I
Global·17d ago
Startup Guides
Free
When to Hire Your First Employee
What you'll learn The 4 signals that tell you it's time to hire, and the 3 hires most founders regret. Why it matters Hiring too early burns runway; hiring too late burns YOU out. Getting the timing right can 2x your growth rate. The playbook 1) Signal 1 — you're working 70+ hours/week and quality is dropping. 2) Signal 2 — a specific task takes you >10 hours/week AND you're not the best person for it. 3) Signal 3 — you have 6+ months of runway (never hire on under 6 months). 4) Signal 4 — you can describe the role in a 1-page JD with clear success metrics. 5) First hires that work — customer support, growth marketer, ops generalist. 6) First hires that don't — 'chief of staff', junior engineer under a non-technical founder, marketing lead before you have PMF. Common mistakes Hiring senior people too early (they leave when it gets scrappy). Hiring your friends without a contract. Not having 3-month probation with clear exit. Next action Track your weekly hours by task for 2 weeks. The task with the most hours where you're the worst person = your first hire.