I don't agree that Haskell is fringe. Haskell is more than 20 years old. It is commonly used in finance, science and in complex projects (like pugs). The abil

I don't agree that Haskell is fringe. Haskell is more than 20 years old. It is commonly used in finance, science and in complex projects (like pugs). The ability to program in a strict typed functional language is often a good indicator of programming skill. Clojure in comparison is much younger. It does however leverage the JVM so I suppose it stands on the shoulders of giants. Again, the ability to develop with Lisp is a good indicator of programming skill as well. That the industry has not innovated does not mean that your code base will lack innovations. a data-centric approach will more than likely find hidden data points that will allow your systems to leverage some aspects of the market (innovation for free?). In hiring, you may want to hire for a broader skill-set, but look for Haskell or Clojure skills. That developers get bored should lead you to consider more autonomous management structures. Incidentally, I think the market you picked is excellent. Innovating in that space will be easier. Marketing to them, much harder. I'd hire developers that understand platform development or systematic design.