Shared interests

I might have mentioned that the idea I'm currently developing has 'social impact'. Yes, it could fall under the 'social venture' category and I could be considered a social entrepreneur, though I feel that since I'm aiming to build a for-profit organization, I'm not in the same league as those with a calling for pure service. But, as I'm building software, it appears to be more sensible to go the for-profit route, and plan to support non-profits and other deserving but under-resourced users.

Anyway, since this venture has a social goal, I'm all the more driven to make sure that the early stage team members have the same level of commitment to the cause as I do. And they have to be passionate about this cause - affinity to other causes, while praiseworthy, chill my interest to lukewarm at best.

Case in point. I was recently assessing a candidate who's had the relevant experience and is very interested in getting in at the 'root level' of another startup, preferably one that's capable of 'doing some good'. I really liked his attitude, approach, skills, but noticed a niggling worm of doubt that insinuated itself into my otherwise general feeling of euphoria - the guy was more D-caffeinated than A-buzz when it came to my mission. At the same time I was talking to a couple of others, who had slightly different skills, but were totally fired up - they came back to me with suggestions, questions, what-if's, all indications that they were fully warmed up to this cause. The difference couldn't have been more striking. So, when guy #1 told me that he's leaning more towards another venture in a different space, my first thought was "Whew, thanks!" as it removed the possibility of a wrong choice.

Why was there even a possibility of a wrong choice? Sticking to your mantras is not always easy. No matter how many times I have reiterated that I need people with fire in their bellies, when faced with the possibility of a really good candidate who had everything but that, it was not a (cake) walk-away. I actually spent time considering if I was being too rigid about the criteria - surely he could get converted to the cause if I evangelized strongly enough? Thankfully this miasma didn't last for more than a day.

Maybe this is not so much of an issue if your goal is to squeeze out another one-hundreth of a percent point in productivity for a large corporation (the new new thing in demand chain optimization?). In that case you're looking for those who're committed to, and passionate about, their roles - architect, engineer, sales, biz dev, whatever - but the mission itself, not so much. But if you're looking to do something to help disadvantaged kids for example, you want your team to be revved up about that goal and not itching to tinker with sustainable farming instead. Both laudable, but you can launch only one rocketship - for now.