The first hire is where most founders get stuck. Not because the work is hard to describe, but because it lives in their heads. This guide helps you choose what to hand off first, get it out of your head and onto paper, and have your specialist working on their own within a week.
Pick the work, not the role
Start with a list, not a job title. For one week, write down every task you do that someone else could do with clear steps. Then mark each one:
- Repeats every week, such as answering support tickets, booking demos, updating the CRM or sending invoices
- Has a clear right answer, so a new person can check their own work
- Takes you an hour or more a week, so handing it off actually frees your time
The tasks that tick all three are your first hire. In early startups they usually fall into three groups: customer support, outbound and appointment setting, and customer onboarding. One experienced specialist may be able to cover two of them at first.
What stays with you
Keep anything that sets direction or carries real risk: pricing, product decisions, hiring, closing deals and anything a customer escalates to the founder. Your specialist prepares the work and flags what needs you; you decide.
Before day one
- Record yourself doing each task once. A screen recording with you talking through it is faster than writing and catches the small steps you forget.
- Write the rules for when to ask. For example: refunds over a set amount, an angry customer, or anything about pricing goes to a founder.
- Set up access. A work email, and logins for your help desk, CRM and any other tools, with only the access the work needs.
- Choose one channel for questions. A shared Slack channel works well, so answers are saved for next time.
A one week onboarding plan
- Day 1: watch and map. Your specialist watches the recordings, works through the tools and writes down the steps as they understand them.
- Day 2: shadow. They do the work alongside you, with you checking every reply or record before it goes out.
- Days 3 and 4: supervised. They work the queue on their own and you review a sample at the end of each day, correcting the written steps as you go.
- Day 5: own it. They run the work on their own and escalate by the rules you set. You move to a short daily check in.
By the end of the week you should have a written playbook for each task, which makes adding a second person much easier.
What to measure
Pick two or three numbers you already track: first response time on tickets, demos booked each week, or days from signup to a customer going live. Check them weekly for the first month. The point is to see whether the work is getting done well without you.
Who handles the rest
Hiring, payroll, time off and performance issues take founder time too. With employmagic, you direct the work and set priorities, and we handle the rest, including attendance, PTO, onboarding and replacements. Every specialist arrives trained in everyday AI tools and has at least two years of experience in their field.