When to hire your first employee

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18 pointsdralison2 comments

FTA: As an entrepreneur you get to experience lots of major milestones, some more important than others. Coming up with the idea, finding the right partner, incorporating the business, launching the web site, getting that first paying customer or client.

I guess I'm going about this in the wrong order-- first I found my first paying customer or client, then I incorporate, then I hired employees, then I launched the website, then I came up with the idea, now I'm considering a partner. Go figure. Anyone else take a similar approach?

My contracting business was legally formed once I already had a client on the cards.

On the other hand, for a start-up, I'd go more for the order in the article, with the huge caveat that any idea I considered ready to build into a business was probably already supported by at least a significant amount of asking around and collecting opinions, even if no-one had yet committed to becoming a paying customer.

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