Hiring a team before securing funding
It is almost unheard of that an entire team would be in place before securing a first round of funding. In fact, the primary use of a first round of outside capital is often to hire additional team . The network and reputation that your future investors bring to the table can also be tremendously useful when recruiting new hires. Many entrepreneurs find that they are able to recruit more talented team members (and without giving up as much equity) after securing funding from strong investors.
While you don’t need to have your whole team in place, your ability to secure funding will depend in large part on the capabilities of the current team and the confidence of potential investors in your ability to build out the remainder of the team. Venture capitalists are well-known for investing in teams over ideas—after all, it is much easier to pivot the business model than to replace the management team.
