A Proven Method for Hiring Your First 10x Startup Designer

Looking to hire a gem designer?

I've hired 100s of designers in my career and interviewed probably 1000s from scrappy startups to large scale tech companies. I've had the pleasure of learning from the best recruiters, leaders, entrepreneurs and hiring teams in the world.

Here’s a solid interview framework and process to help you find THAT designer.

First things first: Review Portfolio

Look at their past work. Ideally, work that has been shipped and you can actually interact with. If not, prototypes, videos, screens all work.

For the first hire you want a really strong product designer that can execute and deliver quality brand and comms work.

• Does it meet your expectation of quality?

• Does it match your taste?

• Do you get excited about it?

• What type of design do they decide to share? Marketing, Branding, Product? It better be good product :)

• ..etc.

If they can't share work then it's probably b/c they don't have anything worth sharing.

Question Bank

Here is a bank of essential questions:

• What are the first 3 steps you take when designing a new product?

• How do you define and build a great user experience?

• Where do you find your design inspiration?

• Share a project you designed that shipped to customers.

• Explain a scenario where your design work impacted the business. How did it happen? Be specific.

• What are your strengths in design, and where do you want to grow?

• How do you prefer to communicate your design decisions to your team?

• What’s an example where you’ve taken proactive initiative to execute on something you believed in? How did you do it?

• What areas of tech and business are you most excited about right now? Why?

• What is a new skill they've learned in the last 6 months? What motivated them to do it?

Why these questions? You want to get at these dimensions.

Problem-Solving Approach:

• First 3 steps when designing: Reveals their foundational thinking and priority-setting in tackling design challenges.

User-Centered Mindset:

• Define and build a great user experience: Assesses their understanding of what makes a product not just usable, but delightful and intuitive for the user.

Creativity and Curiosity:

• Where do you find design inspiration?: Uncovers their sources of creativity and whether they’re a curious person always seeking out the coolest new ideas, tools, and trends to stay innovative.

Practical Experience:

• Share a project you designed that shipped: Demonstrates their ability to take a design from concept to completion and shows their impact in real-world applications.

Business Impact:

• Scenario where design impacted business: Highlights their ability to align design work with business goals and drive tangible results.

Self-Awareness and Growth:

• Strengths and areas for growth: Provides insight into their self-assessment skills and their willingness to grow and evolve as a designer.

Communication Skills:

• How do you communicate design decisions?: Gauges their ability to articulate and defend design choices, crucial for collaboration and stakeholder engagement.

Initiative and Proactivity:

• Example of taking proactive initiative: Reveals their drive to take ownership of ideas and execute them, showcasing leadership potential.

Interview Process

📞 Initial Call: Gauge their experience, desire for the role, communication style, and personality. This is your chance to sell the opportunity if there’s mutual interest.

Next Step:

If confident after the call, move straight to an onsite interview.

Not sure after the first call? Do a phone screen with a function they’ll collaborate heavily with. Tease out if this person has gained trust in the candidate. Would they be excited to work with them and why?

Note: Someone that talks to them has to be a STRONG ENDORSE before spending time bringing them in. You don't want to waste the candidate or your valuable time with an onsite if you don't have a someone really excited about them. If you can't get to this level of clarity on a phone screen you aren't asking the right questions.

🎨 Onsite Portfolio Presentation: 30-45 mins reviewing 2 past projects. Focus on their storytelling, product thinking, design process, and end results. How do they present and explain their work? Is it exciting and can they map it back to the business they are designing for?

🔍 Loop 1: Background: Dive deeper into their past projects:

• How did they overcome obstacles?

• How did they collaborate cross-functionally?

• What would they do differently?

• How do they bring others into the design process?

🧐 Loop 2: Critique: Analyze a familiar product together in real time. Gauge their understanding of market dynamics, their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses, and how they’d improve the product.

Use relevant examples based on your needs:

• Utilities: Mailchimp, Gmail, Slack

• Consumer: Spotify, Airbnb, Yelp

Break down the product:

• Competitive landscape & unique advantage

• Monetization strategy

• User experience execution

• Interaction & visual design opportunities

If they pick up a marker or sketch solutions out that make sense in real-time. That's a good signal.

🧩 Loop 3: Problem Solving: Collaborate in real time to solve a problem. Get a sense of their process and how it feels to work with them. Sketch out user, problem, hypothesis, and solution together. Be a part of the process with them and evaluate how they not only shape thinking but take your input and collaborate.

Example problems to solve together:

• How would you improve a home door lock?

• How would you enhance the ATM experience?

• How would you optimize remote work?

If you aren't convinced and most everyone is a HELL YES! Pass.

But learn from it and make adjustments to the next candidates you target.

This approach will give you a clear view of their skills, creativity, and fit for your team. Happy hiring! 💼

Remember: Great designers don’t just follow orders—they take initiative and create the right positive impact. Make sure your interview process teases this out.