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Before scaling an EdTech startup, founders need to confirm one of two things:
1. You have funding available to support the hires in your plan; or
2. You are bootstrapping, and your product is already generating revenue or is very close to doing so.
If you’re still pre-revenue or validating market fit, focus on revenue generation before expanding the team. Hiring too early adds overhead and risk before you’ve proven demand.
In that case, it’s smarter to scale back the hiring plan, rely on contractors or fractional talent, and prioritise roles that directly unlock revenue (sales, customer success, or GTM execution).
A 6 to 12-month hiring plan for a early stage EdTech company, built with scale, structure, and adaptability in mind. This is designed to align your hiring with business growth, product roadmap, and customer acquisition targets. We are keeping it lean, but it can expand or compress depending on funding, product maturity, and sales pipeline.
Define Business Objectives
This frames why you’re hiring, not just who. Ask:
What must we accomplish in the next 6–12 months?
What does success look like in terms of traction, revenue, and product maturity?
Which of these need people to make them happen?
Example goals:
Convert 20+ pilot schools into paying customers
Build out a V1 product that scales securely
Lay GTM foundation (CRM, sales playbook, customer onboarding)
Prep for Series A conversations
Map Core Capabilities Needed
Identify what skills and roles are required to achieve your goals.
Break it into 3 core areas:
Product & Tech: Devs, support, infrastructure
GTM: Sales, marketing, customer success
Ops & Growth: Finance, HR, admin
Top gaps for you right now:
Inbound lead handling → Sales or RevOps support
Customer onboarding & feedback loop → Customer Success or Account Manager
No GTM strategy → GTM Consultant or Commercial Lead (contractor or fractional)
Developer burnout risk → Junior or contract developer
🔧 Assumptions
Seed to Series A stage
Core focus: building K12 assessment tool, SaaS or hardware + software
Early team in place (2- 10 employees)
Goals: product development, early traction, market fit, revenue lift, and support scale-up
🟩 Months 0–3: Foundation + Core Product Build
Focus: Build or strengthen the product and tech team, start GTM groundwork.
Key Hires:
1 Senior Network Engineer (if not already in place)
1 Backend Engineer (Python/Go/Rust depending on stack) (if not already in place)
1 DevOps / Site Reliability Engineer
1 Head of Product or Technical Product Manager
1 BDR (early sales hire focused on outbound and feedback loops)
Actions:
Finalise org structure and reporting lines
Define hiring budget and compensation bands
Set up standardise interview process
Build out your EVP (Employer Value Proposition)
🟨 Months 4–6: Go-to-Market & Customer Success
Focus: Start acquiring customers and supporting them well. Continue building product features and ensuring uptime/security.
Key Hires:
1 Customer Success Manager (technical background preferred)
1 Account Executive (ideally with B2B/enterprise NetTech sales experience)
1 Marketing Manager (demand gen + product marketing hybrid)
1 QA Engineer or Test Automation Specialist
Optional: 1 UX/UI Designer (if product needs polish or user workflows are key)
Actions:
Start building performance management structure
Define success metrics per function
Align sales/marketing on ICP and messaging
🟧 Months 7–9: Acceleration + Scaling Ops
Focus: Scale GTM, tighten ops, prepare for Series A or geographic expansion.
Key Hires:
1 Sales Engineer / Solutions Architect
1 Finance & Operations Manager
1 SDR (to support AEs with pipeline)
1 Mid-Level Frontend Engineer
1 Recruiter or People Ops Specialist (to manage growing team)
Actions:
Strengthen onboarding and training
Start succession planning for key roles
Build out DEI and retention initiatives
🟥 Months 10–12: Growth Infrastructure
Focus: Build infrastructure to support scale. Increase specialization. Prep for next funding round.
Key Hires:
1 VP/Director of Engineering (if founding team needs support managing a growing tech org)
1 Data Analyst (for usage data, GTM performance, ops insights)
1 IT Support / Systems Admin (if headcount exceeds 30–40)
1 Legal or Compliance Advisor (freelance/part-time if needed for enterprise deals or data regs)
Optional: Regional Lead (if going international)
Actions:
Conduct team health and org design audit
Lock in leadership coaching or upskilling programmes
Build internal talent pipeline and succession plan
🧠 Strategic Considerations
Hire a lean core team with multi-skilled people in early months
Always pipeline ahead of time: most great hires take 2–4 months from outreach to offer
Outsource non-core roles early if needed (e.g. QA, compliance)
Culture and mission should be embedded by month 0
Build in DEI goals early instead of bolting them on later
