Writing your business plan: team and hiring priorities
Updated: Oct 7
A business plan can describe an attractive opportunity and an ambitious growth target. Someone still needs to do the work.
The team section should explain who is responsible today, which capabilities the business needs next and how you intend to build them.
It is also a useful moment to examine your own role. As the company grows, the work you keep doing may prevent other people from taking responsibility or leave important decisions waiting for your attention.
Here is how to build a team plan that reflects what the business needs.
Start with the work ahead
Before listing job titles, identify the outcomes your plan depends on.
You might need to improve the product, win customers, make delivery more reliable or establish better financial oversight. What work does each outcome involve? What skills and judgement does it require?
Then assess what the current team can realistically handle.
Look at both capability and capacity. Someone may know how to do the work but have no time available. In other cases, more hours will not solve a gap in experience.
This gives you a clearer basis for deciding whether to hire, develop someone internally, bring in outside support or change the plan.
Describe the team you have
Introduce the people responsible for delivering the plan and explain why their experience is relevant.
Focus on what each person contributes. A previous employer’s name or an impressive title tells the reader less than an explanation of the work someone can lead.
Include who owns the important decisions. If responsibilities overlap, make clear how decisions will be made and disagreements resolved.
Be accurate about people who are not yet part of the business. An adviser, a potential recruit and a committed employee have different roles. Do not present someone as ready to join unless that arrangement has actually been agreed.
For investors, this helps explain how the plan could be delivered. For your team, it creates a shared understanding of responsibility.
Look honestly at your own role
Start with yourself.
Where do you contribute most? What currently depends on you? Which responsibilities are you holding because you are best placed to do them, and which have stayed with you through habit?
Your preferences matter, but enjoying something does not automatically make it the best use of your time. Equally, disliking a subject does not remove your responsibility to understand it well enough to make decisions.
A non-technical founder does not need to become a developer. They do need a useful way to discuss product priorities, delivery and technical risks with the people doing the work.
Identify what you need to learn, where you need support and what you intend to hand over as the business develops.
Prioritise the gaps
You may be able to describe an ideal future team, but you probably cannot build it all at once.
Identify the gaps that most affect your next stage. Consider the consequence of leaving each one unresolved.
Will it delay delivery? Limit sales? Put too much responsibility on one person? Leave the business without the expertise needed for an important decision?
For each priority, record:
The outcome the business needs.
The work and decisions involved.
The capability or capacity currently missing.
When the gap needs to be addressed.
The options available and their likely cost.
Challenge whether a new role is the right answer. Sometimes the first step is to clarify responsibilities, simplify a process or stop lower-priority work.
Choose how to access the capability
A permanent employee is one option. Depending on the work, part-time support, a specialist contractor or an external provider may also make sense.
Consider how frequent the need is, how closely the person must work with your team and whether the knowledge needs to remain inside the business.
External support still needs direction. Someone must define the work, make decisions and assess whether it is helping.
Developing an existing team member can also be a good approach, provided they have the interest, support and time to learn. Avoid assigning a more demanding role without changing their workload or giving them the guidance it requires.
Where employment status or contractual arrangements are uncertain, get appropriate advice before committing.
Define a role before recruiting
Be clear about what you want the person to achieve.
A useful role description explains the priorities, the decisions they will own and how they will work with others. It also distinguishes essential experience from things someone could learn.
Avoid creating a wish list that combines several jobs into one. If you need someone to sell, manage customers, design marketing campaigns and build partnerships, consider whether the scope is realistic.
Decide how you will assess candidates against the work. Relevant examples, consistent questions and appropriate references can help you move beyond how confident or likeable someone seems in an interview.
Ask what support the person will need to succeed once they join. Recruitment is only the beginning.
Plan the timing and cost
Work backwards from when the business needs the person to be effective.
Allow for finding candidates, making a decision, any notice period and the time needed to understand the business. Do not assume someone will arrive and immediately deliver at full capacity.
Include more than salary in your budget. Consider recruitment costs, employer costs, equipment, training and the time existing team members will spend helping the person settle in.
For roles that depend on funding or revenue growth, state the condition clearly. Explain what you will do if that milestone takes longer than expected.
Your hiring plan and financial forecast should agree.
Explain why someone would join
Think honestly about what you can offer.
That might include meaningful work, responsibility, flexibility, learning or the chance to help shape the business. Be specific about what those things look like in practice.
Be equally clear about the uncertainties and demands of the role. A candidate needs enough information to decide whether the opportunity fits their circumstances.
If shares or options form part of the offer, get the arrangement properly structured and explain it accurately. Avoid making informal promises about ownership before the details have been considered.
Your aim is to create a shared understanding of the opportunity and expectations from the start.
Make expectations visible
Culture shows up in how people work together and how decisions are handled.
Discuss the behaviours you expect. How do people raise concerns, disagree, ask for help or acknowledge a mistake? What does taking responsibility mean in your business?
Keep those expectations connected to everyday work. “We value openness” means little if people learn that questioning the founder has consequences.
Look for people who can contribute to those behaviours while bringing different experiences and perspectives. Agreement on how to work together does not require everyone to think alike.
As the founder, your own behaviour will influence what others believe is acceptable.
Support people after they join
Include how new team members will learn about customers, priorities and their responsibilities.
Give them access to the information and people they need. Explain where they can decide independently and where discussion is required.
Agree what progress should look like and make time for feedback. If expectations are not being met, explore the reasons early. The issue may involve clarity, support, workload or capability.
Your team plan should account for the management work that comes with growth. Hiring more people also creates a need to coordinate, communicate and develop them.
Bring the team section together
Your finished section should explain:
Who is in the team and what each person owns.
The capabilities required to deliver the plan.
The gaps you intend to address first.
How you will hire, develop or bring in support.
The timing, costs and conditions behind those decisions.
How responsibilities and the founder’s role will evolve.
Keep it realistic. A clear account of the gaps and how you intend to address them is more useful than presenting a perfect team that does not yet exist.
Revisit the plan as the business changes
The people and arrangements that helped you reach this stage may need different support as the business grows.
That does not mean replacing people whenever the work changes. It means discussing what the business needs, what individuals want and what development or additional experience would help.
Some of the hardest decisions involve the founder’s willingness to delegate, change a familiar arrangement or address a difficult conversation.
If you would value space to work through your team priorities and how you want to lead, explore working with me through founder coaching and mentoring.
Cheers,
Duncan
Comments