I will reiterate some things already mentioned, using the career pages of Facebook, Stripe and Twitter for reference.
-
For good creatives, money is not the motivation. A good pay is nice but it doesn’t top the list. What are you building? What makes it interesting and challenging to the developer? You need to be able to sell that to the developer.
“Help us build the universal payments infrastructure of the internet.”
“We’re making the world more open and connected. Want to help?”
“Help us to build real-time products that have global impact” -
Notice the word help across. You need to make them feel they are the one doing you the favour. They should feel treated as a very important part of the company.
-
Let them see what the work culture and environment will look like. Is it one that can help them be better? Or strict, no-risk rules?
“We want to build a work environment where people are happy, productive, and interact well…”
“What’s it really like to work at Facebook?” (followed by couple of videos)
“Have the time of your life…People who work at Twitter say the biggest draw is their colleagues. You’ll find a generous, friendly team that is passionate…”
That said, the simple truth is good developers are hard to get. (Finding is one thing, getting them to work for you is another). You may need to directly talk to the ones you already know. If possible, not just email/phone conversation. Meet them. If you can’t convince them, then ask them to refer other devs to you.
All the best.