The Series A Hiring Playbook: Building Your Team After Raising
You just closed your Series A. Now it's time to build the team that will get you to Series B. Here's how.
Roles Team
Talent Advisors · January 11, 2025
# The Series A Hiring Playbook: Building Your Team After Raising
Congratulations on closing your Series A. Now the real work begins. The next 18-24 months will determine whether you make it to Series B, and nothing matters more than the team you build.
The Series A Context
### What's Different Now - More money, more expectations: You've raised $8-20M and need to grow 3x+ annually - Product-market fit (hopefully): You should have initial PMF - Time pressure: 18-24 months to show Series B metrics - Competition for talent: You're now competing with other well-funded startups
### The Typical Series A Team Most Series A companies have 10-25 employees and need to grow to 40-60 by Series B.
The Hiring Plan
### Engineering (40-50% of hires) **Roles to hire:** - Senior engineers to raise the bar - Engineering manager (if >5 engineers) - Specialists based on product needs
**Timeline:** - Months 1-3: 2-3 senior engineers - Months 4-6: Engineering manager + 2-3 more - Months 7-12: Scale based on roadmap
### Go-to-Market (30-40% of hires) **Roles to hire:** - Sales reps (if B2B) - Marketing lead or demand gen - Customer success (if needed)
### Operations (10-20% of hires) **Roles to hire:** - Recruiting coordinator or in-house recruiter - Finance/accounting support - Office manager or operations generalist
Execution Tips
### Move Fast After Closing Your round will attract attention. Use that momentum: - Start sourcing before you close - Have job descriptions ready - Line up interviews immediately post-close
### Build Recruiting Infrastructure At Series A, you need real recruiting capability: - Implement an ATS - Create structured interview processes - Train interviewers - Build your employer brand
### Don't Forget Culture As you scale, culture becomes harder to maintain: - Document your values - Hire for culture add - Invest in onboarding
The Bottom Line
Series A is about proving you can scale. The team you build in the next 18 months will determine your trajectory. Hire well, move fast, and don't compromise on quality.