I can't believe I'm actually saying this but… I might actually be hiring somebody soon for my startup. It's strange. I always saw this as a school project and nothing to take seriously but now ( after interviewing a potential lead) I might actually be hiring my first person. Does anybody have any advice for this stage? Also how did your first official hire go/ happen?
At this point should I still call myself a unemployed neet? 😆
Posted by Dazzling_Hand6170
1 Comment
Congrats, that transition from “school project” to “I’m actually hiring someone” is a bigger deal than people realize.
Few things that helped me with early hires:
Start with a paid trial period. Even a week or two of contract work before committing to a full role. You learn way more about someone from working together than from an interview. It also gives them a chance to see if they actually want to work with you.
Be really clear about what success looks like in the first 90 days. Write it down. When you’re small, ambiguity kills momentum because neither of you knows who owns what.
Hire for ownership mentality over credentials. At this stage you need someone who sees a problem and just handles it, not someone who waits for a task list every morning.
And don’t overthink the “employer” identity thing. You’re building something real enough that someone wants to join you. That’s the moment it stops being a project.