HIRING PLAYBOOK · ASIA PACIFIC

Building Your Founding Technical Team.

Building Your Founding Technical Team.

A hiring playbook for CTOs and founders making their first technical hires. Because the first five decisions determine more than the next fifty.

By James Bergl · 15-minute read · CTOs and founders

A framework for the first five hires

The decisions that shape your team

Why your first five hires matter more than the next fifty. The mistake almost every founder makes — and the right lens instead.

Screen for what matters

What to actually screen for: ownership, adaptability, culture fit. Red flags that show up before day one.

Build, don’t just fill

The framework: building, not just filling — trajectory, vision, speed. A practical, operator-authored playbook for your first technical hires.

“Building a founding technical team isn’t a hiring problem. It’s a judgment problem, made under time pressure, with incomplete information, where the cost of getting it wrong compounds fast.”

James Bergl · Managing Partner, Bluebird Talent

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