Mercenaries vs missionaries

I’ve always loved the concept of mercenaries vs missionaries in hiring. I’m not sure who to credit with coming up with it, but it’s become a staple in the startup world.

Put simply, mercenaries are employees who join a company as a job and a way to make a living. Whereas missionaries are employees who join a company because they believe in the company’s mission and want to be part of that.

Of course, a job is a job so there is some overlap and it’s also worth noting that there’s nothing wrong with being a mercenary. Some people just want to work to live, earn a paycheck, and go home.

However, when you’re building a startup where things are incredibly difficult on a day to day basis and the pay is lower, you really need to focus on finding missionaries. It’s incredibly hard to launch a business with mercenaries leading the charge.

I meet a ton of candidates who say they want to be part of a startup, but in reality, they just like the idea of being at a startup. They don’t understand that it takes a shit ton of work building that company. They are always looking out for themselves first and they are the first ones to jump off the ship when things aren’t going well.

Deciphering between someone who is a mercenary and missionary is of course a difficult task. It’s something I’m very focused on with our current batch of hires and something I’ll continue to hone in on when we make hires in the future.