The following guest post was authored by Feras Alhlou at Start Up with Feras.

If you’ve spent any time building a team, you’ve probably had this Steve Jobs quote tattooed on your entrepreneurial brain:

“A small team of A-players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.”

Sounds great in a keynote. But how do you actually find, hire, and retain A-players, especially when you’re growing and bootstrapped, and every wrong hire hits hard? And what’s the real cost of getting it wrong?

That’s what I’m going to unpack here, not from theory, but from experience. After building multiple businesses, hiring hundreds of people, and exiting an 8-figure consulting firm, I’ve got the scar tissue to show for it.

Let me take you back to 2003 and my first business. Whatever hiring experience I had from my corporate days didn’t prepare me for recruiting in a small startup.

After our very earliest stages, I convinced my cofounder to invest in a dedicated salesperson. Cash was still tight, and my cofounder hesitated, but I pushed hard, and my cofounder agreed. This senior salesperson had the resume, the pitch, and the polish, everything but the results.

Three months later, $24K gone, and zero pipeline to show for it, I fired him.

It felt terrible. I was embarrassed in front of my partner, frustrated with myself, and tempted to blame the “deadbeat” sales guy entirely. But what stuck with me wasn’t Jobs’s quote — it was Jim Collins’s:

“When things go well, successful leaders look out the window. When things go poorly, they look in the mirror.”

It’s easy to be dazzled by a glittering résumé or smooth talk. My expensive mistake didn’t just teach me about hiring — it taught me the true cost in time, momentum, and money of getting it wrong.

If you’ve made hiring mistakes too, we’re not alone: 75% of employers admit to hiring the wrong person. The key is learning from the mistakes — both yours and others’ — and building better systems around hiring.

A-players aren’t just found. They’re identified, supported, and retained through clear expectations and the right environment.

This article is my attempt to hand you the map I wish I had: a clear, financially grounded way to think about hiring A-players, and what it really costs when you don’t.

The True Cost of a Bad Hire

Financial Impact

Hiring the wrong person doesn’t just cost you time; it can wipe out a significant chunk of your business resources. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that a bad hire can drain at least 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings; other sources report even higher costs. This includes recruiting costs, training, and the lost potential of having the right person in the role.

Intangible Costs

But the true damage goes far beyond dollars and cents. Imagine the strain on morale when your team has to pick up a new hire’s slack. Productivity takes a nosedive, and it becomes harder to maintain momentum toward your goals.

What’s worse, bad hires can change the dynamics of your company culture. They might not align with your core values, and soon enough, that misalignment causes friction that impacts everyone. Your team feels it. And customers feel it too.

Identifying A-Players: Characteristics and Indicators

How do you ensure you’re hiring the right people who not only fit in, but also propel your business forward? The answer lies in identifying A-players, the top 1-10% of performers who not only excel in their roles but also align with your company culture and values.

Definition:

An A-player isn’t just someone who shows up on time and completes their tasks. These are the individuals who consistently exceed expectations, set new standards for success, and elevate the entire team and company. A-players don’t just fit in, they make the culture stronger, driving results in ways that others can’t.

Studies show that high-performing employees (A-players) can be up to 400% more productive than their average counterparts, and in complex roles, this can rise to 800%.

Key Traits of A-Players

  • Thinker-doers: A-players don’t just plan; they execute. They turn ideas into action, staying adaptable in the face of change.
  • Problem solvers: A-players don’t wait for solutions; they create them. They approach challenges with a calm confidence, finding ways to navigate obstacles and keep the business moving forward, much like redirecting energy in a fluid, natural way.
  • Intrinsic motivation: A-players are self-driven, motivated by a desire to be their best. They don’t need external validation to push themselves; their drive comes from within.
  • Cultural fitness: A-players fit seamlessly into your company culture. They understand the value of collaboration, creating harmony within the team.
  • High sense of ownership: A-players take full responsibility for their work, treating the company as if it were their own. This deep sense of ownership drives them to deliver their best, make confident decisions, and ensure success.

Strategies for Attracting and Retaining A-Players

Bringing in A-players isn’t luck, it’s intentional. It starts with positioning your business as a place where top talent wants to be.

If you’re an early-stage founder and not hiring at scale yet, start with your network. Look for people you trust, those you have strong rapport with, people whose quirks you know and who know yours 🙂. In the early days, you need team members who think like founders and can thrive in uncertainty.

As you grow, you’ll need to look beyond your immediate circle. That’s when having a clear mission, strong culture, and compelling vision becomes critical to attracting top talent from the outside.

Attraction

  • Sell the vision, not just the job:
    Craft job descriptions that highlight your company’s mission and how the role contributes to it. A-players want to be part of something bigger, not just get another job.
  • Leverage employee referrals:
    Your A-players likely know other top talent. Use your team’s network to find candidates who share the same values and work ethic. Referral programs help bring in quality candidates and strengthen team culture.
  • Hire for attitude; train for skill:
    For junior roles, hire based on attitude. Skills can be taught, but drive, hunger, and problem-solving are hard to find.
  • Understand the work yourself:
    Before hiring, familiarize yourself with the role. Having a solid understanding allows you to assess candidates more effectively. I learned the hard way when I hired the wrong salesperson. After that, I brought in senior experts as needed to help evaluate candidates and provide objective feedback.

Assessment Strategies

If you’ve managed to attract an A-player whose industry profile speaks for itself, you probably won’t need to do a heavy assessment before hiring. On the other hand, you’ll need to more carefully vet other candidates who don’t come with a known track record.

This means asking the right questions and assessing them beyond just qualifications. Here are a few strategies to help you identify top talent:

  • Behavioral interview techniques: Dive deep into past experiences. Ask candidates to share examples of how they’ve handled challenges, solved problems, or turned situations around. Behavioral questions that focus on their ability to think critically and navigate tough situations are key to understanding their true potential.
  • Practical assessments and work samples: Don’t just ask about skills — test them. Give candidates real-world problems to solve or ask for past work samples. This reveals how they approach challenges, think through solutions, and deliver results. A-players shine in these scenarios — not just through knowledge, but through execution. An area I like to dig into is:
    • Ask for a specific example where they combined strategic thinking and hands-on execution — a moment where they exceeded expectations. Some people love to theorize; others jump straight into action. You want someone who can do both, and who can walk you through their decisions under pressure.
  • Ask how far they’ve traveled: Hiring someone from a top school with good grades is one thing, but they may have had tutors and a ton of support from middle school to college. Compare that to someone who still got good grades but worked two jobs while attending school and taking care of their aging parents or family business in the summer.
  • Assess technical skills: Technical skills are relatively easy to assess with your own structured evaluations.
  • Assess character: Personality and values are harder to assess than technical skills. Qualities like humility, adaptability, and collaboration require in-depth interviews and multiple team interactions.
    • I teach Aikido, a Japanese martial art, to young students. When a new student joins, I can often tell right away if they’ve trained before, by how they move, balance, and follow instructions. But what’s harder to assess is character: Are they respectful? Can they support others? Are they open to learning?
  • Reference checks: Past performance is often the best predictor of future success. By checking references, you gain insights into their work ethic, reliability, and ability to work well with others. Great references will emphasize their skills, attitude, and contributions to previous teams. Leverage screening tools (such as Searchlight.ai) that reduce bias in the hiring process. An area I like to dig into is:
    • Have they helped others in their jobs (or outside of their jobs)?

As important as it is to hire people with impressive achievements, you don’t want to hire a narcissist, no matter how talented they may be. A business can’t thrive without teamwork and mutual support, so make sure you gauge how the candidate has supported their colleagues in the past. If the candidate references volunteering, ask for additional details.

So don’t rush it, especially for senior roles.

Build a process that uncovers both the skills and the mindset. It’ll save you far more than it costs.

Retention

Top performers are costly to replace. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), replacing a key employee can cost up to 200% of their annual salary.

  • Offer competitive compensation packages: Pay matters. A-players know their value — and if you want to keep them, your compensation needs to reflect their impact. That doesn’t just mean salary. Bonuses, equity, flexibility, and meaningful perks all send a clear message: We’re investing in you for the long haul. But what if cash is tight? In my experience, transparency goes a long way. I shared the vision and the numbers, and I made a clear commitment: as the business grows, so will compensation. And we delivered on those promises — which built loyalty and trust, even in the lean times.
  • Provide growth opportunities: A-players are motivated by growth, not just in terms of skills, but in their careers. Provide opportunities for professional development, additional responsibilities, and leadership roles. Let them know that you’re committed to helping them advance.
  • Create an inclusive and supportive environment: A-players thrive in a workplace that aligns with their values. Foster a culture of collaboration, inclusivity, and respect, where everyone feels empowered to contribute their best work. When your team feels supported and valued, they’re more likely to stay.

The Value Proposition of A-Players

Hiring A-players isn’t just about filling a role, it’s about transforming your business. The impact of top talent is undeniable:

Enhanced productivity: A-players don’t just meet expectations, they shatter them. This kind of productivity is contagious, pushing your whole team to perform at a higher level.

Leadership and innovation: A-players bring more than just their skills: they bring leadership and creativity. Their presence inspires others to do their best work, fostering an environment where excellence thrives. Their innovative thinking can drive new ideas, solutions, and efficiencies, elevating their entire team and the company.

Long-term impact: The right A-players don’t just contribute in the short term. They are key to sustainable growth. They’re instrumental in scaling operations, handling increased demands, and leading your business through complex challenges. A-players set the foundation for long-term success.