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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