Quote: You need incredible good engineers who are not already in golden handcuffs, are crazy enough to join a risky early stage company, do not want to found their own company right now, want to work at all hours, and are aligned with the culture you are trying to build.
That really is asking for everything. I hope you have figured out a way to explain your value proposition to these dream candidates.
There is actually a wellspring: quantitative finance.
There were many people drawn by the allure of finance back in 2006-2008 and are now thinking of leaving. Generally people have enough money to carry themselves for some time on a low salary, have the risk tolerance (after all, they can cover themeselves), and can work at all hours.
Basically, you want that rarest of birds - shy sparks who aren't nestled in a large company yet.
Too introverted to be really aware of their market value and have a life and smart enough that they're going to be obsessed with the work and work at it all the time.
Considering I'm having a hard time finding "reasonably competent" Rails devs, I can't imagine how you might hire for that kind of position.
maybe some combination of an IQ or programming test plus a Myers-Briggs analysis. That would probably be a great way to screen. Or just recruit at MIT/CMU/Caltech...
While I see what you mean with referencing Myers-Briggs, do you really believe that it is useful? Some reference reading: http://www.skepdic.com/myersb.html
The line you quoted stood out for me most. It does seem like a tall order.
Does networking work better (than hiring a recruiter) when recruiting for startups? Do you come to places like HN to build relationships?
It seems you'd have to win people over 1-to-1 -- get them to believe in your vision and culture enough that they'd join you, in spite of all the risk -- which takes time and energy (both worth it) as well as a keen understanding of where to go to find dream talent (tough).
Shameless Plug which is why we built Meeteor.com - our aim is to get you warm introductions into the companies you're interested in, through your friends.
That really is asking for everything. I hope you have figured out a way to explain your value proposition to these dream candidates.