Abstract: Hiring founding members as a bootstrapped or pre-seed founder

The Challenge

  • Limited resources vs need for top talent
  • High uncertainty and risk
  • Early hires define company culture and trajectory

Common Mistakes

  1. Hiring too quickly
  2. Over-indexing on pedigree
  3. Insufficient legal documentation
  4. Blurring co-founder vs employee distinction
  5. Outsourcing technical understanding: If you’re building a highly technical product, it’s crucial to invest time understanding the technical details at a high level, even if you’re not the one implementing them. Don’t blindly rely on team members or contractors to explain complexity without your own comprehension. Some individuals may exaggerate implementation difficulty to highlight their contribution and gain leverage in negotiations or resource allocation. Your technical literacy protects you from being misled and enables you to make better strategic decisions about priorities, timelines, and hiring.
  6. Failing to fire fast: At the early stage, velocity is critical. If someone consistently underperforms or fails to meet the team’s technical bar, let them go quickly. Be particularly cautious about verbal promises to “work more hours” or “continue after the internship ends” without formal commitment. Once a trial period or contract expires, you lose leverage—performance often deteriorates further rather than improves, blocking progress while preventing you from delegating critical work. Make decisive changes early rather than hoping the situation will improve.

When to Hire

  • Bootstrap: After validating customer demand
  • Pre-seed: When you have PMF signals and need to scale

Building Pipeline

  • Maintain “dream team” list
  • Stay in touch with strong people
  • Build in public to attract aligned talent

Where to Find Founding Team Members

1. Your Existing Network

  • Former colleagues
  • Open-source collaborators
  • Friends with complementary skills

2. Communities

  • Founder communities
  • Open-source projects
  • Hackathons and competitions

3. Mission-Driven Talent

  • Recent graduates seeking responsibility
  • Mid-career professionals wanting ownership
  • Domain experts passionate about the problem

What You Can Offer

1. Meaningful Equity

  • 1-5% for founding team members
  • 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff
  • Be transparent about dilution

2. Learning and Growth

  • Wear multiple hats
  • Direct impact on product
  • Fast skill development

3. Mission Alignment

  • Compelling vision
  • Personal values connection

4. Culture and Autonomy

  • Shape how the team works
  • Direct collaboration with founders
  • Less bureaucracy

The Hiring Process

1. Trial Projects

  • 2-4 weeks collaboration before commitment
  • Pay fairly for their time
  • Evaluate both output and fit

2. Verify Alignment

  • Customer-centricity
  • Speed vs perfection balance
  • Work style compatibility

3. Radical Transparency

  • Honest about funding and runway
  • Clear about technical risks
  • Acknowledge limitations

Equity Structure

  • Employee #1-3: 0.5-3%
  • Employee #4-10: 0.25-1.5%
  • Standard: 4-year vesting, 1-year cliff
  • Cash: 50-70% market rate (pre-seed) or minimal (bootstrap)

This post is a work in progress and will be updated.