every VC-backed tech company wants to hire A players. the problem is that the best people in tech are also some of THE most sought-after talent in the world. they either have companies throwing insane amounts of money at them to join, or they're already making more money building their own businesses than they would working for yours. so how do you actually convince exceptional people to come work for you? the traditional strategy was to recruit people with polished resumes who held senior positions at some of the biggest companies in the world. but working at a successful company doesn't necessarily mean you contributed much to its success. people often get credited for building companies they actually played a relatively small role in growing. instead of chasing impressive job titles and big names on a resume, i'd rather recruit people who are extremely high agency, young, hungry, and care more about their learning curve than their income trajectory. i call this the hiring "mini future CEOs" strategy. find people who: 1) treat your company like it's their own 2) take initiative without needing someone to tell them what to do 2) have the capability to build and run their own mini business within your organization i'll use myself as an example. over the last 6 months, i've generated 20M+ views through X and built a strong understanding of marketing and distribution. but when i first joined Flex, i had barely 2K followers and nowhere near the experience i have today. what made the difference was being given the freedom to experiment, make mistakes, and take ownership of things that someone my age would rarely get the opportunity to work on. and i think more founders should approach recruiting this way: there are a LOT of incredibly smart, ambitious young people who would gladly take a lower salary for the opportunity to work directly with exceptional founders, take real ownership, and learn how to build a company from the inside. instead of competing with hundreds of companies to recruit someone who's already A+ talent, find someone with A+ potential who just hasn't had the experience or opportunity to prove themselves yet. give them the right mentorship, guidance, and freedom to build, and you will end up with someone who's not only exceptional at their job, but far more loyal to your company than someone you had to outbid everyone else to hire.