Hiring Sets the Ceiling

Talent acquisition is not a support function. In specialist firms, it sets the ceiling. The real test begins when hiring can no longer rely on the founders’ networks, instincts, and direct involvement.

Many specialist firms make their first hires through existing relationships. The founders know the candidates, understand their track records, and share a clear view of what the company needs.

That approach can work well in the early years.

“Most specialist firms can grow through their own network to around ten people,” says Patrick Donovan, Head of Talent Acquisition at Newground. “After that, things start to break.”

Beyond that point, the challenge is not only reaching new candidates. It is turning an informal, founder-led approach into a shared way of identifying and assessing talent.

“One wrong person can affect everything around them,” Patrick says. “Delivery quality, customer trust, internal culture, momentum, the credibility of the business itself.”

At Stelltec, that challenge became increasingly visible as the company scaled.

“When we were two founders, it was easy to agree on what ‘right’ looked like,” says Marcus Hasselblad. “As you grow, more people become involved in hiring decisions. That’s when it becomes harder to keep the bar consistent.”

For Stelltec, the difficulty is finding candidates who have the specific combination of capabilities the company depends on.

“We are looking for people who understand technology deeply, can engage with business, but also know how to lead large and complex delivery environments,” Marcus says. “There are not many of those people.”

Previous roles and project lists reveal only part of what a candidate has actually done.

“A CV rarely tells you the full story,” he says. “Someone might have been part of a large program, but not actually carried the responsibility you need them to have.”

At Aurentor, the challenge emerged differently. The issue was not primarily access to candidates, but ensuring that hiring decisions were consistent across the company.

“The more seriously you take hiring, the more organizational attention it consumes,” says Erik Bråvander. “Multiple perspectives, calibration, discussions, alignment. Doing it properly takes real time from the business.”

For a smaller firm, that investment reflects how much each recruitment decision matters.

“We don’t have any ‘good enough’ hires,” Erik says. “Every person has a very large impact on who we are as a company.”

Experience also showed Aurentor that personal chemistry could not be the only deciding factor.

“We learned the hard way that you can’t hire only because the gut feeling is right,” Erik says. “The chemistry can be there, but the harder requirements still need to hold up.”

The company introduced more structured hiring processes, including case-based evaluations and clearer calibration across interviewers. The aim was to create a more consistent basis for decisions as more people became involved in recruitment.

Patrick sees the same risk across many growing specialist firms. As the need for new people increases, so does the pressure to compromise.

“The risk is that companies slowly start lowering the bar without realizing it,” he says. “You need more people. You want growth. Eventually, compromise starts looking reasonable.”

This is also why recruitment can be difficult to hand over to an external partner with limited insight into the business and its work.

“Most agencies operate on specifications,” Patrick says. “You ask for a profile, they send candidates, and if those candidates don’t work out, they send more.”

For a specialist firm, the task goes beyond matching a candidate to a list of qualifications. It requires an understanding of the work, the responsibilities involved, and what the company considers strong performance.

“It took time for us to really understand what strong looked like consistently across the process,” Erik says. “Not just individually, but collectively as a company.”

For a specialist firm, demand creates the opportunity to grow. The real constraint is whether it can grow its team without lowering the bar.