Your company is thriving, the customers are rolling in, and you just secured another round of funding.

Things are exactly what you dreamed of in the early stages of your company, but you have no time left in the day. Your to-do list is overflowing; you know it’s time to bring in some new help!

But who is the right hire?

Deciding on your first few hires is arguably the most critical element to your company’s overall trajectory. Hiring the wrong team is one of the biggest reasons for startup failure. Whether from a lack of team harmony or a faulty allocation of resources, ensuring you have a thought-out hiring process that sets you up to hire the right people is critical.

Follow these four steps to craft an efficient hiring plan.

1. Hire outside of your specialty.

It’s all too common for leaders to hire within their expertise. They know this space well and are already well-versed in what would make a good hire.

However, it’s better to do the opposite of this. Instead, you should hire to compensate for your weakness. This will lead to a well-rounded team with skillsets that complement one another.

Let’s dive into an example. Say you’re an engineering leader and founder of a climate SaaS product. You might be inclined to hire a supporting engineer to take some tasks off your plate. This strategy would certainly help you grow a robust engineering department. However, you’d still be lacking in several other business areas. If you were to hire a proven sales executive or a Chief Marketing Operator, they would help you outline your business’s trajectory and ensure that you’re accounting for growth potential in the earliest stages of your business.

Hiring for holes in your organization not only sets you up for success in the long term but also ensures that you are thinking about the whole picture and scope of your company.

2. Leverage one hire off another.

Before considering who to hire next, you should outline your company’s projected organizational chart. In 10 years, what do you envision the company looking like, and who do you hope to have on your team? Work backward from there.

All of your hiring initiatives should be rooted in your short and long-term business goals, whether revenue growth, enhanced customer satisfaction ratings, cost optimization, technology efficiency, etc. Each hire needs to contribute directly to that one overarching goal.

Let’s say, for example, that your main organizational-wide goal is to increase revenue 10x in the upcoming year. A head of sales would bring immense value over a CTO specializing in optimizing your back-end systems. Once you have the road map for increased revenue, you should consider hiring a technical expert to ensure you deliver on those promises. These two hires can build off one another for ultimate value if timed appropriately.

You should also talk with your existing team members to see if anyone wants to pivot their role to address the current pitfalls. You must consider the importance of retention when planning out your next hires. Prioritizing career progression and creating an open conversation channel will lead to higher performance and overall employee satisfaction.

3. Hire people who you believe are better than you.

As you should hire outside your expertise, you should also hire people you admire. While it may seem intimidating to supervise people who know more than you about something, it will bring the most value to your team.

It would be best if you structured your hiring to bring on one senior person from each department and then tasked them with building out their teams. This process will allow you to delegate responsibilities and dedicate your time to your channel of expertise while allowing your team to do the same. The leading experts in the field will have a much firmer grasp on what to look for in hires, and with this model, they can also hire to compensate for their weaknesses.

4. Hire outside of your network.

Lastly, and most importantly, it’s critical to source outside your direct network. Diverse hiring is one of the most crucial element to company success. If you strictly rely on your network to get the word out about your opening, you will likely only attract people with similar backgrounds who think similarly to you.

External recruitment agencies can help increase diversity in your company. They can ensure you're accounting for various perspectives, which will directly enhance innovation and empowerment at your company. You must be intentional about hiring diverse talent in the very early stages of your company. It must be at the forefront of your hiring plan. Take a pulse check on your organization and see what your diversity looks like. Decide which angle you need to take and be intentional about getting there.

Follow these four steps, and your next hire will bring your team the utmost amount of value. The Climate People team has been in this space for years and would love to help you frame your hiring trajectory!