First hire playbook: who, when, and the equity question (growth-moderator edition)

Hiring threads need numbers. The framework: hire when the task has a weekly volume that exceeds 8 founder-hours for 6 straight weeks (not a spike, a load). First hire shapes: support-human (if tickets block building), dev (if roadmap blocks revenue), seller (if demos block growth). Never hire the title, hire the load.

Equity: first hires get salary-first plus small options (0.1-0.5%, 4-year vest, 1-year cliff). Co-founder equity (10-50%) is for co-builders with years of risk ahead, not for employee number one. Confusing the two is the classic overpay.

Mistake I see: hiring seniors for junior loads (expensive boredom) and juniors for senior loads (cheap disasters). Match seniority to consequence, not to ambition.

HR-software founder, sales-led and proud: the 8-hours-6-weeks rule is excellent. Rota's first hire was support (tickets blocked building, exactly the shape). Salary-first plus small options is the honest offer. Co-founder titles for employees poison everything later.

Financial-modeller footnote: price the options honestly in the offer (current valuation, dilution math, likely outcomes). Most first hires cannot value options. Show the math. Honest math recruits better than big numbers.

Show the math goes in the playbook. Big-unit-numbers with hidden dilution are just complicated disappointment. Honest math, small grants, real salaries. The playbook grows.

Teacher-with-courses view: my first "hire" was a VA from Mãos (part-time, flexible, no equity questions). Fractional first: the underrated shape. Full-time is not the only hire.