engineers. Good folks are reluctant to join us for reasons of job security and being a start-up company. Any advice on how we can proceed?

robertj

decibel,
Generally people who go to work for startups - like to work for startups.
Ask yourself, if you were approached about an opportunity to work for this company (your startup) what are the things that would convince you to take the risk?
 
Also, what are the risk factors involved (real or perceived) and what can you do to reduce them.

decibel

The challenge is that consultants are reluctant to work on a small assignment of hiring 3-4 (rather junior) people. They expect upfront commitment ($$  ). The worst is that me and my partner are expected to do all the ground work as the consultant can only get us profile`s (and that too not very relevant one`s). We do all technical testing.
 
This exercise of going through 20 resumes to hire one person is too time consuming for us to pursue as founders. 

startupadvice

Decibel,
   While you continue to work with consultants and word of mouth options, you should also explore building this start-up team offshore through an outsourcing partners. There are specific outsourcing models available wherein the partner will build a custom team for you. There are many benefits and you can look at some of the articles on the web. Here is a good one: http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing ... 84067.html

decibel

Thanks Startupadvice,
 
The article was very informing and seems like a good piece of advice. I am worried about IPR protection in outsourcing. How do we handle that......?

startupadvice

Decibel,
IPR protection can be managed by following the right business model while outsourcing. While the standard time & material/fixed price are good for large organization, the build-operate-transfer is the best suited for a start-up. This gives you the best IPR protection and also brings a longevity to the outsourcing option. For more, you can refer to the following article http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Outsourc ... id=1383724.
I would also invite everyone else on this forum to comment on the viability of the BOT model for outsourcing for a start-up. I think it works but it would be good to view more opinions.