My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Hire for Smallest Skill Deficiency
Always hire the candidate with the smallest gap between their current capabilities and role requirements, regardless of whether it's 'hard' or 'soft' skills
Decision Rule
Choose the person who needs the least training to become effective, then determine if that training investment is worthwhile
How It Works
Reduces time-to-productivity and increases likelihood of success by minimizing the skills that must be developed
Failure Modes
Hiring for attitude when role requires specialized expertise
Hiring for expertise when role requires customer interaction
Underestimating the cost/time of training missing skills
Example Decision
“For AI researcher role: hire brilliant but difficult person over friendly but technically limited candidate. For retail cashier: hire friendly person over grumpy but experienced one.”