Have you made key hires? Do you have a plan for who you'll hire with the raise? Investors want to know their money is building a team, not just extending runway.
At seed stage, investors are backing your company to grow. And growth requires people. The question they're really asking when they look at your team slide isn't "how many people do you have?" — it's "do these founders know what they need, who they need, and how to attract them?"
At pre-seed, the founding team is the whole story. At seed, investors are evaluating whether you can build an organisation. Can you hire people who are better than you at specific things? Can you lead them? Can you retain them? These are skills that don't come automatically with technical or domain expertise, and investors know it.
The first hire outside the founding team is almost always a signal of clear thinking. If both founders are technical and you hire another engineer, that tells investors one thing. If you hire a sales lead or a customer success person, that tells them something different. The right first hire is the person who unlocks the next stage of growth — not the person who's easiest to find or the most comfortable to work with.
Before your seed round, map out who you'll hire with the money you're raising. Be specific: roles, rough timing, and what each hire enables. You don't need to have interviewed candidates. You do need to show you've thought about the build sequence. "We'll hire a lead engineer in month two to own the technical roadmap, and a part-time sales lead in month four once we've validated the outbound channel" is a plan. "We'll make some hires" is not.
Not every role needs to be full-time from day one. A fractional CFO who spends two days a month on your finances can be more valuable than a full-time junior finance hire. A part-time head of marketing with senior experience is better than a full-time junior marketer for most early-stage companies. Connectd exists specifically to connect startups with fractional and advisory talent who've been there before. At seed stage, buying experience part-time is often smarter than buying time full-time.
Investors increasingly ask about team retention, especially if you've had early hires leave. High early attrition is a red flag — it suggests something is wrong with leadership, culture, or both. If you've had team turnover, have an honest, specific explanation ready.
If you haven't set up an employee option pool yet, now is the time. A typical seed-stage option pool is 10–15% of the fully diluted share count. This is the equity you'll use to attract and retain talent. Not having one set up before hiring key people is a common mistake — options are often what makes the difference between landing a great hire and losing them to a company that can pay more in cash.
The 10–15% option pool range is common at seed but varies by investor and deal structure — always check against current guidance for your specific round.
What good looks like: "We currently have one engineer beyond the founding team. With this raise, we'll hire a senior engineer and a sales lead in the first six months. We've started conversations with both and have a clear view of what we need. We have a 12% option pool set up and three existing team members are already on it." That's a founder building a company, not just a product.
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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.