The 4 Traps that Kill Technical Founders.

We push our founders to hire instead of build early. Here’s why.

(Most) technical founders have a natural bias towards building early. This bias stems from the comfort that comes from doing the thing you’re good at instead of the thing the company needs. Though it may feel short term good, it leads to four common early stage company failure modes:

1. Building before planning. You ship sub-optimally, then you can’t hire because no one wants to own the mess.

2. Raising while building. You come to market with an MVP and no talent moat. The story doesn’t close/lacks credibility.

3. Building because it’s comfortable. Technical founders are good at it. So they do it. Then they can’t let go and the company stalls.

4. Getting pulled into product minutiae. Small fires feel enormous when you’re the only one fighting them. They don’t when you have a real team around you.

This is why we feel so strongly about founders focusing on hiring early (“First Five”). It’s the difference between a founder running a company and a founder running a product indefinitely.

Instead of building early, hire for the roles that unlock everything else. Do it earlier than feels comfortable.