Great Projects attract Great People:

There is a real-world balance between the job and the pay. How hard do you think it is for Yahoo to hire a web developer? How about the IRS? How about for the same pay?

Those with the greatest skills have the luxury of choosing the work that they want to do. For the most part they have solved the money part of the equation. So why are there great web developers who are not working new exciting projects? There are a series of reason including pay, location, company mission, blah, blah, blah.

So how does the little guy attract great talent?

I believe part of the answer is to dream big and work on projects that can change the world. Through climber, we have learned that in most cases people would rather work on a great project than get paid more money. They would rather be part of the great team that produced cool and exciting products than succeed in a company where their worldly contributions would not be recognized.

Interview and hire people whose beliefs are in line with your company goals. Turning them into believers is the first step in understanding your sales process. If your employees think your products suck, they probably do. Ask them.

Got Sucky Products?
You need to fix this first. It is extremely difficult to hire quality people if your products suck. However, if you can sell prospective hires on your new vision you may have solved your most of your problem. Be innovative, look at the people in your industry who are on the leading edge and jump over them. There is always an envelope to push!

Aspire to be innovative.

Cheers,
Mike