We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 688 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city

Co-founders, team & legal

Hiring your first employees

Your first ten hires are your culture.

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Everyone Idea-Stage Founder Builder Launcher Grower Indie Hacker Technical Solo Founder Non-Technical Founder Domain Expert Women Founder Anywhere Founder

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What kind of people should my first ten hires be? Generalists who are fast, low-ego, and comfortable with ambiguity, your first ten hires ARE your culture, so hire for slope over intercept and valu... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I interview and evaluate candidates when I've never hired before? Skip trivia and whiteboard theatre, give a paid, real-world work sample that mirrors the actual job and watch how they think, communicate, and foll... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I make a compelling offer and close a candidate who has a competing offer from a big company? You will lose on cash and brand, so don't compete there. Sell ownership, speed of learning, and proximity to the founders, and make the candidate f... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I structure and pass a candidate's probation period so I don't get stuck with a bad hire? Set a 3 to 6 month probation with written, specific milestones on day one, not a vague 'let's see how it goes.' Under Indian employment norms, a pr... Intermediate 3 resources → When and how do I make my first non-engineering hire (ops, marketing, or a founder's associate)? Make it the moment you, the founder, are the bottleneck on non-core work: when hours vanish into scheduling, vendor chasing, and inbox triage inste... Intermediate 3 resources →

eChai Partner Brands The partnership →