How the Founder of Telegram hires the best developers

Hey,

Welcome back to Stay Curious — an idea riff on a few things keeping me curious in the world of startups, VC and day-to-day life.

On deck this week?

• How the founder of Telegram hires the best developers

• Nice Google reviews are 100x more valuable than a $2 tip

• Someone should build a wasted-time cost app

• Maker vs Manager schedules

Take a sip of your Aeropress coffee, toss your feet up and let’s dive in.

1) How the founder of Telegram hires the best developers

Most people think more staff = more success

Well, Durov, the Russian founder behind Telegram, cackles when he hears that.

He’s grown the Telegram messaging app from 0 to 900 million monthly active users with:

• no outside VC funding

• no HR department

• and the most unconventional hiring process

Durov hires A+ developer talent without paying a cent to recruiters

He invented contest.com — a worldwide developer challenge where anyone can compete to win cold hard cash.

The winner of the month wins the bounty and usually an interview to work at his company. Pure genius.

Durov rebranded such a boring and slow job application process into the world's largest developer chest-pumping contest.

And it’s paid off big, for his staff and his company. Durov and his brother Nikolai still own 100% of the brand which is now worth $30B and they’re eyeing an IPO next.

Guess it pays to break the rules.

2) 40,000 views on a 5-star review is worth way more than a toonie in a tip jar.

But sometimes — a tip just doesn’t do it justice.

When I have that feeling, I load up my ol’ Google review game snap a pic, add a caption and post it to the interwebs.

And It does wonders:

• most of my reviews have hit 10,000-100,000 reviews

• takes me 60 seconds

• and it’s free 99 if you're tight on cash

If you love a spot, hit ‘em with a Google review. It goes a long way. And will pay dividends of value for decades vs a one off $2 tip in the jar

3) Wasted time matters more than you think:

One of my favourite 30sec/day newsletters to follow is Soren’s

He’s an ex-designer who does quick hits on subtle features everyone wishes big companies added to their products.

This one is a fun riff for Google Meet to think on:

I’ve been thinking a lot more about the cost of time wasting. And if you keep tally, it gets ridiculous.

4) Maker vs Manager Schedules

Paul Graham, one of the great forefathers of startups, has a famous essay on “maker vs manager” schedules.

He classifies makers as people who feast off deep work (writers, coders, designers) and managers as bosses who prefer the traditional appointment approach to a day, with each day cut into one-hour intervals.

Depending on where you sit, you may resonate with this line:

What was your favourite riff from today?

Reply to let me know.

Also, if you liked today’s deep dive, forward it to a friend.

Stay curious,

Joel

Hit me up on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn 

Forwarded this email? Sign up here