????芝加哥crowdSPRING公司的創(chuàng)始人羅斯?金巴羅夫斯基說：“那些喜歡問‘為什么’的人，往往比喜歡問‘是什么’的人有更好的好奇心和創(chuàng)造力。這樣的人通常不會總是讓別人聽他們講個不停。

保持透明

????一旦員工加入公司，創(chuàng)業(yè)者需要保持這些新人的工作動力、效率和愉快的心情。通常情況下，初期員工加入初創(chuàng)公司是因為他們想成為創(chuàng)業(yè)項目的一分子，見證一份事業(yè)從零起步的過程。

????“我是Mediaite的第一個員工，”斯科拉說道。“我喜歡在白紙上構(gòu)思草圖的感覺。指著一樣?xùn)|西告訴別人說：‘是我創(chuàng)造了它’，這種感覺非常有成就感。”

????就算初期員工充滿激情，創(chuàng)業(yè)者仍然需要悉心呵護(hù)，保持員工們的熱情之火不會因為挫折而熄滅。這往往是創(chuàng)業(yè)者面臨的最大挑戰(zhàn)。

????如何才能做到這一點？瑪利亞?賽德曼介紹了她的理念：“像對待共同創(chuàng)始人一樣對待每一個初期員工。向整個團(tuán)隊保持透明公開，與他們分享公司的起伏漲落。這樣，公司里的每個人都能知道公司的具體狀況。如果你在創(chuàng)業(yè)中面臨很多事情，無法完全掌控，這時，你可以營造一個透明公開的企業(yè)文化，放心大膽地讓公司團(tuán)隊自發(fā)運行。

????歸根到底，許多杰出的人才都希望尋找更有意義的工作經(jīng)歷，所以才有人會選擇加入初創(chuàng)公司，而不是規(guī)模更大、更成熟的公司。許多初創(chuàng)公司的初期員工都愿意為了更有意義的目標(biāo)，放棄穩(wěn)定和金錢。“生命匆匆，不容虛度，”曾在AddThis和HelloWallet兩家初創(chuàng)公司中參與初期工作的賈斯汀?索普說。“我選擇了能讓我發(fā)光的工作。”

????法蘭克?格魯伯和簡?康薩爾瓦是TechCocktail的共同創(chuàng)始人。這是一家媒體公司，為創(chuàng)業(yè)公司、創(chuàng)業(yè)者和技術(shù)狂熱者提供活動組織服務(wù)。

????譯者：周詳

????When hiring, Ross Kimbarvosky of Chicago-based crowdSPRING often looks for communication cues to help find the best early employees, "People who ask 'why' questions (rather than 'what' questions) tend to show a greater degree of interest, a more creative potential, and typically reflect employees who don't need to hear themselves talk all the time."

Keeping things transparent

????Once an employee is on board, founders need to make sure those new hires remain motivated, happy, and productive. For the most part, early employees joined a startup because they wanted to be part of a business project where they get to see things grow from the ground up.

????"As the first person at Mediaite," Sklar explains, "I loved the idea of building something completely from scratch. It's enormously satisfying to point to something that exists and say, 'I made that happen.'"

????Even if an early employee has the passion, the employer still needs to manage them well enough to keep that flame going amid the rough patches, which can be one of the biggest challenges for founders.

????How do you pull this off? Maria Seidman explains her philosophy, "Treat every early employee as they were a founder. Be totally transparent with your team and share with them the ups and downs along the way. This way, everyone has context for what's happening, and while there are many things you can't control in a startup, you can foster a culture of transparency and trust which is in itself motivational."

????At the end of the day, many talented people are looking for a more meaningful work experience, which is why some people join startups over bigger, more established companies. Many early startup employees are willing to trade the perception of stability and more money for that added sense of purpose. "Life's too short to feel like you're doing nothing," says Justin Thorp, an early employee with both AddThis and HelloWallet. "I wanted to do something where I was thriving."

????Frank Gruber and Jen Consalvo are the co-founders of TechCocktail, a media company and events organization for startups, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts.