Team
Hiring, co-founders, equity splits, and early team building.
Team5 min
Seed team headcount benchmarks at raise in 2026
Seed team headcount benchmarks at raise in 2026 are smaller than 2021's. Here's …
Team9 min
Sales compensation plans at seed in 2026
How to comp your first AE at seed when you have no quota history, with concrete …
Team8 min
Hiring a head of sales at seed in 2026: when and who
When founder-led sales is repeatable enough to hand off, who to hire (player-coa…
Team9 min
Hiring your first AI engineer at seed in 2026
Most seed startups hire the wrong AI person. Here's the applied-vs-research call…
Team8 min
Equity for your first 10 hires in 2026: grant ranges
Benchmark equity grants for hires 1-10, why a 10-12% seed option pool beats 15-2…
Team8 min
First marketing hire seed 2026: when (and when not) to do it
The two conditions that justify your first marketing hire at seed, the three fai…
Cornerstone10 min
The 10x engineer 2026 myth: hire judgment, not throughput
Why the 10x engineer 2026 framing fails seed-stage founders, and the ownership s…
Team8 min
Finding a technical co-founder in 2026: where they actually are
The five channels where technical co-founders actually show up, ranked by conver…
Team7 min
Founding team equity split: 50/50, 60/40, or never even?
50/50 splits aren't the red flag investors used to call them. Here's the 2024 da…
Team9 min
The first 10 hires startup order: roles and triggers in 2026
The first 10 hires at a seed startup in order, with equity bands and the exact t…
Team6 min
Firing a co-founder: the legal mechanics and the emotional playbook
The 7-step sequence, what happens to vested and unvested equity, and the 72-hour…
Team6 min
Board composition seed: observer, seat, or neither?
The 2-1, 3-2, and observer-only configurations at seed, plus why the 'independen…
Cornerstone13 min
Founding team first hires: the 2026 playbook
The seat-by-seat hiring order, equity bands, and the three predictable breakages…