Hiring Tips

Migicovsky draws on his experience leading Pebble and advising founders on early hires. He says hiring priorities change as a startup develops.

Early startups have no fixed roadmap and may change their idea before finding product-market fit. Migicovsky looks for people who think creatively, consider different paths, and treat the work as a problem to solve rather than a shift to complete.

Migicovsky says trust matters at nearly every stage. He found it easier to rely on friends and former classmates whose work he had seen firsthand; with trusted hires, he could leave them to solve problems independently. Without that confidence, founders may end up doing the work themselves.

Early employees may need to design products, debug issues, speak with customers, and work with teammates and partners. Migicovsky values breadth across skills, often combining a technical domain with software ability. He cautions that a team built around narrow expertise may be constrained if the product direction changes.

Migicovsky summarizes his early-stage hiring priorities as trust, creative flexibility, and multidisciplinary skills.