I was just asked this question by a budding entrepreneur and thought it might make sense to more cohesively collect my thoughts. Unfortunately it’s a vague question, almost a poorly stated one, because I could be super cynical and respond “it depends on what you’re building” (I wasn’t told) and “any dev you can get your hands on if you’re in the Bay Area!”

Jerk responses aside, here is how I framed the problem: 1) you need to figure out what type of product you’re building and 2) you and the dev need to understand how he/she progresses through the org when it hopefully starts to scale. The below are not hard and fast rules – it’s a general guide to try to frame the selection process. Continue reading →