How to Attract the Best Talent

Most startups can’t compete on salaries or perks—so how do you hire amazing employees? Here’s how I did it, by optimizing for personal connection.

- by NOOSHEEN HASHEMI

We had an exciting idea for an AI company. But we struggled to hire AI engineers.

The idea was this: We can use AI to help prevent chronic health conditions like diabetes. My cofounder and I developed a company called January AI, raised money from investors, and posted AI engineering jobs. But the candidates we saw were uninspired. They were more interested in the likes of OpenAI, where they could work on flashy tools with broad appeal, and not applications like health.

This problem is common among smaller businesses: Everyone competes for talent against industry behemoths, who can offer the kind of glamour and benefits that we cannot. That means we must get creative, offering things that our larger competitors cannot.

In my case, we found a powerful offer—and it helped us recruit a talented, passionate team. The offer was this: Come work on something that's personally meaningful to you. Although we paid well, the right candidates needed to see more than salary and benefits; they needed to see the lives and stories that their work could impact.