A founder reached out last week asking how to find their first developer hire. They’d been trying for three months with no luck. After reviewing their approach, I understood why.

Here’s what non-technical founders need to know about this hire.

The Reality Check

Your first developer hire is one of the hardest positions to fill. You’re asking someone to:

• Build things with minimal guidance (because you can’t provide technical direction)
• Make technology decisions that will affect your company for years
• Often be the only technical person in a room of business people
• Work for a startup with uncertain future

Good developers have options. They can work at established companies with senior mentorship, clear career paths, and competitive salaries. Why would they choose your early-stage startup instead?

You need a compelling answer to that question.

What You’re Competing Against

A mid-level developer in Sydney or Melbourne can expect $120,000-150,000 at an established company, plus benefits, plus stock in a company with demonstrated value, plus colleagues who understand their work.

If you’re offering $90,000 because “we’re a startup,” you’ve already filtered out most of your talent pool. Early-stage equity is often worthless. Candidates know this.

Competing on salary alone is hard for startups. But you can compete on other dimensions: meaningful work, autonomy, potential upside, interesting technical challenges. These need to be real, not just pitch deck promises.

The Common Mistakes

Hiring for senior when you need mid-level. Your first developer doesn’t need to be a principal engineer. They need to be competent enough to build v1 while you find product-market fit. Over-hiring for title is expensive and often leads to mismatched expectations.

Vague job descriptions. “Looking for a full-stack developer to help us build our platform” tells candidates nothing. What technologies? What’s already built? What’s the team structure? Vagueness suggests you don’t know what you need.

Testing for the wrong things. Those coding challenges designed for FAANG interviews? Probably overkill for an early-stage startup. You want someone who can ship working software, not someone who can optimise algorithms on a whiteboard.

Moving too slowly. Good candidates have other offers. If your process takes six weeks, they’ll accept something else. Move fast, be decisive.

What Actually Works

Be specific about the tech stack. Even if you don’t know the details, get advice and decide. “We’re building a Python/Django backend with React frontend” is better than “modern tech stack.”

Sell the problem, not the perks. Developers who thrive at early-stage startups are often motivated by interesting problems. If your company is solving something genuinely difficult or important, lead with that.

Offer equity, but be honest about it. Early-stage equity is a lottery ticket. Position it that way. Don’t pretend it’s guaranteed wealth.

Use your network aggressively. The best startup hires often come through referrals. Ask everyone you know who knows developers. Ask them to ask their networks. Cold hiring is hard; warm introductions are easier.

Consider contractors first. Sometimes the best path to your first full-time developer is working with a contractor first. You learn if they’re good, they learn if they like working with you. Lower risk for both sides.

If the technical build is complex enough, some founders work with AI consultants Sydney or development agencies to get an initial version built while searching for full-time hires. Not cheap, but it keeps momentum going.

The Interview Process

For a first developer hire, I’d suggest:

1. Initial screen (30 minutes): Culture fit, motivation, sanity check on experience
2. Technical conversation (60 minutes): Not a coding test—a discussion about how they’ve solved problems before, what decisions they’ve made and why
3. Paid trial project (4-8 hours): A real but small piece of work related to what they’d actually do. Pay them fairly for this time.
4. Reference checks: Actually call their references. Ask specific questions about working style and reliability.

Skip the leetcode nonsense. It doesn’t predict startup success.

Setting Expectations

Your first developer hire will make mistakes. They’ll build things that need to be rebuilt later. That’s normal. What matters is whether they can learn, adapt, and ship working software.

Don’t expect perfection. Expect progress.