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.

Contents

• What is a hiring plan?
• Why you need an investor-ready hiring plan
• How to build your hiring plan
• Frequently asked questions about hiring plans

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 is the key output of your strategic workforce planning and the foundation of your entire recruitment strategy. It specifies which roles you need to fill, when you need to hire them, and the budget required to bring them on board, which is information that may be subject to pay transparency laws.

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 that there are over 1,500 active unicorns globally, many of which 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.

As of the second quarter of 2024, the median time between a seed and Series A round grew to 712 days, or nearly two years.

Why you need an investor-ready hiring plan

Moving from the "what" to the "why" is simple: In today’s tough funding environment, investors view your hiring plan as a powerful signal of operational maturity, especially since data shows that leaner teams are more successful at fundraising. For instance, startups that closed seed funding in the first half of 2024 had an average of just 5.3 employees, down from 6.9 in the first half of 2021.

A detailed plan is non-negotiable for your fundraise for a few key reasons:

• Builds investor confidence: A detailed plan demonstrates foresight and operational discipline.
• Justifies your valuation: Your plan connects the dots between 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 forces you to think critically about your employee option pool and dilution.

How to build your hiring plan

You should build a strong hiring plan, and the compensation plan that supports it, on the foundation of your business goals and financial model. It’s a logical exercise in turning your hiring strategy into a list of necessary roles. We'll walk you through how to create a plan that will stand up to investor scrutiny and serve as a practical guide for your company's growth.

Step 1: Align headcount with your business goals

Start with your pitch deck and your financial model, grounding your plan in core business dynamics and data. Your business goals are the "why" behind every hire. Map your key milestones for the next eighteen months to the specific roles required to achieve them.

Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities

For each planned hire, create a clear, outcome-oriented job description. Instead of just listing tasks, focus on what you expect the person in that role to achieve in their first six to twelve months.

Step 3: Create a hiring budget and timeline

You need to forecast the total cost for each new hire. This total employee compensation figure feeds directly into your company's burn rate and financial projections, so accuracy is key.

Step 4: Model the impact on your cap table

As a founder, you should be thinking about dilution constantly, as it directly impacts the value of your private company equity. Your hiring plan is the primary driver of your employee option pool.

Step 5: Assemble your hiring team

Hiring isn’t a solo sport, even in an early-stage startup. You need to define who is responsible for what in the hiring process. This team usually includes the founder, who must set the vision and close all the key hires.

Frequently asked questions about hiring plans

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

Your hiring plan directly determines the size of your employee option pool. Expanding the pool to issue new equity dilutes the ownership percentage of all existing shareholders.

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.

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

Present it as a simple, one-page summary that lists key roles, the quarter they will be hired, their department, and the business goal they support.

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

Yes, absolutely. Your hiring plan is what determines the necessary size of your option pool.