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You Don’t Need a Full Team—You Need the Right First Two Hires
- Mandy S
- May 6
- 3 min read
Many new founders over-hire or hire wrong. Learn how to think strategically about your first key hires—whether it’s a co-founder, a sales lead, or a customer success manager—based on traction, cash flow, and personal strengths.
Why Do So Many Startups Hire Too Quickly?
The thrill of launching a new venture often leads founders to staff up prematurely. There’s an illusion that more bodies equal more progress. But research shows otherwise.
According to Startup Genome, premature scaling—including over-hiring—is one of the top causes of early-stage startup failure. Founders often spend precious capital on team members before achieving product-market fit or proving out a revenue model.
It’s not about how many people you hire—it's about who you bring in first.
"Your first hires set the DNA of your company," says Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz. "Hire for strength, not lack of weakness."
What Roles Should Founders Prioritize First?
Think of your startup like a three-legged stool. To support it, you need:
Someone to build it (tech/product)
Someone to sell it (sales/marketing)
Someone to support customers (ops/support)
Unless you're superhuman, you'll probably only cover one or two of these areas yourself. That means your first hires should fill in the gaps. A SaaS founder who’s technical may need a customer success lead. A founder with sales chops may need a technical co-founder or a strong product builder.
A First Round Capital study found that technical founders who hired a product-minded operator as their first full-time hire saw stronger early traction.
What’s the Cost of Getting It Wrong?
It’s not just financial. A wrong hire early on can introduce toxic culture, misaligned goals, or workflow inefficiencies that cascade through your company. Harvard Business Review notes that poor hiring decisions can cost companies up to 15 times the employee’s base salary—and that's before you factor in lost time and morale.
To prevent this, focus on:
Shared values and work ethic
Complimentary skill sets, not clones of yourself
Evidence of adaptability, since roles will evolve fast
How Do You Know If It’s Time to Hire?
Here’s a good rule of thumb: Only hire when you're either doing something repeatedly that someone else could do better, or when your growth is being bottlenecked by lack of bandwidth.
Use tools like Foundersuite or Carta to assess equity and compensation benchmarks, and leverage AngelList Talent or Wellfound to source startup-minded hires.
In a 2023 report by CB Insights, 14% of failed startups blamed having the wrong team as a key reason they shut down.
Should Your First Hire Be Full-Time?
Not necessarily. Consider:
Fractional hires (like part-time CFOs or CMOs)
Contract-to-hire options
Advisors with equity who can guide without payroll strain
These allow you to scale responsibly and reduce risk until there's enough traction or revenue to support full-time hires.
What About Hiring Friends or Family?
Short answer? Proceed with caution. While familiarity can seem efficient, the stakes are high. Issues around feedback, accountability, and equity can become difficult to manage. In the words of Paul Graham, “A startup is not a family. It's a team of people working toward a common goal.”
How Can Founders Delegate Without Losing Control?
Early-stage delegation requires structure and trust. Create clarity with:
Common Startup Hiring Missteps and Alternatives
Misstep | Consequence | Smarter Alternative |
Hiring a full sales team too early | Burn rate spikes, poor ROI | Hire 1 sales-savvy generalist or outsource |
Hiring a dev team before specs are solid | Technical misfires | Hire fractional CTO or product advisor |
Hiring based on enthusiasm, not skills | Early execution bottlenecks | Use trial projects to assess capability |
Final Thought: Small Team, Strong Core
Your early hires are more than employees—they’re co-architects. Make them count. Build with intention, not impulse.
"If you can’t convince one or two great people to join you, you probably don’t have something worth building," says Naval Ravikant.
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