A hiring plan is not a list of roles
Most startup hiring plans are a spreadsheet with role titles, target start dates, and maybe a salary range. That is a wish list, not a plan. A real hiring plan includes timelines, ownership, sourcing strategies, and accountability metrics. Without those, it sits in a Google Sheet and gets updated quarterly when the board asks about headcount.
Start with your business milestones
A hiring plan should flow from your business goals, not the other way around. Start by asking: what does the company need to accomplish in the next 6 to 12 months? Then work backwards to figure out what roles are needed to hit those milestones.
For example, if your goal is to grow revenue from $2M to $5M ARR in the next year, you might need 3 new account executives, a sales manager, and a customer success hire. If you are launching a new product line, you might need 2 engineers, a product manager, and a designer.
This approach forces you to prioritize. Not every role is equally important, and you probably cannot fill them all at once. The roles that directly drive your most critical milestone should be first.
Build in realistic timelines
The most common hiring plan mistake is unrealistic timing. Founders consistently underestimate how long hiring takes, which means they start too late and end up scrambling.
Here are realistic benchmarks for time-to-fill by role type at growth-stage startups:
Individual contributors (engineering, marketing, sales): 30 to 45 days with dedicated recruiting support. 60 to 90 days if the founder is doing it solo.
Senior or specialized roles (VP-level, staff engineer, niche expertise): 45 to 75 days with dedicated support. 90 to 120+ days without.
Executive hires (C-suite, first VP of X): 60 to 120 days even with dedicated support. These take longer because the candidate pool is smaller and the stakes are higher.
Use these benchmarks to work backwards from your target start dates. If you need an engineer to start on June 1, you need to begin sourcing by mid-March, not May.
Assign ownership for every role
Every open role needs a single owner who is responsible for moving it forward. This person manages the pipeline, makes scheduling happen, keeps the process on track, and is accountable for the outcome.
At most startups, this owner is either the hiring manager, the CEO, or a recruiter. What matters is that it is one person, clearly designated, with the time and authority to push things along. When ownership is shared or assumed, roles stall.
Define your sourcing strategy per role
Not every role should be sourced the same way. Your sourcing strategy should match the difficulty and urgency of each hire:
Referral-driven roles. For some positions, your network can produce strong candidates. Engineering roles where your team has deep industry connections, or leadership hires where you know people who know people. Build a structured referral program and actively work it for these roles.
Outbound-heavy roles. For specialized or senior roles, you will likely need proactive outreach. This means dedicated sourcing time (or a recruiter) to identify and engage passive candidates. Plan for this effort and allocate resources accordingly.
Inbound-friendly roles. Some roles, particularly in customer-facing functions or in hot markets, generate good inbound applications through job boards. For these, invest in strong job descriptions and the right posting channels.
Set checkpoints, not just deadlines
A hiring plan with only target start dates gives you no early warning when things are going off track. Build in progress checkpoints:
Week 1: Job description finalized, sourcing strategy active. Week 2: First batch of candidates in pipeline, initial screens happening. Week 3: Hiring manager has interviewed at least 3 qualified candidates. Week 4: Finalists identified, references in progress. Week 5: Offer extended.
If a role is behind at any checkpoint, you have time to adjust: increase sourcing effort, widen the criteria, or escalate urgency. Without checkpoints, you do not realize a role is in trouble until it has been open for three months.
Budget for the plan, not just the hires
Your hiring plan should include a recruiting budget that covers not just the salaries of the people you are hiring, but the cost of actually finding and bringing them on. This includes recruiter costs (internal or external), tools and subscriptions, job board spend, and the opportunity cost of time spent by the hiring team.
A plan without a budget is a plan without resources. And a plan without resources does not get executed.
Review and adjust monthly
Hiring plans are living documents. Priorities shift. Roles get added or deprioritized. The market changes. Budget constraints evolve. Review your hiring plan monthly and adjust based on what is actually happening, not what you projected three months ago.
This does not mean changing the plan every week. It means having a regular cadence where you ask: Are we on track? What has changed? Where do we need to shift resources?
Common pitfalls
Planning to hire everyone at once. If you have 10 roles to fill, stagger them. Opening all 10 simultaneously guarantees that none of them get adequate attention. Prioritize ruthlessly and sequence accordingly.
Underestimating ramp time. A new hire is not fully productive on day one. Build in 30 to 90 days of ramp time when planning your milestones. The engineer you need productive in Q3 needs to start in Q2 at the latest.
No contingency plan. What happens if your top candidate declines? What happens if a key hire leaves in their first month? Having a backup plan (strong second-choice candidates, continued sourcing until the hire is confirmed) protects you from worst-case scenarios.
Execution is everything
The best hiring plan in the world is worthless if nobody follows it. The difference between companies that hire well and companies that struggle is not the quality of the plan. It is the discipline of execution. Own the plan, resource it properly, check on it regularly, and hold people accountable for their roles in making it happen.