VP-level hires in engineering, sales, or operations. Investors at Series A are backing an organisation, not just individuals.
There's a version of a startup that scales and a version that doesn't, and the difference often comes down to this: can the founders build an organisation around themselves, or do they remain the bottleneck for everything?
At Series A, investors are making a bet on scale. They need to believe that the founders can attract, lead, and retain senior talent — people who are genuinely better than the founders in their specific domain.
You don't need a full C-suite. You need evidence that you've started building one. Typically this means at least one or two senior hires in place beyond the founding team — people with a track record of doing the specific job at a higher level than you currently operate.
The most common senior hires at this stage: a VP of Engineering or Head of Product (to free up a technical founder for strategic work), a VP of Sales or Head of Revenue (to professionalise beyond founder-led sales), and sometimes a CFO or Head of Finance where financial complexity is growing quickly.
One of the hardest things for founders to do is stop doing the jobs they're good at and start leading people who do those jobs. This is the transition from operator to executive, and investors will probe it directly. "How do you spend your time now compared to 12 months ago?" is a common Series A question. If the answer is still "I write code / I close deals / I run customer support," that's a concern.
The best senior hires at this stage usually come from warm introductions — through investors, advisors, or founders in adjacent companies. Connectd is specifically designed to help startups find senior fractional and full-time leaders with the right experience. Executive search firms are an option but expensive — use them only for the most critical hires once you've exhausted warm networks.
Not every leadership role needs to be full-time immediately. A fractional CMO or part-time VP of Sales can build the function, set the strategy, and establish the hiring criteria before a full-time hire makes economic sense. This is often the right move for roles where you need senior experience but can't yet justify the full-time cost.
Senior hires at this stage will expect meaningful equity. Options in the 0.5–2% range are typical for VP-level hires at Series A stage, depending on how early they join and what they're giving up. Get this right — losing a key senior hire six months after onboarding because equity wasn't structured properly is avoidable and painful.
Equity ranges vary significantly by role, stage, and what the hire is giving up to join. Always take independent legal and financial advice when structuring option grants.
What good looks like: "Twelve months ago I was running sales and writing code. Today I lead a team of eight. Our VP of Engineering joined four months ago and owns the technical roadmap. We've just started the search for a VP of Sales. I spend my time on strategy, fundraising, and the two or three decisions only I can make." That's a founder building an organisation.
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Try the funding finder →This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Always do your own research and seek independent professional advice.