How to Hire a Chief of Staff
Source: https://a16z.com/how-to-hire-a-chief-of-staff/ Author: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Date: 2026-02-11
Summary
a16z guide on hiring a chief of staff. Notable tweet from this: Cursor hires every engineer and designer by having them build a real product in a two-week paid project — an AI-resistant evaluation.
Key Claims (from tweet linked to this)
- Cursor’s hiring process: all engineers and designers build a real product feature in a 2-week paid trial.
- This is the AI-resistant evaluation in practice — design judgment, product sense, and quality of decision-making can’t be faked by AI.
- Classic chiefs of staff characteristics: high agency, good judgment, comfortable with ambiguity, strong communicators.
Concepts
- Hiring practices essay; relevant for AI company building