We’ll open this feature by telling you that we haven’t got the faintest idea what we’re writing about.
Enda Conway is no ordinary entrepreneur.
He’s got something big going on but he refuses to tell us what it is. What’s more, he’s recruiting through the cryptic 6e657264.com and seeking people through very unconventional means.
“The job specifications contain no listing of qualifications or specific skills required,” he tells us.
“We are interested in outstanding engineers and staff with a heavy design focus that think bigger than just working for Google or eBay.”
We asked Enda a few more questions to try, and ultimately fail, to get to the bottom of this.
What is the thinking behind this very unconventional style of recruiting?
We wanted to attract the curious, the bright and not the career progressing box tickers – we want exceptional and diverse staff who are more interested in the challenge rather than what it will do for their career.
We cannot let anyone know what is being built until launch day, because once it is released it will be huge.
It sounds… intriguing. How many jobs do you hope to create?
We will create 20 to start off with, but we have rapid expansion plans after the first nine months.
After the launch occurs every facet of the business will need staffing, bringing many many more jobs to the table.
What kinds of candidates have you been attracting so far – are there any traits that they all share?
They are attracted by the ability to be involved in a start-up at the ground floor and not be part of something where the project sponsors think it’s OK to fail. They don’t.
So far the candidates have all been exceptional, intelligent and independent thinkers. Even where we haven’t had formal job openings we’ve had people come to us for roles which don’t even exist. If the right candidate comes along and we think they would complete our team, we’ll hire them.
How much of a game changer is this idea?
It’s massive.
Think of something that you do every day, something that has become a given to your life, now make it 100 times easier, make it so simple and seamless that you don’t even remember how you did it before. It will fundamentally change the shape of internet commerce from this point onwards.
No one has put together something this ambitious as a start-up before and there are already a team of people working on it. New businesses will form around it and best of all, it’s Irish.
It’s not another Silicon Valley dot-com app. This will bring the eyes of the world to Ireland for all the right reasons.
If we talk to you in a year’s time, what would you hope to be telling us?
I told you this was going to be big.
