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A company’s first hire sets the standard for everyone that comes after it. They can really mean the difference between success and failure. I’ve started a few companies, including Double (W24) and Jetfuel (acquired by LFTO). Some of these succeeded and some did not.

Here’s what I think you should do to hire your first employee in 2026.

• Traditional interviews are required for social reasons but relatively useless
• First, decide what you want this person to do. It can be as broad as “build the product with me” or “own the backend” or as detailed as “focus on our search infra which is really important”.
• If you put up a job post, you will have many applications but only a few thoughtful ones where the person actually put in some effort. A non-AI cover letter for example. I’d put in the job description some sort of “proof of life” test asking the applicant to do something meaningful in addition to applying to the job itself.
• Try and pick out the most thoughtful ones - use AI for this obviously.
• At the same time, try and do some form of outbound. Instead of cold DM-ing people on LI, I’d think through every smart person you know, and send them an email/text asking if they know anyone smart who might be open to working together. You should do this with almost everyone you meet as well. You can lower the stakes by just asking anyone who works in tech for the 3 smartest engineers they know. You can then reach out directly, referencing your friend or just saying I’ve heard great things about you from others. This has much better results compared to cold outbound IMO.
• Now that you have a bit of a funnel growing, identify 5-10 promising candidates and talk to them. This can be quick and is really just a gut check. Ask them what they’ve worked on and why. Drill down into specifics. Keep asking questions and make sure they can explain things and were doers on the team not just spectators.
• I think 2/3rd of people should fail this stage. Keep the bar high here to preserve your own time and sanity. “Proof of work” follow ups from candidates are nice but not always sufficient here as they usually signal desperation more than anything.
• Now the goal is to test their “work product” as close as possible. This could be a takehome but I’ve found those hard to calibrate across people as it’s hard to know how long they spent on a task unless you time it. Better is a work trial of 1-4 days. Give them a real task. You will need to setup some infra for this beforehand so most of it isn’t bogged down in permission hell.
• If they don’t want to do a work trial, try and figure out why. You should be flexible here but never remove the work product aspect. If they have a job, see if they will do a weekend. If they have kids and a busy family, ask for 3 hours from 8-11pm a few nights. Someone will need to be online/around while they are working to answer questions and unblock permission stuff.
• The work product is really the interview. If you or your cofounder did that work, what would you think of it? Only lower the bar from this about 10-20%. Were they fast? Was it done with quality? Did they seem to care about it or was this just another interview from them? Did they ask good follow up questions. Were they mad at themselves they didn’t get more done?
• Optionally here is reference checks. I’ve had a mixed bag on references generally. Usually you get too positive of a response, even if you try and calibrate this out. Backchannel checks are best. If you can find their former founders number, sending them a quick text asking about the person has been the best for me. Ask them to rate their importance to the overall company. Discount this by a decent amount. If you still want to make the hire, follow your gut.
• I never ask someone directly for references as I’m not sure that provides much signal.
• Decide quickly and decisively. If it’s a yes, move with speed into sell mode.
• Figure out what will make a compelling offer (stock, cash, rough amount needed). And then push to close. Call your investors for help closing. Call your friends for help closing. Show up at their home with a gift. Whatever you think “going the extra mile” is, double it. Try and do this all in person or over the phone, not via email which sucks for this.