Hiring Strategies for Founders Building The Engine

A crash course in org structure, culture foundations, and how to scale without chaos.

When your team’s growing but your systems aren’t, friction builds. This session teaches you how to build basic, flexible people systems — even if you only have 3–5 employees.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Build a lightweight org chart that flexes as you grow
  Strategy: Use a “Roles by Phase” chart to see when responsibilities shift.
  Example: One founder built a 3-phase role map for ops and avoided 2 bad hires.
  
  
• Define and live your company values from the start
  Strategy: Choose 3 real-world values and tie them to behaviors.
  Example: “We own it” = teams submit solutions, not just problems.
  
  
• Create systems for accountability (without being the bottleneck)
  Strategy: Use shared metrics and weekly touchpoints to manage without micromanaging.
  Example: Team check-ins became 30% shorter once outcomes were defined.
  
  
• Design onboarding to reinforce culture and clarity
  Strategy: Use a 3-day onboarding checklist focused on purpose, role, and rhythm.
  Example: New hires hit full productivity 2 weeks faster after adding a culture walkthrough.
  
  
• Spot and solve org cracks before they scale
  Strategy: Look for 3 warning signs: role confusion, repeated handoffs, and over-functioning.
  Example: A founder restructured client ownership after losing 2 accounts to confusion.