Jason M. Lemkin argues founders must be "tenacious recruiters," dedicating substantial ongoing time to hiring. He recommends founders spend 20–30% of their time recruiting, conduct at least 10 interviews per week, and realistically invest 10+ hours weekly; he critiques founders who only do one or two interviews and warns against low-quality applicants.
But you've got to become a tenacious recruiter. And again after that if they are not tenacious recruiters. And what I mean is, look, you can't get anywhere as founders and frankly, I still have those weaknesses today. But the best CEOs and founders are constantly recruiting at all times. They are spending, literally spending 20 to 30% of their time recruiting every week. They are doing at least 10 interviews a week. Every week. You've got to spend 20 to 30% of your time. And I say this, a lot of founders nod the head and then I'm like, be honest, have you really spent 20% of your time recruiting this weekend? And the truth is most founders will do one or two interviews a week max and they are not spending 20% of their time. They are not spending 10 or more hours recruiting. And sure, there's no point in interviewing some Brando that applies off LinkedIn that can't even write a cover letter or write a single word about what your company does.
