A series of mass layoffs at tech giants.Why are startups so reluctant when it is an opportunity to acquire talent?

Insider interviewed nine startups and five venture capitalists. They say their company has been successful in poaching candidates from big tech job seekers.

In the case of Yobi, it was initially very difficult to find a developer in the United States. In fact, Reza says it’s been difficult to hire top talent wherever Big Tech has offices. But things are changing these days, and Yobi is becoming more attractive to ex-Big Tech employees.

Mountain View, Calif.-based software company Lacework has similarly been successful in hiring big tech veterans. So says Elise Carstensen, Facebook-turned-Racework head of recruiting. However, Carstensen emphasizes that Wraithwork evaluates candidates based on their technical acumen, rather than the size of their previous employers.

The recession casts a shadow over startup hiring

VCs and startup founders interviewed by Insider say startups are cautious about hiring as recession fears grow.

Gregg Adkin, managing director of investment firm Dell Technologies Capital, said:

“I advised early-stage companies to be cautious about hiring and not to over-hire when sales aren’t growing.”

Startups are running out of funding and are under pressure to cut costs. Big Tech won’t be able to absorb all the talent it has let go at a time when venture investment is declining.

Recent layoffs have expanded the talent market, but startups are also wary of hiring people they see as underperformers.

“Many layoffs are aimed at lower performers, but not always. Sometimes entire business units are disqualified,” said co-CEO and co-CEO of cloud startup Pulumi. Founder Joe Duffy says.

“Startups are so small that they can’t afford to take that kind of risk.”

The question of whether you can fit into the startup culture

Startup founders cite cultural differences as a hurdle to hiring talent from big tech.

“Frankly, a lot of them don’t quite fit what I’m looking for,” says Girish Bhat, senior vice president of marketing at data cloud startup Acceldata. leak.

He also points out that people from Big Tech lack experience in startups.

“They have to go through six months of training, because just because they’re from big tech doesn’t mean they’re right for your needs,” Bert said.

Other startups agreed.

“The problem I always have with big companies is the ‘culture of self-importance,’ which doesn’t sit well with companies like ours,” said AB Perisamy, CEO and co-founder of MinIO. (AB Periasamy).

Compared to big tech’s benefits, such as laundry services, gyms and elaborate meals, startups’ compensation schemes are more modest, Periasami said.

In a niche industry like cybersecurity, some founders say they’re better off hiring people from other startups familiar with similar business models.

Engineers at big tech may be able to focus on one project, but engineers at startups juggle multiple projects at once, says the founder of cybersecurity recruitment firm Pinpoint Search Group. Mark Sasson, managing partner and managing partner, said.

Startups are looking for “army knives,” said Lalitha Rajagopalan, co-founder and head of strategy at fundraising startup Oro.

“It’s better to hire people who came without the luxuries of a company like Meta. People at those companies have a very narrow field,” Rajagopalan said.

How do you determine if a candidate is a good start-up candidate? Elias Terman, chief marketing officer at Uptycs, asks candidates if they’ve worked on a product in a previous job that saw high-growth startup-level growth.

“For people who have only worked at a large company and have no entrepreneurial experience, the startup environment may be tough,” Terman said.

The tech industry labor market is in a period of adjustment

Many see the recent layoffs in the tech industry as a remedy for long-standing market imbalances. As tech stocks continue to take a hit and the impact of the recession grows in 2023, big tech is entering an era of thrift unlike any previous recession.

Tech job seekers are realizing that the market is cooling and their edge is eroding. Startup founders know more talent is pouring into the job market, without the need for startups to spend exorbitant amounts of money to get tech talent, says NEA partner Melissa.・Taunton (Melissa Taunton) says.

That said, recruiters say startups rarely look solely at previous jobs at big tech or startups when selecting tech talent. Ultimately, it’s more effective to focus on individual candidates, says Wraithwork’s Carstensen.

“I don’t want to judge a candidate by the college they went to or their work experience. What I can tell you for sure is that a person’s skills and expertise matter most,” says Carstensen.