🚀 Hiring Sprint: From Funding to First Hires | Delivered by ex-AirBnB, ex-Onfido
​You’ve raised money. Now what?
​If “start hiring” is on your to-do list, but you’re not sure where to start—you’re not alone. Hiring isn’t just about filling seats. It’s about building a team that can take your startup to the next level without slowing you down.
​From Funding to Next Hires is a hands-on sprint designed for founders ready to hire smarter, faster, and with way more confidence.
​By the end, you’ll walk away with a complete, ready-to-use Hiring Playbook.
​THE AGENDA
​09:00 - Arrive
​
🔍 Workshop 1 – Hiring Deep Dive with Decimals
​09:30 – 11:00
​You’ll hear from the co-founders of Decimals, a marketplace startup for early-stage hires:
​Danny (ex-Airbnb | ex-ebay) on building your early GTM team
​The founding engineer of an exited AI-first startup (EF6) on how to hire your first engineers
​The first customer-facing hire at Loom on launching a CS function from scratch
​
🔍 Workshops 2-4 – Sprint Time!
​Delivered by ZeShaan who scaled Onfido ($650M valuation) from 50-250 people worldwide as Director of Talent.
​🛠Module 1: People Strategy & Planning
​11:20 – 12:30
​Get to grips with why hiring goes wrong—and how to fix it.
​Topics Covered:
​People Debt & scaling risks
​Strategic vs reactive hiring
​The Seven Rights
​Founder-led pain point mapping
​🎯 Outcome: Learn how to use hiring as a strategic lever—not a last resort.
​🧱 Module 2: Role Prioritisation & Job Specs
​13:30 – 15:00
​Get crystal clear on who you need—and why.
​Topics Covered:
​“Hire vs Optimise” decision tree
​Mission-critical vs support roles
​Writing job specs using the B.E.S.T. Fit model
​🎯 Outcomes:
​Role prioritisation map
​One scoped job spec (B.E.S.T.-based)
​🤝 Module 3: Interviewing, Selection & Onboarding
​15:15 – 17:15
​Build a hiring system that scales with you.
​Topics Covered:
​Interviewing frameworks
​Bias-free evaluation
​Onboarding that retains
​🎯 Outcome:
​Craft a candidate assessment criteria,
​Nail down your interview process + tailored questions
​Create a 30-60-90 onboarding plan
​🤝 Module 4: Playbook Assembly & Wrap-Up
​17:15 - 18:00
​Compile your Hiring Playbook
​Pair share: your biggest mindset shift?
​Group Q&A
​✅ By 18:00, You’ll Have:
​📊 A Prioritised Hiring Roadmap
đź“ť A High-Impact Job Spec
🧠Fair, Scalable Assessment Criteria + Interview Plan
đź“… A 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Strategy
🔄 A Repeatable, Startup-Proof Hiring Framework