Your first engineer sets the technical culture, architecture and bar for every hire after them. Timing and profile matter more here than almost anywhere else.
When to hire
- You have a validated problem and a clear near-term build.
- Founder capacity is the bottleneck to shipping.
- You can articulate the first 90 days of work.
Who to look for
- A senior generalist who ships end-to-end.
- High ownership and comfort with ambiguity.
- Good judgment on what not to build.
- Ability to set patterns others will follow.
