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, 684 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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When should I make my first hire? Hire later than feels comfortable, the best YC companies wait, because employees add cost, complexity, and communication overhead you can't easily ... Beginner 2 resources → 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 → How do I make my very first hire feel productive in their first two weeks instead of lost? Have a written onboarding plan before they walk in, even if it's a single doc. Give them one real, shippable task in week one so they feel useful, ... Beginner 3 resources → How do I hire a great salesperson early when I've never sold or managed sales myself? Don't hire a senior sales leader as your first sales hire, you can't manage or evaluate them yet, and you'll overpay for someone who needs a machin... Advanced 2 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 → What paperwork and compliance do I need in place before my first employee's start date in India? Get the basics locked before day one: a signed offer letter and employment agreement, an NDA and IP assignment clause (so the work belongs to the c... Advanced 3 resources → How do I fire my first bad hire fast and cleanly without blowing up a five-person team? You'll know within 60 days, and every week you wait, the whole small team watches you tolerate it. Move decisively: be direct and kind, give clear ... Advanced 3 resources →

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