To build a great company you’ll need to hire great people — it’s one of the top three priorities of the CEO. Executives have outsized influence on your company, and there is a slightly different process to hire them versus most employees.

Today I’ll share my experience hiring executives to clarify my thinking, learn it one level deeper, and teach others (continuous learning is one of our values at Coinbase). These are the steps I like to follow.

1. Speak to subject matter experts [1–2 weeks]
2. Choose the hiring committee [1–2 days]
3. Draft the mission/outcomes/competencies (MOC) document [1–2 weeks]
4. Source candidates [2 weeks]
5. Build the relationship [1 month]
6. Evaluate candidates [1 month]
7. Close them [1 month]

As you can see, it can take 3–6 months to hire an executive. Let’s dive into each section in more detail.

1. Speak to subject matter experts

When hiring an exec, it will likely be outside your area of expertise. You’ll first need to get a crash course in that role.

Let’s say you’re trying to hire a great VP Finance. You’ll want to reach out to your network and speak with three great VPs of Finance, CFOs, or CEOs who’ve hired finance leaders before. Ask them questions like:

• What are the different types of finance leaders out there?
• Which is the right one for us at our stage?
• What are some good interview questions I should ask?
• What are some common terms/jargon I should be aware of when making this hire?
• What do you think are the must haves in this role vs the nice to haves?
• What is the best way to close these candidates? What matters most to them?