I had the opportunity to attend a great session about rapid growth companies put on by the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas this week. The speaker was Mike Derheim, founder and CEO of The Nerdery. While the topic was organizational growth, time and time again, the success stories and setbacks almost all related to people, or in the Nerdery’s Case, Nerds. Scaling from 3 guys in a basement to 500+ employees provided for some great stories.
Mike shared the story of the Nerdery’s need to grow rapidly. They couldn’t keep up with the work and their hiring was reactive. Recruitment would start with a panicked phone call on a Friday afternoon to a few people, and went something like this:
“I met you once at X event. You seemed good. Can you be here Monday”?
This worked for a while, but over time they became more intentional. The first step was to set an audacious goal of hiring “100 Nerds in 100 Days”. They hired 50+ but couldn’t screen or onboard effectively – it was just too much at one time. Several of those hires crashed and burned.
Over time their selection process has been fine tuned. What has changed? The Nerdery:
2. Viable candidates are sent home with a NAT (Nerd Assessment Test). This is a short project that any qualified candidate should be able to complete with little trouble.
3. A second / final interview with peers to ensure fit.
Key quotes
Please contact Roo if we can help you:
PS - These sessions are a great combination of a little bit of business education by UST Executive Fellow Rajiv Tandon, Ph.D. and real life application of the concepts described by an entrepreneur in the Twin Cities. The sessions will be held the first Wednesday of every month, so mark your calendars for June 1st.
Mike shared the story of the Nerdery’s need to grow rapidly. They couldn’t keep up with the work and their hiring was reactive. Recruitment would start with a panicked phone call on a Friday afternoon to a few people, and went something like this:
“I met you once at X event. You seemed good. Can you be here Monday”?
This worked for a while, but over time they became more intentional. The first step was to set an audacious goal of hiring “100 Nerds in 100 Days”. They hired 50+ but couldn’t screen or onboard effectively – it was just too much at one time. Several of those hires crashed and burned.
Over time their selection process has been fine tuned. What has changed? The Nerdery:
- Learned a lesson: hire the right person, at the right time, with the right motivation.
- Has a specific goal: to be the best place on Earth for nerds to work.
- Knows what they are looking for: they hire people who want autonomy and to learn continuously.
- Refined the hiring process.
2. Viable candidates are sent home with a NAT (Nerd Assessment Test). This is a short project that any qualified candidate should be able to complete with little trouble.
3. A second / final interview with peers to ensure fit.
Key quotes
- “We didn’t do anything smart. We hired smart people.”
- “The # 1 growth limiting factor is always access to talent.”
- “People are the only thing that matter.”
- “People are your multiplier”
- “Culture is critical.”
Please contact Roo if we can help you:
- Refine the demographic / profile of the people for “fit” your organization
- Source and prequalify candidates
- Reduce your time to fill your positions while increasing quality of hire
PS - These sessions are a great combination of a little bit of business education by UST Executive Fellow Rajiv Tandon, Ph.D. and real life application of the concepts described by an entrepreneur in the Twin Cities. The sessions will be held the first Wednesday of every month, so mark your calendars for June 1st.