How Startup Founders Should Hire in
Their First 100 Days

The first 100 days for any startup are the most decisive. Every hire feels like a bet on the company’s future because when the team is small, the next employee could reshape both culture and execution.

This is the story of a Seattle-based Fintech AI Startup. Its founder required a partner to act as an extension of his team–their own HR division if you will.

No dedicated HR head. No formal policies in place. No big teams. A small founding team of 3 members. So the next hire carried enormous weight.

We already knew that this wasn’t going to be routine. For this one, we would have to go on our full consulting mode—employer branding, policy building, talent management, and most importantly, making sure that their next hire was the absolute right one. No chances.

They required two roles that were to be filled: one Automation Engineer and one Lead AI Engineer. But their interview process involved 6–8 rounds. For a three-person company, this approach was tedious especially considering the pace of a startup’s growth.

This was where Uplers’ role shifted from recruitment to consultation.

• We provided market mapping, helped them understand what Indian AI talent looked like, how they evaluated opportunities, and where expectations needed adjusting.
• We helped them structure their HR policies even using Uplers’ own frameworks at times.

In short, we became less of a vendor and more of an HR partner, working alongside them to design a hiring process that actually fit their stage of growth.

Their first AI engineer joined them in October 2025. He is a team player, someone who could take ownership, and would grow into the role rather than just perform a job because a startup environment is as dynamic as it gets.

A few clear lessons emerge for early-stage founders:

• Streamline your hiring process: Enterprise-style interviews don’t work for startups. Keep evaluation rigorous but concise, and define the cultural traits that are non-negotiable.
• Seek a consultative partner, not just a recruiter: Early hires are way too important to leave to volume-driven agencies. A solid recruitment partner will help you in positioning your brand, help shape policies, and act as an extension of your HR team.
• Figure this out before hiring: Focus on fulfilling roles for which the work absolutely needs to be done right now. Ask - “What would happen if we don’t fill this role immediately?” The answers often bring clarity on whether you need one hire, two, or maybe none at all.
• Hire slowly, but wisely: It’s better to wait for the right person than to compromise. You don’t want to be accumulating cultural debt at this stage of your startup.

Hiring in the first 100 days of a startup isn’t about scaling quickly;it’s about setting the right cultural tone for your business. How you design your processes, the way you position your company, and the partners you trust along the way, all shape how your team and ultimately your company will grow.