Your Startup’s First Hires: What Roles Actually Matter at Pre-Seed Stage?

Hiring at the pre-seed stage is a bit like packing for a long hike when you don’t know what the weather will do. You need to travel light, be prepared for sudden changes and carry only what will help you get to base camp. In other words, every hire has to earn their weight  – there’s simply no room for passengers.

For most early-stage founders, deciding who to bring on first is as much about mindset as it is about skill sets. You’re not just building a product – you’re building a culture, a rhythm of work and a foundation for growth. So, who should be sitting at the table when there are only a handful of chairs?

Let’s break down the roles that actually matter at pre-seed and how to think about hiring when every decision counts.

 

Founders First: Do You Actually Need to Hire Yet?

 

Before you start crafting job ads, be honest about your own capabilities. If you and your co-founder already have a good technical and product foundation, you might not need to hire anyone immediately. Many of the best startups got their first users with just two or three people wearing multiple hats.

At this stage, overhiring too early is a common trap. Every additional team member adds complexity  – that is, things like more meetings, more communication overhead, more cash burn. So, unless a gap is slowing down your progress, your first “hire” might just be a contractor or a freelance expert.

 

The Technical Lead or Engineer

 

If your founding team doesn’t already include a technical co-founder, your first must-hire is likely a senior engineer or technical lead. You need someone who can do more than write clean code – they need to build prototypes quickly, troubleshoot under pressure and shape the early technical architecture.

Ideally, this person isn’t just task-oriented but entrepreneurial themselves. They should be comfortable in chaos, okay with ambiguity and willing to contribute to product thinking, even if their job title doesn’t say “product.”

If you’re building a software product, this hire is critical. Without them, nothing moves.

 

The Product-Oriented Generalist

 

You need someone who can bridge the gap between the messy ideas in your head and a product that users want. This might be a product manager, a UX designer or simply a generalist who can handle everything from user research to writing landing page copy.

This role is especially valuable if your founding team leans technical. A product generalist can translate customer insights into features, organise your early roadmap and keep the team focused on solving real problems rather than chasing shiny features.

 

 

Customer Development & Growth

 

Even if you’re not ready to go all-in on sales or marketing, someone needs to be obsessed with your early users. That might mean sending cold emails, jumping on discovery calls, running small ads or hacking together onboarding flows. This person is all about traction.

You don’t necessarily need a Head of Growth or a VP of Sales at pre-seed. What you need is a hustler – someone who knows how to test messages, close your first users and bring back feedback to the product team.

In many cases, one of the founders should take on this role at the start. But if you’ve validated your idea and are preparing for a bigger launch, hiring someone scrappy and resourceful here can accelerate your progress.

 

Don’t Forget: Ops and Admin Might Be the Hidden MVP

 

Startups are messy, and someone has to keep the wheels turning. Payroll, invoices, contracts, scheduling, legal docs – none of it’s glamorous, but all of it matters. You might not need a full-time operations hire yet, but even a part-time ops assistant or virtual PA can free up enormous mental space for founders.

Don’t underestimate the value of operational clarity when your team is small. If you’re constantly bogged down in admin, your product and users will suffer.

Culture Fit Over the Perfect Resume

 

At this stage, technical brilliance or a glittering CV won’t help if the person isn’t a good fit. Early-stage startups thrive on trust, energy and a shared belief in the mission. Your first hires will shape how decisions are made, how feedback is shared and how wins are celebrated.

Look for people who are resilient, curious and low-ego. People who are okay with things being “good enough for now.” People who can stretch beyond their job description without needing a manager to tell them how. These are the folks who’ll build with you, not just work for you.

Your first hires are about more than filling roles – they’re about building momentum. You don’t need a full team; you need the right people in the room.

Be strategic. Hire slowly. Prioritise doers over planners. And make sure every person brings something essential to your early climb.

Because at the pre-seed stage, it’s not about polishing the machine – it’s about building it from scratch. And the people you start with will make all the difference.