Hiring
Bringing new people into a team or company, and how early hiring shapes everything after. The first ten hires tend to set a company’s culture more permanently than any policy written down later.
What actually breaks when a startup hires too fast
Rapid hiring is usually framed as a capacity risk. The more common failure is subtler: onboarding and culture quietly breaking well before headcount does.
What a founder owes a team during a bad quarter
A genuinely bad quarter tests founder communication more than any other stretch of company life. What gets said, and left unsaid, tends to matter enormously.
Hiring the first ten employees changes the company forever
The first ten hires set norms that persist long after those specific people have moved on, whether or not founders are deliberate about shaping them.
Splitting equity fairly is harder than it sounds on paper
An equal equity split feels like the fair, conflict-avoiding choice at the start. It can quietly become a source of resentment once contributions diverge.
Hiring the first ten employees changes the company forever
The first ten hires set norms that persist long after those specific people have moved on, whether or not founders are deliberate about shaping them.
Splitting equity fairly is harder than it sounds on paper
An equal equity split feels like the fair, conflict-avoiding choice at the start. It can quietly become a source of resentment once contributions diverge.