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Keith Rabois: How to Identify Great Talent Before Anyone Else Sees It

By Keith Rabois · Leadership · 1 min read

Rabois does not hire resumes. He hires trajectory. The people nobody else notices yet.

Key Points

Look for people on a steep upward trajectory, not those at a high altitude
The best hires are undervalued — the market has not priced in their potential yet
Ask: if I put this person in a bigger role, would they grow into it?

Find people the market has undervalued. That is the entire game.

Trajectory Over Altitude

A senior VP at a big company is at high altitude. But they may have plateaued.

A 25-year-old who just shipped their first product is at low altitude. But climbing fast.

Rabois bets on the climber every time.

The Undervalued Bet

The best hires are people the market has not noticed yet.

They are too young, too inexperienced, or at companies nobody has heard of.

But they have something: raw ability and the hunger to prove it.

Give people a small set of responsibilities. See how they handle it. Then expand.

The Growth Test

Rabois asks one question: if I put this person in a role twice as big, would they grow into it?

If yes, hire immediately. If no, they have peaked.

The best teams are full of people growing into their roles, not coasting in them.