{"id":5517,"date":"2024-01-25T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/?p=5517"},"modified":"2026-03-10T21:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:05:27","slug":"growing-boostrapped-startup-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/growing-boostrapped-startup-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Canny’s guide to growing your team at your bootstrapped startup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the world of SaaS, especially bootstrapped SaaS, revenue growth is the name of the game. But how can you grow almost as fast as VC-backed companies? The answer lies in strategic hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve learned a lot about startup hiring since starting Canny. We launched Canny in 2017, and after reaching ramen profitability, began hiring in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We discovered that organic growth and deliberate hiring decisions are crucial. Unlike heavily funded companies, bootstrapped companies like Canny don’t feel the same pressures to hire rapidly. We grow our team as our revenue grows. We always keep profitability top of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

How we began hiring<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our first hire at Canny was a big step for us. Sarah and I were managing everything ourselves, but we were also quickly getting stretched thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“We were starting to feel overwhelmed. From building our product to doing marketing<\/a>, we split founder time into many areas. Since we were profitable, we started to ask ourselves \u2013 how can we best spend our money to grow faster?”<\/em><\/p>\nSarah Hum, co-founder at Canny<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At some point, we became so busy that we realized we needed help. Our main duties were demos, customer support, content marketing, and product development. This is a lot for two people. The day-to-day operations were keeping us from focusing on the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Work<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On top of that, we didn\u2019t have any experience with sales, support, or marketing. We wanted to bring in experienced people who focus on one thing full-time and do it even better than we could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked ourselves: “What’s the one role that would make the biggest impact right now?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We landed on content marketing. Many advisors have stressed the long-term importance of content marketing and SEO for SaaS companies. That it takes 6-12 months to really start working. This determined our first hire<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons from the first few hires<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every new team member changed Canny a bit. We learned to look beyond skills. Fitting in with our company culture mattered a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When culture-add team members join, they fit right in. They also hit the ground running right away. This is an awesome feeling for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, things won’t work out \u2013 it can be difficult to technically vet for a role that you\u2019ve never done yourself professionally. We learned that take-home assessments are very important. It gives us an idea of the work a candidate will produce and how well they take feedback. For example, today we ask all content marketing candidates to complete a blog post outline and draft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went through lots of challenges, and we view them as lessons. The first time we had to let someone go was extremely difficult but necessary. Going forward, we tried to polish our processes and learn from our mistakes. We are still learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key lesson<\/strong>: don’t rush hiring. Take time to find people who you are confident are great at their job. This may involve a longer hiring process and asking others for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tools and processes we used<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We started simple. Online job boards and our network were our go-to. In particular, Hacker News: Who is hiring?<\/a> and RemoteOK<\/a> forums came in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we grew, we adopted tools like Recruitee<\/a>. It helped us reach more candidates and streamline the hiring process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, our process was basic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n