Team First Hiring Philosophy

Paul English, founder of Kayak and multiple successful companies, shares his framework for building exceptional teams and scaling companies.

Core Philosophy: "Team First, Customer Second, Profit Third"

• Prioritizing team building leads to magical products
• Great teams naturally create great customer experiences
• Profitable businesses emerge from magical products

Recruiting Philosophy

• Must recruit constantly, always be looking for talent
• Stay alert for potential talent in unexpected places
• Be aggressive in pursuit of desired candidates
• Willing to do whatever it takes to get target hires to join
• Always ask top performers "do you know anyone even more amazing than you?"

The 5-50-500 Rule

• First 5 hires determine quality of next 50 hires
• Those 50 hires influence quality of next 500
• Initial team members become key to closing future candidates
• Strong early team allows founder to eventually step away without hurting company

Keys to Successful Team Building

• Become a student of recruiting
  • Read all the books
  • Listen to podcasts
  • Learn from others' experiences
• Create stress-free office environment
  • People work hard but don't stress each other
  • Focus on maintaining positive culture
• Train team on proper first meeting behavior with candidates
• Let strong team members help close new candidates
• Build environment where people want to work with the team

Results of Good Team Building

• Teams that can execute without constant oversight
• Ability to scale effectively
• Freedom for founder to pursue new opportunities
• Self-sustaining culture of excellence
• Natural attraction of top talent through reputation