In the initial stage, due to limited resources and unclear development orientation, startups cannot compete with large corporations and enterprises in the battle for talent. Even if they recruit high-quality human resources, retaining talented people to work long-term is still a difficult problem for startups.

Mr. Truong Gia Binh, Chairman of FPT Corporation, said that in the early stages, FPT also faced similar challenges. However, FPT was lucky because the founders were "math" majors, studying together since grade 7. They understood each other well, took exams together, studied abroad together for 5-10 years, and then founded a business together.

During the process of building FPT, as a leader, Mr. Binh also had to put in a lot of effort to convince talented people to work for him. One of those people is Mr. Bui Quang Ngoc, Vice Chairman of FPT Board of Directors.

“At the time of inviting Mr. Ngoc to FPT, Mr. Ngoc had everything, and we had nothing,” Mr. Binh confided.

According to the Chairman of FPT, Mr. Ngoc was sent abroad to study for a doctorate; when he returned to Vietnam, he was in the planning of a prestigious university. To invite Mr. Ngoc to join FPT, Mr. Binh did not count how many times he went to Mr. Ngoc's house to talk, confide, and persuade him.

“I draw big dreams to conquer the hearts and minds of people like Mr. Ngoc. As Steve Jobs once said to his colleague John Sculley: Come with me and change the world, or go sell sugar water,” Mr. Binh “revealed” his strategy to convince talented people.

The Chairman of FPT added that at FPT, in order to retain talented people, along with drawing out big enough dreams, the founding team needs to have practical actions and plans to gradually achieve the goals. Throughout that process, FPT leaders always keep in mind that the whole Company is a family, loving and respecting talented people with all their hearts and treating talented people like family. “We need to remember that money cannot keep talented people. Talented people want to do remarkable things for life,” said Mr. Binh.

From FPT’s story, it can be seen that to attract high-quality human resources, the prerequisite is that the founder must have a deep connection with the vision and mission, which is the driving force to bring the start-up towards a big dream in the future. This is the thread that connects the founder with the early supporters. They find each other because they share the same vision, they stick together because they want to realize that vision together.

Next, the founder needs to have the ability to inspire and the capacity to implement and realize the vision. Only then can high-quality personnel believe in the founder's will and capacity, thereby working with the founder to persistently overcome the challenges that are always present at the start-up to conquer the big dream.

In particular, according to experts, there is an effect that needs to be noted in the process of recruiting personnel for start-ups, called the hiring effect. Simply put, the personnel recruited in the early days will shape the “AND” of the start-up; those recruited later will tend to possess similar characteristics, abilities, and qualities to those who came before.

Understanding and applying this recruitment effect from the early stages, startups can create positive momentum for development. Specifically, the first people recruited into startups are talented people with good abilities and qualities, which will create an effect that helps startups recruit later people with similar abilities and qualities. Moreover, talented people always want to work in an environment with many talented people around, forming a superior team, taking turns solving difficult problems in startups with the founders.