What Jason looks for in new hires

`0:50:27`

Is it trust people that have a lot more experience more because not everyone's going to have the right instinct? It's true. Look, Brian's probably one of the greatest CEOs around today, but I like small businesses. So he knows how to run a bigger organization. I wouldn't. So I can't really step into that answer from that perspective. One of the reasons we stay small, I think, is so we can all rub off on each other. And when we hire, we can be very, very selective because we only hire a few people a year. And so I only hire designers and product people, David hires programmers, and different people in the company hire different people. But when I hire designers, I'm curious about their tastes. I'm curious about what they like.

`0:51:12`

I'm curious about what other products they think are good. I'm curious about what they've seen that they admire or who they... I'm always asking about that because that helps me get a sense of who they are and what lens they see the world through and what kind of influences they're going to bring to bear. So that's the kind of stuff I'm looking for. And one of the things that we do during the interview process for designers specifically and product people, which is the same thing in my mind, is they do a project for us at the end. So the last five finalists will do a project for us. We'll pay them to do the project, they'll have a week to do it, they'll do it, and then I'll critique it with them. Even if I love it, I will push back in certain areas. And one of the things I'll often ask is, if you had another couple days, what would you

`0:52:00`

do with this? And I want to see where people go with that. To me, that is where you can see they don't have any time to think. So where does their gut go? What are their instincts? Where do they arrive after having to riff on the spot with something? So what's behind what they built? Because what they built should just be some of what they had in mind. It shouldn't be everything. Now they're exhausted of every future idea. And I've seen some people who we thought were really good, and in that moment, they don't know where to go with it. Now, that's not to say some people don't need time to think and think it through, but I'm still looking for people who just, their gut is filled with ideas. And so it doesn't always translate but that's how I try to suss out whether or not someone