Make Your First Hire
10 weeks · 3 milestones
Define the role, recruit, and onboard your first employee.
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Define the first hire before starting the search. The most common failure in early hiring is hiring for a vague sense of 'needing help' rather than for a specific function that is currently bottlenecking the business. Before posting a role, you must answer three questions specifically: what function will this person own (not 'growth' but 'all outbound sales: identifying leads, sending first touch, running demos, closing'); why this function and not another (what does adding this person unlock that you cannot do yourself at this stage); and what does success look like in the first 90 days (specific outputs, not 'fitting into the culture').
Proof required
Share a written role definition document covering: (1) the function this person will own, described specifically enough that a stranger could evaluate whether a candidate fits; (2) why this function and not a different first hire — what bottleneck does this solve; (3) the 90-day success criteria — 3 specific outputs this person will be responsible for delivering in the first 90 days.
What gets checked
- Function is described specifically — a single sentence that a stranger could evaluate candidates against.
- Bottleneck justification is present — not 'we need help' but 'the bottleneck to our next milestone is [specific function], and adding this person removes it'.
- 90-day success criteria are output-based, not behaviour-based — 'close 3 pilots by day 60' is an output; 'show initiative and learn quickly' is behaviour.