Dear SaaStr: How Should Startup Founders Approach Early-Stage Hiring?
Early-stage hiring is one of the most critical things a founder will do—it sets the foundation for everything else.
Here’s how you should approach it:
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Be relentless about recruiting. Relentless. To be a great CEO, you have to force yourself to be a great recruiter. This means dedicating serious time—15 hours a week minimum—to sourcing, interviewing, and closing candidates. Recruiting is a grind, but it’s the most important investment you can make early on.
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Don’t settle for mediocrity. We all do when we get tired. Don’t. Commit to interviewing at least 30 candidates for each VP-level role. Yes, 30. It sounds extreme, but magic happens when you push yourself to this level. You’ll stop settling for “good enough” and find the truly exceptional hires who can 10x your business. If you find the perfect candidate at #12, great—but plan for.
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Hire for cultural fit, especially early. And that means only hire folks in the early days you’d honestly, truly want to work with. In the beginning, cultural fit is non-negotiable. A misaligned hire can create churn and drag down morale in a small team. As you scale, you can tolerate more diversity in work styles, and you need to to scale. But in the early days, everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction.
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Pre-screen ruthlessly. Create simple, effective filters to weed out bad fits before the first interview. For example, ask engineers to complete a quick coding test or have marketing candidates critique your product. Have said candidates send you a few ideas on how best to sell the product via email. Any 3 ideals. Most will fail this or similar tests, which is OK and the point. These tests should take no more than 5-10 minutes and help you avoid wasting time on candidates who aren’t serious or capable.
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Beware of the “logo trap.” We all fall into it. All of us. Don’t get blinded by impressive resumes from Google, Facebook, or your competitors. A big-name background doesn’t guarantee success in a startup environment. Focus on what the candidate can actually do for your company, not where they’ve been.
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Close like your life depends on it. Don’t assume your charisma alone will win over candidates. Bring in your co-founders, investors, and even advisors to help close top talent. And remember, PR isn’t just for customers—it’s for recruiting too. That podcast you did or blog post you wrote? It helps attract great people.
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Hire an internal recruiter early. Once you’re hiring more than one person a month, it’s time to bring in an internal recruiter. They’ll help manage the chaos, coordinate external recruiters, and keep your pipeline moving. Don’t wait too long to make this hire—it’s a game-changer.
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Be ready to part ways when necessary. Some early hires won’t scale with the company, and that’s okay. Loyalty is important, but not at the expense of growth. If someone isn’t a fit anymore, it’s better to make a change sooner rather than later. Most founders regret waiting too long, not acting too quickly.
Early-stage hiring is about finding people who are not only talented but also deeply aligned with your mission and culture. It’s hard, but if you get it right, those first 10-20 hires will set the tone for everything that follows. Focus on quality, fit, and commitment, and don’t cut corners.
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