The other day I tweeted some OH advice from a soon-to-be second time founder

https://twitter.com/hunterwalk/status/661336124518830080

Someone asked me if I agreed with this advice – should you really not start a company unless you have the first five hires ready to go? Isn’t that a pretty high bar to getting started?

If you were going to ask me to make an absolutist statement I’d perhaps amend the above to read “Don’t start a company without a hiring plan.” A hiring plan means you are thinking about what the first 5, 10, even 20 roles will be and starting to plug in names ahead of hiring them. Could be people you worked with before who you know will want to work with you again. Could be relationships you’re actively cultivating or names of people you want to reach out to over the coming months as you scale. Might even be a list of companies that you would be good to try and hire from. The more “real” the hiring plan – actual people ready to work with you – the better, but what you need is that plan.

When Homebrew thinks about funding decisions, the ability for founders to pull together their team – especially if it requires specialized skill sets – is a question we often push on. The advantage of having a group of people you can pull into a growing company as needed is huge. It was one of the least discussed and most important components of YouTube’s success.

Here’s a post about what VCs are looking for when they ask about your hiring plan.