# Building a hiring plan for your next fundraise

**Author:** The Carta Team  
**Read time:** 10 minutes  
**Published date:** 12 September 2025

This guide explains how to build a strategic hiring plan to prepare for your next fundraise, including how to align headcount with business goals and model the impact on your cap table.

## What is a hiring plan?

A hiring plan is a strategic document that outlines your company’s hiring needs over a specific period. More than a human resources checklist, a hiring plan is a detailed roadmap that translates your business goals into a tangible recruitment plan. It specifies which roles you need to fill, when you need to hire them, and the budget required to bring them on board.

While a hiring plan has traditionally covered the next twelve to eighteen months, recent market shifts mean you’ll likely need a much longer runway, especially when you consider the increasing number of active unicorns that require multi-year staffing roadmaps.

This plan is also a core part of your fundraising narrative and a key component of your pitch deck. It shows investors that you have a clear plan for how you’ll deploy their capital to build the team that will execute your vision and hit critical milestones.

## Why you need an investor-ready hiring plan

In today’s tough funding environment, investors view your hiring plan as a powerful signal of operational maturity. Successful fundraising teams tend to be smaller, showing that you’ve graduated from reactive, chaotic hiring to strategically planning for scale.

**Key Reasons for a Detailed Plan:**
- **Builds investor confidence:** A detailed plan demonstrates foresight and operational discipline, building trust and credibility with investors.
- **Justifies your valuation:** Your plan connects the money you’re raising and the team you’ll build to hit the milestones that support your valuation.
- **Manages your equity strategically:** A hiring plan helps you think critically about your employee option pool and dilution, crucial for attracting top talent.

## How to build your hiring plan

You should build a strong hiring plan on the foundation of your business goals and financial model. Here’s how:

### Step 1: Align headcount with your business goals

Map your key milestones (like a product launch or revenue target) to the specific roles required. Perform a skills gap analysis to determine your future hires, ensuring each role is justifiable.

### Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities

Create clear, outcome-oriented job descriptions for each planned hire that focus on expected achievements in the first six to twelve months. This clarity helps attract the right talent and impress investors.

### Step 3: Create a hiring budget and timeline

Forecast total costs for each hire, including base salary, bonuses, benefits, and payroll taxes. Accuracy is key to maintaining financial projections.

### Step 4: Model the impact on your cap table

Your hiring plan drives your employee option pool; manage dilution proactively to prevent surprises.

### Step 5: Assemble your hiring team

Define responsibilities in the hiring process, ensuring all stakeholders agree on the hiring plan, budget, and strategic importance of each role.

## Bring your hiring plan to life: From spreadsheet to strategy

Streamline the hiring process by using tools like Carta to manage hiring plans and connect to real-time compensation data.

## How to use your hiring plan

Your hiring plan should guide recruitment efforts, track progress against goals, and be presented to investors during due diligence as a clear, clean appendix to your financial model.

## Frequently asked questions about hiring plans

### How does my hiring plan affect my cap table and dilution?

Your hiring plan determines the size of your employee option pool and helps manage dilution.

### How far out should my hiring plan forecast for a seed vs. a Series A round?

A seed-stage plan should typically forecast for the next twelve to eighteen months, while a Series A plan may provide a more detailed view for the first year.

### What's the best way to communicate my hiring plan to potential investors?

Present it as a simple, comprehensive summary that aligns with your financial model for clarity.

### Should my employee option pool be part of my hiring plan?

Yes, your hiring plan dictates the necessary size of your option pool to attract the right talent.