Why Founders Must Interview Every Employee
Written by Dave Bailey
Written by Dave Bailey, Jul 17, 2026
Many CEOs are afraid of losing the culture they built in the early days.
The people you hire bring with them rituals, behaviours, and values from their previous companies.
Over time, the culture can become diluted, and once that happens, it is extremely difficult to reverse.
That’s why your best chance to shape the culture is at the moment each employee joins your company.
Welcome to the UK
Recently, my wife got her British Citizenship.
It was a long and expensive journey, and we were both excited to attend the ceremony and celebrate her initiation into British culture.
The master of ceremonies stood up and gave a speech about taking pride in where they came from and bringing some of that culture with them.
What surprised us both was how much of the talk was about being British, the importance of adopting British values, and integrating yourself into British society?
Not a word.
I’ve heard similar stories about the US citizenship ceremony.
Both these countries are having challenges in scaling their culture, with growing nationalist movements who complain their culture is being diluted.
To be clear, this isn’t a political essay where I share opinions on migration.
I’m interested in what it takes to sustain a culture, and I believe that initiation ceremony—and what happens before it—plays a crucial part.
Why Founders Must Interview Every Employee
Many of the best founders interview every employee in the early stages.
Elon interviewed the first 3,000 people at SpaceX. Brian Chesky said that while he interviewed the first 400 people at Airbnb, his biggest regret was not interviewing the first 1,000.
At face value, the founder is simply acting as a filter, screening out candidates who do not meet the bar.
But is that really worth their time? Couldn’t they delegate it to a trusted leader who has already proved their judgement?
Something more important than screening is happening.
They’re creating a cultural imprint before the candidate even accepts the offer.
The Cultural Imprint
Imprinting is an analogy from biology that describes how an animal forms its identity by modelling the behaviours and communication patterns of its caregiver.
Critically, imprinting must happen in an early window, otherwise it can’t happen.
Birds that imprint onto humans (say, in captivity) are never accepted by other birds as one of their own.
The same principle applies to your culture.
If you want to establish a strong culture, you need to begin the assimilation process early—even before they join.
That way, accepting the offer isn’t just accepting a role. It’s buying into the culture.
How to Imprint
As a founder, you need to be crystal clear about the culture you want and what you demand from every employee.
Recruiters rarely do this. They try to put the company in the best possible light, and often soften or omit the strongest cultural features to appeal to a wider pool of candidates.
But if someone comes in who hasn’t fully bought into the culture, they’ll start to dilute it.
When you meet candidates, there are three things you want to emphasise:
- Why this company will change the world
- Why working here won’t be easy
- Why this specific role is critical to the mission
Part 1: "This Company Will Change the World"
If you want to hire missionaries rather than mercenaries, people need something meaningful to get behind.
Not every company has a grand purpose.
But the ones that do have a powerful advantage.
A shared purpose aligns people and gives meaning to hard work.
Purpose is the difference between a job and a mission.
While anyone can communicate the mission, the words carry more weight when they come from the founder, simply because they’re the founder.
Part 2: "Working Here Won’t Be Easy"
Your goal isn’t to sell the positives. Your goal is to tell the truth.
If you believe in working hard, maintaining exceptionally high standards, and putting the company first, then say it.
This filters out people who aren’t a fit. But it also attracts the people who are.
More importantly, accepting the offer becomes an explicit opt-in to those expectations.
People can’t later claim they didn’t know what they were signing up for.
Part 3: "This Specific Role Is Critical To The Mission"
As Maya Angelou said, "people will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
You want people to feel like they are important and their work matters.
When the founder explains why a role is critical to the company’s success, it creates a sense of ownership and duty that reinforces everything else you’ve discussed.
Interview for Longer Than You Think
In a conversation with Keith Rabois, Brian Chesky gave his recommendation for how long founders should interview candidates:
"You should interview every candidate until the recruiting team stages intervention. Once they stage an intervention, you should interview for two more years after that—until everyone threatens to resign."
He was joking, but his point stands.
You can’t preserve culture through values statements and management processes. Even onboarding isn’t enough.
You have to imprint the culture before they join. Otherwise, it’s probably too late.
Related Reading:
- How to Recruit Superstar Employees
- These Rules Will Change Your Company Culture
- How to Avoid the Most Common Onboarding Mistake
Originally published on July 15th, 2026
