Our insights on hiring for a remote startup

Sharing some insights from our last hiring cycle to help other startups hire more intentionally

Getting the team right is arguably one of the most important parts of building a startup. At Hoop, our hiring process wasn’t just about filling a role—it was about finding the right fit for our team and values.

Our startup is fully remote and asynchronous, meaning team members work where they want and often on their own schedules rather than in real-time. We knew it would require a non-traditional approach to find the right folks to succeed in this role and environment.

We recently concluded the search for a senior engineering role, and the process taught us a lot about designing a hiring system that mirrors how candidates will actually work.

The result? A streamlined, thoughtful strategy that prioritized culture, communication, adaptability—and speed. We knew we needed to move quickly to secure the right hire before the holidays slowed everything down.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our process and takeaways you can apply to your team.

Hiring with intention: Lessons from Hoop’s hiring process

Emphasize talent acquisition with purpose

In startups, speed is often the name of the game—but when it comes to hiring, intentionality and speed need to work hand in hand. We focused on clarity at every stage, ensuring that each candidate aligned with Hoop’s core values: collaboration, autonomy, and innovation.

For us, while superior technical skills were table stakes, it wasn’t just about technical proficiency. We also prioritized identifying individuals who would thrive in an asynchronous work environment. This meant assessing traits like self-motivation, ownership, and the ability to adapt to dynamic challenges.

We also prioritized candidates who brought genuine enthusiasm for our mission and the space we’re striving to occupy for our users. Beyond technical skills, we wanted individuals energized by our cultural values and work style—those who "nerd out" about autonomy, asynchronous collaboration, and what we’re building.

For example, during interviews, we asked candidates to share moments where they embodied values like autonomy or asynchronous collaboration. When someone lit up describing how they improved workflows or communication for remote teams, it showed not just alignment but true passion—key to thriving in our culture.

How can you make this work for your team?

  • Define your team’s values and ensure they appear throughout the hiring process—from job descriptions to every interview round.
  • Use behavioral questions that directly test how well candidates align with these values.
  • Map each section of the interview to a specific skill or mindset you need, removing any questions that don’t serve a clear purpose. 

Design the interview process to reflect the work

We wanted to give candidates a real taste of working at Hoop. After a quick introductory call, we skipped straight to practical tasks—like improving a simple webpage or explaining a concept via a Loom video. 

This isn’t about trick questions or puzzles; it’s about seeing how someone thinks, communicates, and adapts when faced with our day-to-day challenges.

How can you make this work for your team?

  • Replace generic interview questions with role-specific tasks.
  • Incorporate tools your team already uses (like Loom or Slack) to mirror daily workflows.
  • Test for both technical aptitude and cultural alignment.

Embrace a mix of synchronous and asynchronous communication

In a remote setting, finding candidates who can thrive in both synchronous and asynchronous communication is crucial. At Hoop, we incorporated both styles into our hiring process. Scheduled calls gave us insight into candidates’ interpersonal skills, while asynchronous tasks showed how they managed their time and communicated without real-time interactions.

This approach tested key skills and set clear expectations for working with us.

How can you make this work for your team?

  • Combine real-time interviews with flexible, asynchronous assignments.
  • Use tools like Google Docs, Loom, or Notion to simulate remote collaboration.
  • Evaluate how candidates handle feedback and iterate on their work.

Evaluating communication skills in remote teams

Scenario: Simulate an asynchronous communication challenge. For example, provide a project brief with intentional gaps or unclear instructions. Ask the candidate to clarify the brief through Loom or Slack messages. This reveals how they’d handle miscommunication or missing information remotely.

Three takeaways for building your hiring process

By now, you’ve seen how we approached hiring at Hoop. Here are a few things we learned that might help guide your own process:

  • Start with intention: Every stage of the hiring process should reflect your company’s unique values and work style. Rushing through hiring decisions might save time upfront, but it can lead to mismatches down the line. It’s important to be clear about what you want and ensure your process aligns with these goals.

  • Trust your instincts: If you have any doubts about a candidate, it’s often better to let them go. Getting folks on the team to score candidates on a numeric scale with specific attributes removes bias from the process, and helps with aligning on whether a candidate is the right fit across the hiring team.

  • Prioritize clear communication: Communication is critical, especially in a remote setting. From articulating expectations at every stage of the process to ensuring candidates know where they stand, setting a strong service level agreement (SLA) for yourself is important. Be responsive and aim to get back to every candidate, whether it's good news or a decline.

At Hoop, we learned that hiring with intention doesn’t just fill a role—it strengthens your team, culture, and ability to innovate. By designing a process that mirrors your team’s workflow and values, you can build a team ready to thrive in today’s evolving work landscape.

Ready to rethink your hiring process? Start small, stay intentional, and see the difference it makes. 

Save time. Work smarter. Try Hoop today.