ScalingEmerging Pattern

Hire only candidates who make you think they're better than you

Set hiring bar at 'wow, this person is better than me, I would learn from them' rather than just competent. Trust your gut reaction to portfolios - if your jaw doesn't hit the floor, they won't work out. This creates talent-dense teams where everyone learns from each other.

When to use

When scaling creative or technical teams where quality compounds and average performers drag down the whole team

Don't do this

Hiring people you're on the fence about because you need capacity urgently - they rarely work out and waste time

1 Founder Who Did This

1
Clip.coby Henry and Dylan

Applied 'hire better' rule: only hired when portfolio made jaw hit floor, rejected anyone they were on-the-fence about regardless of need

Result:Built team of 50 animators where everyone learns from each other, created 'talent dense' environment that produced 1B views
Read full story →