Selection Test

You're seeing it when a company selects engineers based on whiteboard algorithm puzzles but then wonders why new hires struggle with real product work. The selection test measured something — just not the thing that matters.

You're seeing it when a VC fund uses founder pedigree as a primary filter and systematically misses great founders from non-traditional backgrounds. The selection test optimises for a proxy that doesn't predict outcomes.

Redesign your hiring process to test for what actually predicts performance in the role — not credentials, not interview polish, but the specific skills and behaviours that drive results. Then measure whether people who pass the test actually succeed.

Andreessen rebuilt venture capital's selection test. Traditional VCs filtered founders through warm introductions and Ivy League pedigree — proxies that correlated weakly with startup success. Andreessen Horowitz designed a different filter: technical depth, market insight, and the ability to recruit. They built a platform model that tested whether founders could leverage operational support, not just raise capital. The firm explicitly sought founders from non-traditional backgrounds whom legacy selection tests rejected. The result was early investments in companies that conventional filters would have excluded. For founders, the lesson is structural: examine your selection tests rigorously, because every weak filter fills your system with false positives.