[sanderjd]

I've worked at all different kinds of companies, and I don't think this is the way it works at well managed startups.

The model I've seen at startups is an approximately two-year cycle of 1. raise money against a couple year plan of milestones, 2. hire quickly on the back of that raise, 3. use that personnel growth to hit those milestones, 4. go back to 1.

Importantly, the large bulk of the hiring happens around those post-raise points, when there is a couple years of runway. And the idea of startups is to be ambitious and forward-looking, not myopically churning on short term features.

I would submit that it's even more important for startups to be focused on investing in the right team during those scale-up periods, because many of those people are going to be the leaders during the next round. You want people who are going to be strong stewards of your business as it grows, not just people who see themselves as "react devs" or whatever.