Make your first ten hires on purpose, without an HR team
The founder's complete hiring kit: who to hire when, role scorecards, pay and equity you can explain, a structured interview loop, honest offers, onboarding and the culture your first people will carry.
- A 10-chapter e-book that follows one composite startup through hires 1 to 10, from the first bottleneck to the first manager
- The First Hires Workbook: 15 sheets with settings, pay bands, a hiring plan with budget check, scorecards, pipeline, interview scores, pay and equity with option pool tracking, offers, onboarding, culture tracker and two dashboards
- A 7-sheet Offer and Equity Calculator showing cash and option mixes, dilution, vesting, exit outcomes including zero, and runway impact
- 4 fillable PDF forms (9 pages), 6 Word templates with 5 job posts, 30 interview questions, 44 messages and scripts and 29 AI prompts, plus 3 cheat sheets, a calendar and a task board
The First Ten Hires Kit · Bodhih Pro Kits · 196 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
How should a startup founder hire the first employees?
Hire to remove the biggest bottleneck between you and your next milestone. Write a one-page role scorecard first, set pay bands and equity rules you apply to everyone, source through people who trust you, run a short structured interview loop with a work sample, sell honestly, put terms in writing and onboard with a 30-60-90 plan. The First Ten Hires Kit from Bodhih Training gives a file for each step.
Want the full free guide first? Read How to Hire Your First Employees as a Startup Founder.
You already feel the problem. Here is what it is costing you.
You have money in the bank and no idea who to hire first
Investors ask about the hiring plan. Your list has seven roles and no order, and adding up the salaries takes your runway somewhere uncomfortable.
Equity feels like guesswork
A candidate asks how much equity, what vesting means and what happens if the company fails. You can answer the first question approximately and the rest not at all.
Interviews that go nowhere
Each conversation goes somewhere different. Afterwards you prefer one person but cannot say why, and your co-founder prefers someone else.
Losing good people to bigger offers
The candidate you wanted accepts a larger company's offer during the week you spent deciding. You cannot match the cash, and you are not sure what else to offer.
Paperwork you have never done
Offer letters, contractor terms, an employer of record in another country, right-to-work checks. You know some of it is required and you are not sure which parts.
Picture the next few weeks with the kit open beside you.
Imagine a Monday morning a few weeks from now. You open the First Hires Workbook and the dashboard shows your plan in order, each hire tied to the bottleneck it removes, with a budget line you have already checked against runway.
When you write the scorecard for your next role, you find the job post almost writes itself, because you already know the mission, the three outcomes and the one must-have. As you plan the loop, every interviewer knows which two competencies they are testing and which questions to ask.
Picture the offer call. You have the numbers from the calculator in front of you, including the zero row, and you explain options in two calm sentences. Whether the candidate accepts that day or asks for time, you know what can move and what cannot, and you treat everyone the same way.
And when your first hire starts, there is a laptop ready, a buddy, a written 30-60-90 plan and a one-to-one booked for Friday. You can start with the workbook tonight or the scorecard tomorrow morning; either way, the next hire will be more deliberate than the last.
19 files that do the work for you
The e-book shows you how. The tools make it happen. Here is exactly what you download.
The First Ten Hires Kit (e-book, PDF)
The guide: methods, worked examples, scripts and exercises
Start here: the first ten hires map
The whole job on one page with the file to open at each step, your first hour, a 30/60/90 day use plan and matched assessments.
First Hires Workbook
15-sheet workbook: settings, pay bands, hiring plan by quarter with budget check, role scorecards, candidate pipeline with stage alerts, interview loop and scores, pay and equity with option pool tracking, offers, onboarding completion, culture tracker and two dashboards with charts.
Offer and Equity Calculator
7-sheet calculator: cash and equity offer scenarios, ownership today and after future rounds, option value across exit outcomes including zero, a month-by-month vesting schedule, fully loaded cost and runway impact with a chart.
Role scorecard
Two-page fillable scorecard for one role: the bottleneck, mission, three measurable outcomes, four competencies with what good looks like, the 90-day goal, the single must-have and the pay and equity range, agreed before you post.
Interview loop sheets
Three fillable pages for the loop: a work-sample brief you send to candidates, a structured interview sheet with anchored 1 to 5 scores per competency, and a debrief sheet that keeps scores independent.
Reference check and offer decision sheet
Two fillable pages: a reference call guide that asks for examples against the scorecard, and an offer decision sheet that sets base, equity, walk-away points and the close plan before you pick up the phone.
30-60-90 onboarding plan
Two-page fillable plan agreed in week one: what the new hire learns, owns and delivers by day 30, 60 and 90, how you will support them, and the check-in notes at each milestone.
Job post templates and interview question bank
Part 1: the seven-block honest job post, an honesty checklist, a channel table and 5 ready-to-edit posts (founding engineer, product designer, founding account executive, customer onboarding lead, operations generalist). Part 2: 30 numbered structured interview questions across 10 early-hire competencies, each with what a 5 sounds like and the red flag.
Founder hiring message library
44 messages and call scripts for every moment of a founder-led hire: outreach, scheduling, updates, kind rejections, selling the role, offers, counter-offers, onboarding and hard moments.
Offer letter checklist and templates
What must be in writing (with country notes to check), a plain-words offer letter draft, a one-page equity summary for candidates and the points to agree in a contractor arrangement.
Culture one-pager and founder-as-manager guide
A one-page ways-of-working charter to adopt with your first hires, a founder one-to-one guide with agenda and questions, and a fair performance and exit checklist.
Worked example pack: Kitebird Labs, hires 1 to 5
One composite startup's first five hires shown in full: bottlenecks, scorecards, loops, scores, offers with the cash and equity numbers, a declined offer, a contract-to-hire, an employer-of-record hire and onboarding.
AI prompt pack for founder hiring
29 tool-agnostic prompts grouped by step, from finding the bottleneck to onboarding, each with what to paste in and what to check before you use the output.
Who to hire when: decision card
If-X-do-Y rules for sequencing hires, generalist or specialist, employee, contractor or employer of record, the first manager, pay and equity asks, loops and offers.
Mistakes to avoid and interview bias card
Twelve founder hiring mistakes with the fix and the file to open, ten interview bias traps and the questions not to ask.
Country notes: contracts, right to work and equity (October 2026)
Dated notes for India, the UK, the US, the EU and other regions on contracts, right-to-work checks, pay transparency and equity, plus what usually must be in writing.
8-week hiring sprint calendar
35 calendar events for one hire over eight weeks, from the bottleneck to the first one-to-one, each naming the file to open. Import into a new calendar and move to your dates.
Hiring sprint task board
31 hiring tasks as a CSV ready to import into Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira, with step, week, owner, file to open and due date.
Chapter by chapter
Each chapter opens with a real situation, gives you a method and ends with something to do today, using the tools in your kit.
- Format
- PDF e-book + XLSX + fillable PDF + DOCX + PDF cheat sheets + ICS + CSV
- Files
- 19 files plus a one-click ZIP
- E-book
- 62 pages
- Works with
- Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, Word, Google Docs, Acrobat Reader, GoodNotes, Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, Trello, Asana, Notion
- Best for
- Founders and startup operators making hires 1 to 10, anywhere in the world
The First Ten Are Not Just Ten Hires
Why the first ten hires shape the company, and the ten-step method this kit follows.
Who to Hire When
Ordering hires by the bottleneck each one removes, and checking every hire against runway.
The Role Scorecard
A one-page scorecard: mission, three measurable outcomes, four competencies, a 90-day goal and one must-have.
Pay, Equity and What You Can Afford
A compensation philosophy, pay bands from real benchmarks, options in plain words and offers designed in a calculator.
Sourcing Without Recruiters and Writing Honest Job Posts
Finding people through networks, communities and outbound, and writing job posts that are honest about risk.
The Interview Loop
A short structured loop with a work sample, independent scores, a debrief that resists bias and useful references.
Selling the Role and Closing the Offer
Selling the role honestly, designing the offer before the call, counter-offers and moving fast.
Contracts, Contractors and Hiring Across Borders
Employee, contractor or employer of record, what must be in writing, right to work and equity across borders.
Onboarding in a Tiny Company
Before day one, week one and a 30-60-90 plan with honest check-ins in a company of five.
Culture You Mean, and the First Manager
Values you can see, decision rules, communication norms, weekly one-to-ones and the first manager.
Performance, Hard Calls and Fair Exits
Clear expectations, early and specific feedback, fair improvement plans and respectful exits.
The Company Your First Ten Build
What you now have and your first hour.
Using AI in Founder Hiring Safely
Six rules for using AI in founder hiring without bias, privacy or legal problems.
Equity Words in Plain English
A plain-English glossary of option and equity terms for founders and candidates.
Not just reading. Tools you will actually open again.
E-book
- The First Ten Hires Kit e-book: 10 chapters, conclusion and two appendices, with figures, scripts, worksheets and a composite startup case
Spreadsheets
- First Hires Workbook (15 sheets): Settings, Pay Bands, Hiring Plan with budget check, Role Scorecards, Pipeline with stage alerts, Interview Loop, Scores, Comp and Equity with option pool tracking, Offers, Onboarding with completion %, Culture Tracker, Plan vs Actual, and two dashboards with charts
- Offer and Equity Calculator (7 sheets): offer scenarios, exit scenarios including zero, vesting schedule, fully loaded cost and runway impact
Fillable PDF forms
- Role scorecard: Two-page fillable scorecard for one role: the bottleneck, mission, three measurable outcomes, four competencies with what good looks like, the 90-day goal, the single must-have and the pay and equity range, agreed before you post.
- Interview loop sheets: Three fillable pages for the loop: a work-sample brief you send to candidates, a structured interview sheet with anchored 1 to 5 scores per competency, and a debrief sheet that keeps scores independent.
- Reference check and offer decision sheet: Two fillable pages: a reference call guide that asks for examples against the scorecard, and an offer decision sheet that sets base, equity, walk-away points and the close plan before you pick up the phone.
- 30-60-90 onboarding plan: Two-page fillable plan agreed in week one: what the new hire learns, owns and delivers by day 30, 60 and 90, how you will support them, and the check-in notes at each milestone.
Word templates
- Job post templates and interview question bank: 5 honest job posts and 30 structured questions with what a 5 sounds like
- Founder hiring message library: 44 messages and call scripts
- Offer letter checklist and templates: what must be in writing, an offer letter draft, a one-page equity summary and contractor points
- Culture one-pager and founder-as-manager guide: ways-of-working charter, one-to-one guide and a fair performance and exit checklist
- Worked example pack: Kitebird Labs, hires 1 to 5, shown in full
- AI prompt pack for founder hiring: 29 prompts with what to paste in and what to check
Cheat sheets and planning
- Start-here map: the whole job on one page, your first hour and a 30/60/90 day use plan
- Who to hire when: decision card
- Mistakes to avoid and interview bias card
- Country notes on contracts, right to work and equity (dated October 2026)
- 8-week hiring sprint calendar (35 events) for Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar
- Hiring sprint task board CSV (31 tasks) for Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira
When you have worked through it, you will be able to…
Every outcome is practised with a worked example and a tool, not just described.
- You will be able to put your first ten hires in a defensible order tied to bottlenecks and runway
- You will be able to write a one-page role scorecard and an honest job post from it
- You will be able to set pay bands from real benchmarks and explain options, vesting and dilution in plain words
- You will be able to run a short structured interview loop with independent scores and a fair debrief
- You will be able to design, make and close an offer without improvising on the call
- You will be able to choose between employee, contractor and employer of record and know what to ask your lawyer
- You will be able to onboard a new hire with a 30-60-90 plan and weekly one-to-ones
- You will be able to write a culture one-pager your team recognises and plan your first manager
Know your starting point. Prove your progress.
People who measure before and after improve faster and can show it. AssessAll, our sister assessment platform, has AI-graded assessments that pair with this kit. Take one now, work through the kit, then re-take it.
Sales Hiring Judgement — Manager Level
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentInterview Evidence and Answer Quality Assessment for Job Seekers and Career Changers
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentFirst-Time Manager Readiness Assessment
Take the assessment →JobularyTurn what you learn into a measured development plan (Jobulary)
Make it a growth plan →A taste of Chapter 1
An early-stage company is a small machine with a few people doing everything. At any moment one part of that machine limits everything else. Sometimes it is the product: features customers asked for wait weeks because one person writes all the code. Sometimes it is sales: the founder runs every call, so the pipeline stops whenever she travels. Sometimes it is onboarding: customers sign but take months to get value, because a founder has to sit with each one. The right next hire removes the biggest bottleneck between you and your next milestone. Not the role that big companies have, not the role an investor mentioned, not the friend who is available. The bottleneck. Name it in one sentence, put a number on it, and you have the first line of your hiring plan.
The honest comparison
| Free templates and typical advice | This kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Who to hire first | A generic list of roles every startup supposedly needs | A bottleneck method with a hiring plan that checks each hire against budget and runway |
| Equity | A percentage someone saw on a forum | Bands, a calculator with dilution, vesting and a zero outcome, and plain-words scripts |
| Interviews | Free-form chats and gut feel | A structured loop, a work-sample brief, 30 questions with anchors and a bias-checked debrief |
| Offers and paperwork | A downloaded offer letter with no context | An offer decision sheet, a letter draft, an equity summary and dated country notes for your lawyer |
| After the offer | Nothing | Onboarding tasks, a 30-60-90 plan, one-to-one guide and a culture tracker |
Made for you if…
- First-time founders making their first hires at pre-seed or seed
- Second-time founders who want a cleaner, fairer process than last time
- Co-founders who need to agree pay, equity and hiring order before they disagree
- Startup operators and chiefs of staff who run hiring without an HR team
- Accelerator staff, mentors and fractional CFOs who guide founders through early hiring
- Founders hiring across borders through contractors or an employer of record
Probably not for you if…
- Companies with an established HR or talent team running many roles at once (The Recruitment End-to-End Kit fits better)
- Anyone looking for legal, tax or investment advice: this kit teaches the logic and points you to your lawyer and accountant
- Founders who want a promise that hiring will make the company succeed: no kit can offer that
Built by trainers, tested in real rooms.
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008. Bodhih Pro Kits package what works in those workshops into a guide plus the exact tools we use, so you can apply it the same day without a facilitator in the room.
From here to using it in three steps
- STEP 1
Tap Get the kit
Name, email and country. UPI, card or netbanking in India; international cards everywhere else. No account to create.
- STEP 2
Download instantly
Your download page opens at once, with every file and a one-click ZIP. A permanent link lands in your inbox too.
- STEP 3
Open the first tool
Start with the quick-start chapter, then the main spreadsheet or planner. Most buyers use something from the kit the same day.
Your first ten people build the company the next ninety join
Open the Start-here map, fill in the Settings sheet and write your first scorecard this week. Whether you begin with the hiring plan tonight or the equity calculator tomorrow, you will make your next hire with a method rather than a hunch.
Personal licence for the buyer's own use (and use with your own team or clients where the kit says so). Please don't share or resell the files. Team and company licences: solutions@bodhih.com.
What buyers say
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The Bodhih family, when you are ready for more
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AssessAll
250+ AI-graded assessments to measure skills and earn verified credentials.
Jobulary
Individual development plans that start from evidence and stay yours.
Bodhih Training
Run this topic as a live workshop for your team, in person or online.
Pewple
Book a vetted coach for career, leadership or communication. Pay per session.
Bodhih.org pathways
Certification pathways in Applied AI, Workplace English and management.
Who should a startup hire first?
Usually the person who removes the biggest bottleneck between you and your next milestone. Often that is a builder who speeds up the product; sometimes it is design, onboarding or a first seller once a founder has sold the product and become the bottleneck. The Who-to-Hire-When card and the Hiring Plan sheet help you decide.
How much equity should I give my first employees?
It depends on your stage, pool, cash offer, the role and your country. Public data such as Carta's reports gives reference points, but the kit's approach is to set option ranges by level in your pay bands, offer a number of options subject to board approval and your plan, and use the same rules for everyone. The calculator shows ownership, dilution, vesting and exit outcomes including zero.
Is this legal or tax advice?
No. The kit teaches the logic and gives you working templates written in plain words. Employment, contractor, equity, tax and right-to-work rules differ by country and change, so the country notes are dated and every template says to check your lawyer and accountant before you sign or send anything.
Should my first hires be employees or contractors?
It depends on the real relationship. Ongoing core work that you direct usually points to employment, through your own entity or an employer of record; a defined project with an end can suit a contractor. Chapter 7 and the decision tree explain the trade-offs and what to ask your lawyer.
How do I interview well if I have never hired before?
Write a role scorecard, plan a short loop with a work sample and two structured interviews, ask every candidate the same questions, score alone against anchors and debrief with the founder speaking last. The loop sheets, question bank and Scores sheet are built for exactly this.
Does it work outside the US?
Yes. The workbook and calculator work in any currency, the examples span India, Kenya, Portugal and the UK, and the dated country notes cover India, the UK, the US, the EU and other regions in general terms.
How can I measure my starting point?
AssessAll offers assessments matched to this kit: Sales Hiring Judgement: Manager Level, Interview Evidence and Answer Quality Assessment for Job Seekers and Career Changers and the First-Time Manager Readiness Assessment. They are separate products and are not included in the kit.
How do I turn this into a development plan for me or my first manager?
Jobulary helps you turn what you learn into a measured individual development plan, so building your own hiring and management skills becomes a plan with dates rather than a good intention.
What software do I need?
Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice for the workbooks; any PDF reader that fills forms, such as Acrobat Reader; Word or Google Docs for templates; and any calendar or task tool that imports ICS or CSV files.
Can I use it with my co-founder and team?
Yes, within your own company: share the files with your co-founders and anyone involved in your hiring. Please do not share or resell the kit outside your company. Team and company licences for accelerators and investors: solutions@bodhih.com.
How much does The First Ten Hires Kit cost?
₹999 including 18% GST for buyers in India, or $29 for buyers outside India. One-time payment, no subscription, with an automatic invoice.
How do I get the files after paying?
Instantly. Your download page opens the moment payment succeeds, and a permanent download link is emailed to you. Download each file separately or everything in one ZIP.
Can I get a refund?
Because it is a digital download, kits are not refundable once downloaded. We always refund a duplicate charge or a failed delivery, and if a file is corrupted and we cannot fix it within 3 working days. Full terms: bodhih.org/refunds.
Can my company buy this for a team?
Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops on this topic run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
