---
title: "Do You Know When to Make Your First Hire?"
section: "Team"
sectionId: "team"
date: "2026-05"
---

*Based on Jason Calacanis's startup checklist.*

## The core question

When can you justify paying someone to do jobs you're currently doing as co-founders?

Before you hire, work through these three questions:

1. **How much would it cost to have someone else do this?** Is the cost justifiable given your runway?
2. **Will the quality stay consistent without my constant input?** If the work requires you to be deeply involved regardless, hiring doesn't free you up.
3. **What else could I be working on with this time?** The real value of a hire is what it unlocks for you — not just the task it covers.

## Open questions worth thinking through

These don't have universal answers, but founders should have a view before hiring:

- Is there a benchmark level of revenue you should hit before making your first employee hire?
- What percentage of spend is typically set aside for salaries at your stage?
- What amount of burn is smart to take on for employee salaries given your runway?
- Should founders make their first hire before or after raising funding?

## The underlying principle

Hiring too early is a common mistake. Early hires are expensive, hard to manage well, and add coordination overhead at a stage when speed matters most. The bar should be: *I cannot do what I need to do without this person, and the cost is clearly justified by what it frees up.*

See [Which Positions to Hire First](/startup-wiki/team-which-positions-to-hire-first) for guidance on sequencing once you've decided to hire.