The contrast between hiring at a FAANG sized company and an early stage startup is worth underlining. If you are big enough, you are basically looking for some

The contrast between hiring at a FAANG sized company and an early stage startup is worth underlining. If you are big enough, you are basically looking for some level of fit and talent, and to avoid bad hires. It's hard to get right still, but it's basically a crank you turn all the time at a rate to fill your growth/turnover. When you are hiring early stage, especially for the initial team it isn't the same at all. You have overall goals for the team but nothing is really fixed yet. Lots of the time you may be looking at three good candidates, A/B/C but reasoning along the lines of I can hire A & C, or B & C, but not A & B. B & C might not work. But B is strongest candidate, do I look for a D? At the very early stage of hiring nearly every hire can change what you are looking for "next". And if multiple people have hiring authority, you can end up having this conversation: "We just hired X, they are great and we didn't want to miss to opportunity. Maybe they're a better fit for your team though?" It sounds stupid but happens quite often in the crazy first months/years of a startup.