BYOD? Why Not Bring-Your-Own-Team?

Payments startup Stripe is currently experimenting with a new way of hiring. Instead of recruiting just one individual, the company wants to bring in an entire team all at once. Stripe is calling this ‘Bring-Your-Own-Team’ and here’s why it thinks this is a good approach.

Teamwork image from Shutterstock

I know two IT folks who are best friends and once worked in the same IT department together. They were a dynamic duo and together, there wasn’t a IT problem in their company they couldn’t fix. Their reputation as a team was well-known within their organisation. As they progressed in their respective roles, the tag team had to be split up and to this day they still miss working together.

Finding a group of people you operate well with professionally is like finding a soulmate; once you have it, you don’t want to let it go. The people in your ‘dream team’ will inspire you, and make you enjoy your work. Think of Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar who are just two mates that ended up launching Australia’s most successful startup. They’re still friends and colleagues to this day and their company is going from strength to strength.

According to Stripe engineering manager Avi Bryant:

“Maybe it’s your old co-founders, your college roommates, your collaborators on an open source project, or even your siblings; whoever it is, you’re stronger as a team than you are apart. Working together, each of you has a valuable advantage — you could call it a network effect — over anyone who works alone.”

This is why Stripe is motivated to try BYOT and is encouraging groups of two to five people to apply to work at the company. Bryant is expecting CVs to come mostly from software engineers but is happy to receive them from teams that consists of a mish-mash of engineers, designers and managers.

Most of us don’t get the luxury of staying in our ideal groups. One person might be headhunted for a better job and then the whole group falls apart and each person go their separate ways. Being able to keep the dream team together could be an exciting prospect for some groups that are looking for a new challenge.

But maybe spare a thought for the company that will be losing a chunk of its workers in one go if a team does decide to uproot and leave together. It’s already hard enough to hire good workers, especially in IT, and BYOT could leave some organisations in the lurch.

Do you like the concept of BYOT? Are you working in your very own dream team right now? Let us know in the comments.

[Via Stripe blog]


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