A great article by a talent leader at a San Francisco VC firm - particularly about the tough path and deep engagement needed by leaders to competitively recruit the right people.
There’s no shortcut to building the team you want. You’ll need to dedicate at least 50% (if not more) of your time to interviewing and recruiting, or if that’s not possible, hire someone who will make it their full-time job until you have the right core team. Start by mining your primary and secondary networks for referrals. Once you’ve tapped that well dry, put up a jobs page on your website to capture inbound interest or create an AngelList profile with jobs. Carve out time to build target profiles for each of your critical path hires and go outbound with thoughtful emails. Ideal profiles will evolve as you meet with more candidates, but start with a few things that are must-haves.
http://firstround.com/review/a-primer-for-startups-and-job-seekers-to-both-win-the-talent-war/