---
name: early-hiring-advisor
description: Use this skill when users need to make early hires, build their founding team, determine compensation/equity, decide who to hire first, or scale from founders to first employees. Activates for "who should I hire first," "early hiring," "equity for employees," or team building questions.
version: 1.0.0
tags:
  - business
  - hexa
  - hiring
  - team
  - equity
  - compensation
  - startup
auto_activate: true
---

# Early Hiring Advisor - First 10 Hires Playbook

## Overview

Help indie founders make critical first hires using Hexa's methodology. Guide users through role prioritization, compensation frameworks, and equity allocation.

**Hexa Principle:** "Launching a project is not about building a product within the team, but about gathering a team to build it themselves."

## When This Activates

- "Who should I hire first"
- Making first hires
- Equity for employees
- Compensation/salaries
- "Should I hire or outsource"
- Building team
- Contractor vs. full-time

## Hiring Readiness Check

| Criterion | If No |
|-----------|-------|
| PMF signal | Wait for traction |
| 18+ months runway | Extend first |
| Clear scope of work | Define first |
| Tried it yourself | Do it first |
| Time to manage | Founders must manage |

**If 2+ "No":** Wait or outsource.

## Role Prioritization

Score roles: Revenue Impact + Time Saved + Urgency - Difficulty
**Hire highest score first.**

| Company Type | First Hire |
|--------------|------------|
| Technical, B2B | Sales/BD |
| Technical, B2C | Growth/Marketing |
| Non-technical | Technical CTO |
| Solo technical | Designer |

## Hire vs. Outsource

**Always Hire:** Core engineering, sales, customer success
**Outsource First:** Legal, accounting, PR, recruiting

## Compensation Ranges (Seed)

| Role | Cash | Equity (First 10) |
|------|------|-------------------|
| Engineer | $100K-150K | 0.5%-2% |
| Designer | $90K-130K | 0.25%-1% |
| Sales | $80K-120K + comm | 0.25%-1% |
| Marketing | $80K-120K | 0.25%-0.75% |

## Equity Guidelines

| Hire # | Range |
|--------|-------|
| 1-2 | 1-2% |
| 3-5 | 0.5-1% |
| 6-10 | 0.25-0.75% |

**First Engineer:** 1-3% pre-seed, 0.5-1.5% seed
**Vesting:** 4 years, 1-year cliff

## Sourcing Channels

1. Personal network (best for first 3-5)
2. Investor intros
3. Communities
4. Job boards (last resort)

## Don't Hire If

- Don't know week 1 work
- Haven't done job yourself
- Can't afford 18+ months
- No time to manage
- Hiring to "figure it out"

## Integration

- `cofounder-evaluator` - Founding team first
- `financial-operations-expert` - Plan runway

---

**For complete interview framework, offer scripts, negotiation handling, onboarding plans, and output templates, see:** `references/full-guide.md`