Hire later than feels comfortable, the best YC companies wait, because employees add cost, complexity, and communication overhead you can't easily undo. The trigger is a clear, recurring bottleneck that a specific role removes, not general overwhelm. Until then, do things yourself so you understand the work well enough to eventually hire for it.
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Why we picked it
Battle-tested YC advice on landing your critical first engineering hire, from founders who've done it at scale. It reframes hiring as a founder-led sales and persistence problem.
Why we picked it
YC's full curated body of hiring wisdom, from when to hire to how to close and evaluate early employees. The best free, high-signal resource for founders hiring for the first time.
