Resources
Startup hiring resources
Straightforward guides on what hiring costs, how to brief and assess technical people, how to sequence a team, and how the different ways of paying for recruitment actually compare. No benchmark tables we cannot stand behind, and no invented case studies.
Start with your role
Each guide names who it is written for. Jump to the ones aimed at you.
Topic hubs
The topics with enough substantive guides to be worth landing on. Everything else is grouped further down this page.
- Startup hiring costsWhat a hire actually costs, when the money leaves, and how to plan for it.3 guides in this topic
- Technical & deep-tech hiringHiring engineers, scientists and specialists when the product is the hard part.6 guides in this topic
- Team planningSequencing multiple hires against runway, delivery and org design.3 guides in this topic
- Recruitment modelsContingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly models compared.3 guides in this topic
Not sure where to start?
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All guides
Everything in the library, newest review first.
- Startup hiring costs
What a startup hire actually costs
The full cost of a startup hire: recruitment fee, cash timing, ramp-up, the cost of a leaver and the internal hours nobody budgets for.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
Recruitment fee models compared
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly recruitment models compared on cash timing, risk, control and where each one genuinely fits.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a technical hiring brief that gets results
What a recruiter actually needs to run a technical search: the problem, the stack, the bar, the constraints and the trade-offs you are willing to make.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Interview scorecards small teams can actually run
A lightweight structured interview framework for startups: four criteria, defined evidence, independent scoring and a decision rule agreed before you meet anyone.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for deep tech and complex systems
Why deep-tech and complex-systems searches behave differently: small candidate pools, long assessment cycles, and briefs that need genuine technical understanding.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Planning your first technical hires
How to sequence early technical hires against runway and delivery: what to hire first, what to defer, and how to model the combined cost of a hiring plan.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Founder & board planning
Presenting a hiring plan to your board
What investors and boards want from a hiring plan: the sequence, the cash shape month by month, the assumptions, and what happens if hiring slips.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
When not to hire
The cases where a permanent hire is the wrong answer, the alternatives worth testing first, and the signals that a role is genuinely ready.5 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
How to compare an upfront fee with a monthly recruitment fee
A method for comparing a one-off placement fee with a monthly percentage-of-salary model: cash timing, tenure, crossover point and what happens if the hire leaves.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
What happens to recruitment fees when a hire leaves
Rebates, tapers, replacement clauses and monthly models explained, with the exact questions to ask any recruiter before you sign.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
A founder's checklist for choosing a technical recruitment partner
What to test before instructing a recruiter for a technical role: briefing depth, market honesty, process, candidate experience and commercial terms.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Single hire vs team hiring: planning cost and sequencing
When to run one search at a time and when to plan a team, how sequencing changes cash and interview load, and how to phase multiple roles sensibly.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for complex systems outside your own technical domain
How to assess specialists in a field you do not know: defining the real problem, borrowing credible assessors, and the questions that work without domain expertise.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
What finance should model before approving a recruitment supplier
A finance and operations checklist for recruitment spend: cash profile, commitment, exit terms, VAT and invoicing, supplier risk and the scenarios worth modelling.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
A first-ten-hires planning framework for technology startups
A practical framework for planning the first ten hires in a technology startup: constraint mapping, sequencing, interview capacity and cash shape.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a hiring brief for a complex software or deep-tech role
How to brief a genuinely hard technical role: the system context, real must-haves, evidence of capability, and the trade-offs you are willing to make.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
How to hire for a role you cannot keyword-search
When no job title or keyword describes the role, search by problem instead: outcomes, evidence, adjacent fields and a transfer test agreed before the first CV arrives.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Must-have versus learnable skills in early-stage technical hiring
How to split a requirements list into what must be true on day one and what can be learned after joining — and why that decision sets the size of your pool.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Building an evidence-based technical interview scorecard
A practical way for small teams to score technical interviews: four to six dimensions, each mapped to a stage and the evidence that proves it, agreed before you meet anyone.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Hiring strategy
Deciding what to hire, when to hire it, and what to do instead when you cannot.
- Hiring strategy
When not to hire
The cases where a permanent hire is the wrong answer, the alternatives worth testing first, and the signals that a role is genuinely ready.5 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
A founder's checklist for choosing a technical recruitment partner
What to test before instructing a recruiter for a technical role: briefing depth, market honesty, process, candidate experience and commercial terms.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Startup hiring costs
What a hire actually costs, when the money leaves, and how to plan for it.
- Startup hiring costs
What a startup hire actually costs
The full cost of a startup hire: recruitment fee, cash timing, ramp-up, the cost of a leaver and the internal hours nobody budgets for.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
What finance should model before approving a recruitment supplier
A finance and operations checklist for recruitment spend: cash profile, commitment, exit terms, VAT and invoicing, supplier risk and the scenarios worth modelling.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring engineers, scientists and specialists when the product is the hard part.
- Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a technical hiring brief that gets results
What a recruiter actually needs to run a technical search: the problem, the stack, the bar, the constraints and the trade-offs you are willing to make.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for deep tech and complex systems
Why deep-tech and complex-systems searches behave differently: small candidate pools, long assessment cycles, and briefs that need genuine technical understanding.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for complex systems outside your own technical domain
How to assess specialists in a field you do not know: defining the real problem, borrowing credible assessors, and the questions that work without domain expertise.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a hiring brief for a complex software or deep-tech role
How to brief a genuinely hard technical role: the system context, real must-haves, evidence of capability, and the trade-offs you are willing to make.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
How to hire for a role you cannot keyword-search
When no job title or keyword describes the role, search by problem instead: outcomes, evidence, adjacent fields and a transfer test agreed before the first CV arrives.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Must-have versus learnable skills in early-stage technical hiring
How to split a requirements list into what must be true on day one and what can be learned after joining — and why that decision sets the size of your pool.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Interviews & scorecards
Structured assessment that small teams can actually run.
- Interviews & scorecards
Interview scorecards small teams can actually run
A lightweight structured interview framework for startups: four criteria, defined evidence, independent scoring and a decision rule agreed before you meet anyone.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Building an evidence-based technical interview scorecard
A practical way for small teams to score technical interviews: four to six dimensions, each mapped to a stage and the evidence that proves it, agreed before you meet anyone.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Team planning
Sequencing multiple hires against runway, delivery and org design.
- Team planning
Planning your first technical hires
How to sequence early technical hires against runway and delivery: what to hire first, what to defer, and how to model the combined cost of a hiring plan.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Single hire vs team hiring: planning cost and sequencing
When to run one search at a time and when to plan a team, how sequencing changes cash and interview load, and how to phase multiple roles sensibly.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
A first-ten-hires planning framework for technology startups
A practical framework for planning the first ten hires in a technology startup: constraint mapping, sequencing, interview capacity and cash shape.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Recruitment models
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly models compared.
- Recruitment models
Recruitment fee models compared
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly recruitment models compared on cash timing, risk, control and where each one genuinely fits.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
How to compare an upfront fee with a monthly recruitment fee
A method for comparing a one-off placement fee with a monthly percentage-of-salary model: cash timing, tenure, crossover point and what happens if the hire leaves.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
What happens to recruitment fees when a hire leaves
Rebates, tapers, replacement clauses and monthly models explained, with the exact questions to ask any recruiter before you sign.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
Founder & board planning
Presenting hiring plans and their cash impact to investors and boards.
For founders & ceos
- Startup hiring costs
What a startup hire actually costs
The full cost of a startup hire: recruitment fee, cash timing, ramp-up, the cost of a leaver and the internal hours nobody budgets for.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
Recruitment fee models compared
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly recruitment models compared on cash timing, risk, control and where each one genuinely fits.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a technical hiring brief that gets results
What a recruiter actually needs to run a technical search: the problem, the stack, the bar, the constraints and the trade-offs you are willing to make.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Interview scorecards small teams can actually run
A lightweight structured interview framework for startups: four criteria, defined evidence, independent scoring and a decision rule agreed before you meet anyone.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for deep tech and complex systems
Why deep-tech and complex-systems searches behave differently: small candidate pools, long assessment cycles, and briefs that need genuine technical understanding.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Planning your first technical hires
How to sequence early technical hires against runway and delivery: what to hire first, what to defer, and how to model the combined cost of a hiring plan.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Founder & board planning
Presenting a hiring plan to your board
What investors and boards want from a hiring plan: the sequence, the cash shape month by month, the assumptions, and what happens if hiring slips.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
When not to hire
The cases where a permanent hire is the wrong answer, the alternatives worth testing first, and the signals that a role is genuinely ready.5 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
How to compare an upfront fee with a monthly recruitment fee
A method for comparing a one-off placement fee with a monthly percentage-of-salary model: cash timing, tenure, crossover point and what happens if the hire leaves.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
What happens to recruitment fees when a hire leaves
Rebates, tapers, replacement clauses and monthly models explained, with the exact questions to ask any recruiter before you sign.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
A founder's checklist for choosing a technical recruitment partner
What to test before instructing a recruiter for a technical role: briefing depth, market honesty, process, candidate experience and commercial terms.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Single hire vs team hiring: planning cost and sequencing
When to run one search at a time and when to plan a team, how sequencing changes cash and interview load, and how to phase multiple roles sensibly.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for complex systems outside your own technical domain
How to assess specialists in a field you do not know: defining the real problem, borrowing credible assessors, and the questions that work without domain expertise.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
What finance should model before approving a recruitment supplier
A finance and operations checklist for recruitment spend: cash profile, commitment, exit terms, VAT and invoicing, supplier risk and the scenarios worth modelling.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
A first-ten-hires planning framework for technology startups
A practical framework for planning the first ten hires in a technology startup: constraint mapping, sequencing, interview capacity and cash shape.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a hiring brief for a complex software or deep-tech role
How to brief a genuinely hard technical role: the system context, real must-haves, evidence of capability, and the trade-offs you are willing to make.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
How to hire for a role you cannot keyword-search
When no job title or keyword describes the role, search by problem instead: outcomes, evidence, adjacent fields and a transfer test agreed before the first CV arrives.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Must-have versus learnable skills in early-stage technical hiring
How to split a requirements list into what must be true on day one and what can be learned after joining — and why that decision sets the size of your pool.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Building an evidence-based technical interview scorecard
A practical way for small teams to score technical interviews: four to six dimensions, each mapped to a stage and the evidence that proves it, agreed before you meet anyone.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
There is also a page written specifically for this audience: Founders & CEOs.
For ctos & technical leaders
- Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a technical hiring brief that gets results
What a recruiter actually needs to run a technical search: the problem, the stack, the bar, the constraints and the trade-offs you are willing to make.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Interview scorecards small teams can actually run
A lightweight structured interview framework for startups: four criteria, defined evidence, independent scoring and a decision rule agreed before you meet anyone.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for deep tech and complex systems
Why deep-tech and complex-systems searches behave differently: small candidate pools, long assessment cycles, and briefs that need genuine technical understanding.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Planning your first technical hires
How to sequence early technical hires against runway and delivery: what to hire first, what to defer, and how to model the combined cost of a hiring plan.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
When not to hire
The cases where a permanent hire is the wrong answer, the alternatives worth testing first, and the signals that a role is genuinely ready.5 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
A founder's checklist for choosing a technical recruitment partner
What to test before instructing a recruiter for a technical role: briefing depth, market honesty, process, candidate experience and commercial terms.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Single hire vs team hiring: planning cost and sequencing
When to run one search at a time and when to plan a team, how sequencing changes cash and interview load, and how to phase multiple roles sensibly.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for complex systems outside your own technical domain
How to assess specialists in a field you do not know: defining the real problem, borrowing credible assessors, and the questions that work without domain expertise.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
A first-ten-hires planning framework for technology startups
A practical framework for planning the first ten hires in a technology startup: constraint mapping, sequencing, interview capacity and cash shape.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a hiring brief for a complex software or deep-tech role
How to brief a genuinely hard technical role: the system context, real must-haves, evidence of capability, and the trade-offs you are willing to make.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
How to hire for a role you cannot keyword-search
When no job title or keyword describes the role, search by problem instead: outcomes, evidence, adjacent fields and a transfer test agreed before the first CV arrives.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Must-have versus learnable skills in early-stage technical hiring
How to split a requirements list into what must be true on day one and what can be learned after joining — and why that decision sets the size of your pool.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Building an evidence-based technical interview scorecard
A practical way for small teams to score technical interviews: four to six dimensions, each mapped to a stage and the evidence that proves it, agreed before you meet anyone.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
There is also a page written specifically for this audience: CTOs & technical leaders.
For people & talent
- Recruitment models
Recruitment fee models compared
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly recruitment models compared on cash timing, risk, control and where each one genuinely fits.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a technical hiring brief that gets results
What a recruiter actually needs to run a technical search: the problem, the stack, the bar, the constraints and the trade-offs you are willing to make.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Interview scorecards small teams can actually run
A lightweight structured interview framework for startups: four criteria, defined evidence, independent scoring and a decision rule agreed before you meet anyone.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Hiring for deep tech and complex systems
Why deep-tech and complex-systems searches behave differently: small candidate pools, long assessment cycles, and briefs that need genuine technical understanding.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
What happens to recruitment fees when a hire leaves
Rebates, tapers, replacement clauses and monthly models explained, with the exact questions to ask any recruiter before you sign.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
A founder's checklist for choosing a technical recruitment partner
What to test before instructing a recruiter for a technical role: briefing depth, market honesty, process, candidate experience and commercial terms.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
A first-ten-hires planning framework for technology startups
A practical framework for planning the first ten hires in a technology startup: constraint mapping, sequencing, interview capacity and cash shape.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Writing a hiring brief for a complex software or deep-tech role
How to brief a genuinely hard technical role: the system context, real must-haves, evidence of capability, and the trade-offs you are willing to make.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Technical & deep-tech hiring
Must-have versus learnable skills in early-stage technical hiring
How to split a requirements list into what must be true on day one and what can be learned after joining — and why that decision sets the size of your pool.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Interviews & scorecards
Building an evidence-based technical interview scorecard
A practical way for small teams to score technical interviews: four to six dimensions, each mapped to a stage and the evidence that proves it, agreed before you meet anyone.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
There is also a page written specifically for this audience: People & Talent.
For finance & operations
- Startup hiring costs
What a startup hire actually costs
The full cost of a startup hire: recruitment fee, cash timing, ramp-up, the cost of a leaver and the internal hours nobody budgets for.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
Recruitment fee models compared
Contingent, retained, embedded, in-house and monthly recruitment models compared on cash timing, risk, control and where each one genuinely fits.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Planning your first technical hires
How to sequence early technical hires against runway and delivery: what to hire first, what to defer, and how to model the combined cost of a hiring plan.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Founder & board planning
Presenting a hiring plan to your board
What investors and boards want from a hiring plan: the sequence, the cash shape month by month, the assumptions, and what happens if hiring slips.6 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Hiring strategy
When not to hire
The cases where a permanent hire is the wrong answer, the alternatives worth testing first, and the signals that a role is genuinely ready.5 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
How to compare an upfront fee with a monthly recruitment fee
A method for comparing a one-off placement fee with a monthly percentage-of-salary model: cash timing, tenure, crossover point and what happens if the hire leaves.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
What happens to recruitment fees when a hire leaves
Rebates, tapers, replacement clauses and monthly models explained, with the exact questions to ask any recruiter before you sign.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Team planning
Single hire vs team hiring: planning cost and sequencing
When to run one search at a time and when to plan a team, how sequencing changes cash and interview load, and how to phase multiple roles sensibly.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
What finance should model before approving a recruitment supplier
A finance and operations checklist for recruitment spend: cash profile, commitment, exit terms, VAT and invoicing, supplier risk and the scenarios worth modelling.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026
There is also a page written specifically for this audience: Finance & operations.