You’re not bad at hiring. You’re just chasing a unicorn.
You want someone who can manage your calendar, write your newsletters, run operations, handle support, think like a strategist, execute like a machine, and work across four time zones—all for under $2,000 a month.
Here’s the hard truth: that person doesn’t exist. And if they did, they wouldn’t apply to your job.
So here’s what to do instead:
1️⃣ Write down everything you wish this person would do.
2️⃣ Circle the three most critical things.
3️⃣ Build a role around those—not all seventeen.
Hiring isn’t about finding magic. It’s about making tradeoffs. Clarity beats fantasy. Every time.
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Hiring Isn’t Tinder, It’s About Building Relationships
Have we turned hiring into Tinder?
Swipe. Match. Delete.
Hiring has started to look more and more like a high-churn dating game. Job platforms have made applying so easy that an employer can be swamped with hundreds of applications for a single role. A few get shortlisted, some get invited to interviews, and one gets chosen. The others—the ones who made it all the way to final rounds—receive a polite rejection. And that’s the end of the short romance. No follow-up. No “let’s stay in touch.”
A few months later, the new hire doesn’t work out—or another similar role needs to be filled. Suddenly the founder is scrambling: “Do you know anyone good? I need to rehire, fast.” And just like that, they’re back to hiring Tinder. Starting from scratch. Swipe. Match. Delete. Ignoring all the candidates from the last hiring round.
I believe most companies don’t have a hiring problem—they have a relationship problem. Hiring isn’t a one-off transaction. It’s a system of trust that grows over time, if it’s nurtured. It’s about keeping the door open, even when the role is already filled.
But if we treat candidates like one-time bets, it’s no wonder that hiring always feels like a cold start—with too many frogs to kiss before we get lucky (or not). The best founders I see have a relationship management system. Sometimes it’s as simple as adding every applicant on LinkedIn so that, when a new role opens up, previous candidates see it right away. That way, they keep their pipeline warm.
Great talent isn’t something we find at the push of a button. It’s something we build and foster long before we even know we need it.
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Remote didn’t create the problem. It revealed it.
Remote didn’t create the problem. It revealed it.
That’s what a founder told me.
So we looked at the structure.
No written decision rights.
No documented processes.
No defined response expectations.
No escalation framework.
Accountability wasn’t missing.
Clarity was.
When teams work in the same office, ambiguity hides.
People overhear conversations.
They interrupt each other.
Decisions happen informally.
Things move… even when the system is weak.
Remote work removes that safety net.
Silence exposes structure.
If ownership isn’t defined, work stalls.
If decision rights aren’t clear, everything escalates.
If processes aren’t written, people wait.
Remote didn’t create the problem.
It revealed it.
Strong companies don’t rely on proximity.
They rely on structure.
Decision rights travel.
Ownership travels.
Clarity travels.
And when they do, location stops mattering.
Quick question for founders running remote teams:
If someone new joined your team tomorrow, could they clearly see what they own and what they can decide — without asking you?
Or would they have to figure it out through Slack messages and meetings?
Structure is what makes remote work scale.
