Startup Hiring Guide

Do early startup employees get fair equity compensation? All depends on your definition of the word "fair". Startup founders want to attract the 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 talent - it's core to being a founder (hiring the particular people to bring this idea to life). But they have to balance equity generosity with planned hiring & fundraising, and crystal ball gazing into the future is no easy task. Benchmarks below are from over 8,000 initial equity grants given to the first 10 hires at startups from June 2023 to June 2024. You can see that the first hire has a median equity grant of 1.49% of fully diluted company shares (that's the full 4-year grant amount, not annual). 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 • It's rare that a founder chooses the 50th percentile for all first 5 hires. Reality is messy and these grants jump around a lot.    • Engineering talent is often compensated at the higher end of the ranges while business hires may tend towards the middle/lower end.    • Employee option pools often begin at 10%. If founders choose to grant median equity for all 10 first hires, that represents a pool depletion of less than 5%. Initial pool size has little to do with overall generosity as it can always be expanded over time.    • Fundraising usually takes place before you've hit 10 employees. The median B2B SaaS company on Carta has between 3-6 full time employees when they raise a seed round these days.    • Solo founders do tend to give early employees larger equity grants than big founding teams.    • The first couple hires might receive RSAs (Restricted Stock Awards) in lieu of ISOs (Incentive Stock Options), but most employees are on ISO grants.    • Typical vesting schedules still apply (4-year grant with a 1-year cliff).    • There's no 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 to do this.    IF the current trend of smaller startups by headcount holds, and IF those smaller startups can move upwards through the valuation curve at fast rates...maybe founders will more strongly incentivize their early, key employees with more ownership. And it's not just about the raw percentage! You can improve the grant with early exercise. Refresh grants. Adjusted vesting schedules. RSAs vs ISOs. Extended exercise periods. Equity education. I hope these benchmarks help a hiring founder out there 🙏 #cartadata #startupequity #equitycomp #founders #startups ---------- Artisanal startup data from our workshop of merry elves out weekly - subscribe at the link in graphic below!

Founders often fall victim to this hiring trap: You see "Director of Marketing" at a massive legacy brand. You see the 8-figure budgets they managed. You see the prestige. You think: "If they can handle that, they can definitely handle my $5M brand." But you are confusing two completely different skill sets. Corporate marketing is a game of resource allocation. Startup marketing comes down to resourcefulness. In their world: If they need a landing page, they open a ticket with the dev team. If they need creative, they brief the agency of record. If they need data, they ping the analytics department. In your world: There is no ticket. There is no agency. There is no department. There is just a laptop, a problem, and a need to solve it before Friday. When you hire a corporate operator into a scrappy environment, you often get someone who is waiting for a team that doesn't exist. You don't need a conductor yet. You need someone who can play the instruments. Before you hire the big name, ask one question: "When was the last time you personally logged into Shopify/Ads Manager and built something yourself?" If the answer is "years," move on.

I'm a big believer in building full-time, in-house marketing teams (yes, even as a fractional marketer). However, startups, especially early-stage ones, don’t have it easy when it comes to marketing. Here's how to think about your first marketing hire as an early-stage startup: - Hire a junior marketer when: You've reached product-market fit and have clarity on your ICP, messaging, and initial channels, and when you have some repeatability. You (the founder) are providing the strategy and direction; you just need execution bandwidth. - Hire a marketing leader when: You're at a predictable revenue and can invest in headcount. You need someone to own the entire marketing function, build strategy, and scale execution. Marketing needs to operate beyond founder-led growth. - Go fractional when: You're pre-PMF or early post-PMF without clear marketing strategy. You don't have the budget for senior full-time headcount but need expertise to figure out positioning, channels, and messaging. The founder lacks marketing background and needs strategic guidance. The sweet spot for most early-stage startups: Fractional strategist plus junior executor. Your fractional leader builds the strategy, sets KPIs, and defines what success looks like. Your junior hire executes campaigns, creates content, and handles day-to-day operations. The fractional person mentors your junior marketer so they develop faster. You get senior-level thinking without burning runway, plus someone learning and growing with your company. This approach lets you punch above your weight without burning through runway. Once you hit product-market fit and have predictable revenue, transition to a full-time leader. Most early-stage founders try to choose between strategy and execution when the budget is tight. The smarter play is structuring your first marketing investment to get both.

What’s the biggest challenge in recruiting right now? It’s not sourcing. It’s not volume. It’s not even alignment. It’s that the talent bar is higher than ever, and most interviewers haven’t been trained to assess against it. In Q1, I spoke with well over 50 Talent leaders, CEOs, hiring managers, and interviewers. And in nearly every conversation, the same two themes came up: “We have a very high talent bar.” “But our interviewers aren't skilled in interviewing.” The irony. 😵💫 It’s not that interviewers don’t care or aren’t capable. Most haven’t been taught how to assess consistently, or don’t interview often enough to build the skill. And most of the teams I spoke with don’t have ongoing support in place. It’s usually one training, and then interviewers are off to the races. Without structure or coaching, it’s easy to miss real signal. Meanwhile, candidates are expected to deliver crisp, strategic, high-impact answers under pressure, often in fast-paced conversations with unclear prompts and no follow-up. I’ve seen candidates passed on for being “too vague,” only to review the interview (thank you AI notetakers) and realize the question was layered, unclear, and never clarified. The candidate didn’t fail. The process did. So how do we actually fix this? Here’s what’s moved the needle for me: ✅ Get specific about what you’re hiring for Not just the title. What outcomes will this person need to deliver in 90 days? Six months? A year? Hire for the anniversary date, not just the start date. That’s the bar and interviewers need to be aligned on it. ✅ Assign focused areas to interviewers No more “everyone assess for strategic thinking.” Divide ownership. Go deep, not wide. This leads to stronger signal and better debriefs. ✅ Calibrate your scorecards Don’t just hand out a 1–4 scale and call it structured. Define what a 2 looks like. Define what makes someone a 4. Use real rubrics to make it objective. ✅ Coach with context, not just opinion Tools like BrightHire and Metaview can help you spot unclear questions, missed signal, and where interviewers need support. ✅ Use your ATS to scale interviewer readiness ATS's like Ashby makes this easy. You can track interviewer pools, assign shadows, and move people through training stages automatically. No spreadsheets. No guesswork. ✅ Debrief with evidence If the feedback is “not strong,” dig deeper. What did they say? What was missing? What would’ve made them a “strong hire”? Make sure your feedback reflects real signal, not just personal impression. Interviewing isn’t instinct. It’s a skill. One that needs to be continuously developed. And if we’re serious about hiring great talent, we have to enable the people responsible for identifying it. What are you doing this year to level up your interviewers? 👇🏼

Top talent will NEVER join a company with a mediocre recruiting process. They assume the rest of your company matches that experience. Yet most leaders treat their recruiters like transactional rubber stampers — then wonder why they can't hire A-players. The reality: how you treat your recruiters gets reflected in your recruiting process. Treat them like cogs in a machine? That's EXACTLY how they'll treat your candidates. Here are 8 ways treating recruiters as strategic partners transforms your hiring: 1. Give them a seat at leadership meetings A biz recruiter pitched "we need an implementation specialist" for months. Candidates weren’t biting. Then she learned this hire would unlock a $2M contract. Changed her pitch to "we need this role to hit Q3 revenue." Filled in 2 weeks. 2. Make recruiting metrics visible company-wide When engineering managers check recruiting dashboards daily, magic happens. One team went from "where's my hire?" to "I see 3 strong candidates entering final rounds." Transparency turns recruiting from blame game to team sport. 3. Let them push back on unrealistic demands A recruiter shared w/ me why she quit her last role: "I was tired of smiling when they wanted senior engineers for junior salaries." Smart companies empower recruiters to say, "that's unrealistic." The rest lose their best recruiters. 4. Include them in offer strategy, not delivery Watched a startup land their dream candidate in 48 hours — beating higher cash offers — because their recruiter could negotiate on the spot. Most make recruiters deliver pre-baked offers like pizza. 5. Invest in their tools like engineering Teams tracking candidates in Google Sheets wonder why they can't compete. Companies investing in real recruiting tools see 4x productivity gains. Your engineers get the latest MacBooks. Why make recruiters work in spreadsheets? 6. Give them time to build relationships One Gem customer filled 70% of roles in 3 weeks. How? They maintained relationships with past candidates for YEARS. Most measure recruiters on this month’s roles they need to fill. So they spam everyone and start from zero next quarter. 7. Empower them with data "Trust me, the market's tough" doesn't move executives. "Your salary range is 25th percentile — here's the data" does. Give recruiters access to data and industry benchmarks. Watch them become business partners overnight. 8. Celebrate their wins like revenue That top 1% engineer who chose you over FAANG only happened thanks to your recruiter — celebrate them like AEs winning deals. Ring the gong. Most companies only notice recruiters when hiring stops. TAKEAWAY In this market — 2.7x more applications, 90% unqualified — the difference isn't headcount. It's whether you treat recruiters as strategic partners or paper pushers. Your recruiters are interviewing for new jobs right now. Still think they're just order-takers?

One of the worst things first-time founders can do is follow popular startup advice like “hire the best people.” These mantras weren’t created with us in mind. Here are three standard pieces of advice that you should rethink: 1. “Hire the best people” 👥 What it should be: "Hire the best people you can afford." When investors tell you to "hire the best," they're often picturing someone with Stanford credentials and FAANG experience—a "best" that's incredibly costly. We once tried raising more money than we needed to afford engineers way out of our price range. Bad move. For first-time founders who are often underfunded, focus on hiring the best talent you can afford. For me at Chezie, this means: - Hiring a contract UI/UX designer for 10 hours/week and using tools like Vercel v0 to bring ideas to life BEFORE sending to the designer to create them in Figma. - Hiring developers in Mexico and Kenya who work for 50% of what a US-based developer charges. 2. "Move fast and break things" 💥 What it should be: "Move deliberately and stay compliant" During its rise, Uber once threw a Vegas party that resulted in $10M+ in hotel damages. Can you imagine any non-white male founder getting away with that? When new founders "break things," we rarely get second chances. We can't afford to operate in legal gray areas or burn bridges. Instead, move deliberately, stay lean, and push the limits without crossing the line. 3. "Always be raising" 💰 What it should be: "Always keep investors within arm's reach." If you’re fundraising, you’re fundraising. If you’re not, you’re not. You shouldn’t be taking meetings or attending fundraising events when you're not actively raising. Instead, send quality monthly updates to keep investors informed. Schedule quarterly check-ins with high-priority investors you’re targeting for a future round. Build relationships without the constant fundraising treadmill. Following traditional startup advice will do more harm to your company than good. What other startup advice have you had to adapt as a first-time founder? Share in the comments!

If you’re planning to hire this year, please don’t just throw an ad up and hope for the best. That’s how most businesses end up rehiring six months later and wondering what went wrong. If I were hiring in 2026, this is the exact process I’d follow. 1 - Slow down and define the hire Before you do anything, get clear on what this role actually needs to solve. Not what the last person did. What the business needs now and in the next 12 months. 2 - Sense-check internally Before you go external, look inside the business. Someone might already be doing half the job or ready to step up with the right support. 3 - Properly scope the role Be clear on responsibilities, boundaries, and what success looks like at 3, 6, and 12 months. Vague roles attract vague outcomes. 4 - Plan the hiring process Decide the stages, who’s involved, what you’re assessing, and how decisions are made before speaking to candidates. 5 - Decide how you’ll go to market Your network is useful, but it’s small. Ads reach active jobseekers. The best people are sometimes neither. 6 - Write an advert that actually works A job advert is marketing. It should explain the problem, the work, and the opportunity, not just list requirements. 7 - Proactively reach out to candidates Search, shortlist, and message people who aren’t applying. This takes time, but this is where strong hires come from. 8 - Run structured interviews Assess people against the same criteria. Not confidence. Not company logos. Actual evidence of doing the job. 9 - Talk about money early and communicate properly No surprises. Be upfront about salary, keep people updated, and don’t ghost anyone. Ever. 10 - Offer, then stay close The job isn’t done when the offer’s accepted. Counteroffers happen. Doubt creeps in. Stay engaged. None of this is rocket science. But good hiring is a skill, and it’s one you only get right with experience. Which is usually the moment founders realise why hiring properly is harder than it looks.

Great hires don’t read job posts. They watch you. Most founders think building a team starts with writing a killer job post. And yes, description helps. Titles matter. Compensation counts. But that’s not actually where great hiring begins. What it’s really about is becoming someone the right people already want to work with, before you even post. Let me explain. Why most founder struggle with hiring They do one of three things: – Write long, polished job specs that don’t attract the right people – Post in a panic when they’re underwater – Try to "sell" the role instead of embodying the culture And then wonder why they’re not getting traction. It’s because they’re trying to hire without trust. Without signal. Without emotional credibility. That’s where my hiring system comes in, built around a simple, repeatable model: The 3 Rs: Reputation → Relationships → Role Design 1/ Reputation (→ Become someone worth working for) Most founders think they can build culture after they hire. But culture precedes the team, and the right people can feel it before the first call. Your reputation becomes the filter. 2/ Relationships (→ Build quiet interest before the ask) Once you’ve built signal, don’t blast out roles. Start conversations. Share the vision. Listen to what excites them. The best people are already employed, but already watching. 3/ Role Design (→ Invite, don’t persuade) Most roles read like a demand list. Ours read like a mission brief. You’re not recruiting. You’re aligning. You’re showing someone where their fire meets your direction. The system in one sentence: Reputation earns attention. Relationships deepen belief. Role design makes the move obvious. That’s how you build a team people fight to join.

Hiring your first marketing leader is a pivotal moment, and it’s easy to get it wrong. The vast, vast majority of “marketers” are not the right fit to be your first marketing hire and leader. Here’s how to do it right: 1. Define What You Need Right Now. And Hire That. For Real. This may sound obvious, but too many founders just hire a “marketer”. Not someone 80%+ focused on exactly what you need in marketing — now. Are you looking for someone to generate leads from scratch, or do you already have a steady stream of leads and need someone to optimize and scale? If you have no leads, you need a growth / demand-gen expert who can create demand from nothing. If you already have leads, you can hire someone who knows how to manage the funnel and increase revenue per lead. If you have a sales-led motion, hire someone that has worked with a sales team at your stage. 2. Hire for the Stage You’re At Don’t overhire. If you’re early-stage, look for someone who’s been hands-on at a startup or a smaller company and knows how to build from the ground up. And hire someone that doesn’t need a team to start. A little help from some cost-effective agencies is fine and good. But a whole team? That’s not who you need. 3. Focus on Metrics and Execution. Not Brand or “Product Marketing”. Not Until You Are At $10m-$20m+ ARR At Least. Your first marketing leader needs to be metrics-driven. Ask them about their experience with lead velocity rate (LVR), cost per lead (CPL), and conversion rates. They should be able to show you how they’ve moved the needle in previous roles. 4. Test for Hands-On Ability. You Need a “Hands-On Keyboard” Marketer. Most Aren’t. Early on, you need someone who can do the work themselves—whether it’s running campaigns, building collateral, or setting up webinars. If they’re focused on strategy and not execution, they’re not the right fit for your first hire. 95% of the senior marketers you talk to will really only want to work on strategy. 5. Look for Some Previous Success, For Real. An Owner. Ask for specific examples of campaigns they’ve run and the results they’ve achieved. If they can’t point to measurable successes, they’re not ready for this role. 6. Don’t Expect a Silver Bullet. But Demand Small, Quick Wins. Marketing isn’t magic. It’s about consistent execution and iteration. If you’re expecting your first marketing hire to instantly 10x your leads, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Be realistic about what they can achieve in the first 6-12 months 7. Avoid the “Blue Pens” Trap If you hire the wrong person, you’ll end up with a lot of fluff—like branded swag and pretty PowerPoints—but no real results. Make sure they’re focused on driving revenue, not just building a brand. 8. Make Sure They Convince You Before They Start A great marketer should convince you with data and examples how they can tilt the curve for you.  If they can’t convince you they can do it, don’t have them start.

We all want to hire the best people - but a mistake so many founders make is ignoring step 1: Build a talent magnet 🧲 Psychometric testing, blind referencing, task-based assignments and culture-fit interviews - all great tools for selecting talent... But if your top of funnel is only 50 candidates per role - you're better off investing time in building the top of funnel rather than selection. At my first company we built a talent magnet that attracted 2,000 candidates per role (pre AI applications). Here are the core steps to building top of funnel in hiring: 1. Define your culture - ensure it is authentic and 'controversial' 2. Craft your employer brand - the reasons people enjoy working at your company (beyond your culture) - eg at sequel those might be working with the world's best athletes on a daily basis, funding pioneering founders, a 'dope' office with a roof terrace & plenty of socialising space, an experienced team with multiple exits 3. Pick your benefits carefully - you are what you attract - at sequel we offer a learning budget, free gym membership, private healthcare, a generous parental policy and proactive wellness screenings - therefore we have healthy team members with a hunger to learn and who want to have families one day 4. Talk about the above publicly - post on LinkedIn, attend events, talk to the press, apply for awards 5. Craft job descriptions optimising for top-of-funnel - remove barriers like requirements for certain levels of education, include wide salary ranges (and pick the range carefully), offer equity if you can, link to other resources to help people learn about your brand (eg we have a team video on our website) 6. Use an ATS & post widely to job boards - we use Workable and post to 20+ job boards for every role 7. Host events - hackathons are a great way to build relationships with engineering and product talent and spend extended period of time seeing how they work 8. Outbound - do not just rely on inbound - create an ideal candidate profile with a detailed dream job history - and start pro-actively reaching out to people who fit the profile Focus on attraction before you invest time in selection. It's a bit like dating... Any other tips for building a magnet for talent?