Startup Hiring Strategy For 2025

Hire People You Know Will Leave

There’s this line I keep hearing from founders when they’re recruiting:
“We’re looking for someone who’s in it for the long haul.”

It sounds good. Stable. Committed. Loyal. But here’s the problem: in 2025, almost nobody’s really in it for the long haul, especially not your most talented candidates. 

Everyone with a laptop and an internet connection is eyeing their own thing. Side hustles. AI-enabled solo ventures. Coaching businesses. Maybe even a startup of their own. And that’s not a threat. That’s an opportunity if you shift your hiring mindset.

Stop Trying to Hire for Forever

Most founders think hiring entrepreneurial talent is risky. “What if they leave in 18 months?” They might. But I’ve seen what happens when you optimize your hiring strategy around trying to “lock people in.” You end up with:

• People who are just clocking in

• A team that avoids risk because they’re too comfy

• Founders dragging dead weight instead of scaling fast

The best startup employees are the ones who act like owners, even if they don’t plan to stay forever. You want people who build systems like they’ll own the results. Who solve problems like it’s their money on the line. And in my experience, those people usually have their own dreams. That’s not something to avoid. It’s something to hire for. I have a couple people like this on my team and the results speak for themselves.

A Better Way to Hire for Startups

Here’s the pitch I’ve used before. One that actually works when scaling a startup team:

“We’re actively looking for people who want to launch their own company in a year or two. While you’re here, treat this business like it’s yours. Solve problems like a founder. Learn everything you can. Build your playbook—and when the time’s right, go build your own thing. We’ll cheer you on.”

The crazy part? Some of them don’t leave. They realize the rocket ship they wanted to build already exists, and they helped build it.

I once hired a product lead who told me outright in the interview: “I want to start something in two years.” Most founders would’ve passed. I hired them.

They built more in 18 months than the three previous hires combined. Took ownership of user feedback, launched features like a machine, and mentored junior devs without being asked. Yeah, she left eventually. But by the time she did, we had a real product and a repeatable system. I’d hire her again in a heartbeat.

Another time, I made the mistake of ignoring red flags, hired someone who said they were in it for the long haul, but acted like an employee from day one. Nine months in, they ghosted. No documentation, no handoffs, and not a single ownership mindset to be found. Lesson learned: time on paper isn’t as valuable as impact in the trenches.

Build Your Team Like a Launchpad

This is the startup recruitment tip no one talks about: hire people who want to use you. Yep, you read that right. Let them use your company as a training ground, a testing lab, a launchpad. In return, you get someone who’s all-in while they’re in. Someone who moves fast, thinks strategically, and acts like the stakes are real.

Just make sure your systems can survive after they go.

• Document everything.

• Cross-train where it matters.

• Don’t make one person a single point of failure.

If you do that, hiring early-stage employees with ambition stops being a risk, and starts being your superpower.

The Founder Mindset Multiplies

Lots of founders try too hard to clone themselves when what they should be doing is hiring people who want to be them. Because when you fill your team with future founders, you multiply the founder mindset across your company.

Ownership. Urgency. Accountability. Problem-solving. Not everyone’s going to stick around. But while they’re with you, they’ll act like it matters, and that’s more than you’ll get from a “lifelong employee” coasting through meetings. And hey, if your startup turns out to be that rocket ship, they might just decide to stay on board.

Forget hiring for forever. Optimize your startup hiring strategy for impact.
Hire entrepreneurial talent. Build systems that survive. And give ambitious people a reason to give you their best, before they launch their own thing. Shout-out to Chang Kim for the inspiration for this.