[ojnabieoot]

It depends on the business and the top-level organization you are thinking of, but it is worth looking for someone with experience in accounting / legal, instead of leaving considerations like that for when the company is larger. Someone with experience as HR director / senior legal counsel / startup CFO / etc; i.e., demonstrated ability to take responsibility for keeping the company out of legal and ethical trouble.

I have worked at two small startups that started out by outsourcing all HR/legal/accounting stuff to staffing agencies or independent contractors, and it resulted in missing paychecks, minor lawsuits, severely botched contracts, and can lead to serious problems with company ethics and employee retention.