In short
Rank each open role by what breaks without it, how soon that break becomes visible, and how quickly the hire changes the number that matters — then phase the plan so that the cash impact is spread rather than stacked. On limited runway the order and the timing of hires usually matter more than the individual choices.
Key facts
- Rank on
- Consequence of not hiring, not on who asked loudest
- Watch
- Fees, salaries and onboarding landing in the same month
- Cheapest lever
- Moving a start date by one month
- Always price
- The option of not hiring the role at all
Why the list is usually wrong the first time
Most hiring plans start as a list of roles each function believes it needs. Every item is defensible on its own, and the list as a whole is unaffordable — which is discovered a month or two into hiring rather than before it starts.
The fix is not to argue each role harder. It is to score them on the same criteria, in one sitting, with the cash consequence visible next to the ranking.
A four-factor scoring frame
Score every open role from one to five on each factor. Add them up, then argue about the outliers.
| Factor | Question | Scores five when |
|---|---|---|
| Consequence | What breaks if this role stays open for six months? | A commitment already made to customers or investors fails |
| Urgency | How soon does that break become visible? | It is already visible this month |
| Time to impact | How long until the hire changes the number? | Weeks, because the work is defined and waiting |
| Reversibility | How easily can we correct this if it is wrong? | Cheaply — scope is contained and the commitment is short |
A role scoring high on consequence but low on time to impact should usually still be hired first — it just needs starting earlier.
Alternatives to price before committing
Each of these is a legitimate answer to a role, and each is cheaper to reverse than a permanent hire.
- Deferring the role by one quarter and re-scoring it then.
- Narrowing the role so a more junior hire can succeed with support.
- Contract or fractional cover for a defined piece of work with an end date.
- Redistributing the work internally and dropping something explicitly.
- Not doing the work at all, and saying so out loud rather than leaving it implied.
Turning the ranking into a phased plan
Four steps, best done with whoever owns the runway model in the room.
Score the roles together
One session, all functions present. Scoring separately reproduces the original problem in a new format.
Lay them on a calendar, not a list
Assign each hire a target start month. A list hides the fact that three of them start in the same fortnight.
Add the whole cash picture
Salary and employer costs, equipment and tooling, recruitment cost, and the ramp period before full contribution. The team planner does this for several roles at once in your currency.
Find the month that breaks
There is nearly always one. Move a single start date and re-check before cutting a role entirely — timing is the cheaper lever.
Where the recruitment fee sits in this
Under a conventional contingent model the recruitment fee is invoiced at or shortly after the start date, so a phased plan still produces a series of large single payments — each one landing in the same month as a new salary.
The Startup Staffing model spreads the fee as a monthly percentage of salary for as long as the person is employed, which changes the shape of the plan rather than removing the cost. Whether that suits you depends on how long hires stay and how tight the individual months are; the rate calculator shows the crossover point against an upfront fee using your own figures, as an illustrative example rather than a quoted rate.
Common questions
- How many months of runway should a hire leave us with?
- That is a board and shareholder judgement rather than something we can set from outside, and any number we offered would be invented. What we can do is make the effect of each hire on each month visible so the judgement is made with the arithmetic in front of you.
- Is it better to hire two juniors or one senior?
- It depends on whether you have the management and review capacity two juniors need. On limited runway the hidden cost is usually the senior person's time supervising them, which is rarely counted in the comparison.
- What if every role feels urgent?
- Then the scoring is doing its job badly on one factor — consequence. Ask what specifically fails, to whom, and by when. Roles that cannot answer that concretely almost always move down the order.
- How do we account for a hire who does not work out?
- Plan the sequence so a single failed hire does not take the plan with it: avoid stacking the two most consequential roles in the same month, and know in advance what your recruitment terms say happens if someone leaves early.
Plan several hires together
Add the roles you expect to hire, phase them across the year and see the combined monthly cost of the whole plan.
Open the team hiring plannerAny percentages or figures shown in this article are illustrative examples used to explain the model. They are not quoted rates, market benchmarks or salary data.