Hiring and Scaling: Building the Right Team at Every Stage

Your first five hires will shape everything that comes after.

Get them wrong and you’re firefighting for months. Get them right and you’ve got a team that can figure things out when you’re not in the room.

In this episode of LaunchVic’s BOLD roundtable series, four of Victoria’s most experienced startup people leaders share what they’ve learned from hundreds of hires, a few hard lessons, and the moments that made them rethink how they build teams. Whether you’re making your first hire or bringing in your first exec, this conversation will change how you think about the people side of building a company.

From first hires to AI, exec transitions, and the advantage of building your team in Victoria: practical insights for founders and future leaders.

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Stories from teams who scale.

What you will learn:

  • Hire for attitude, not just skills. Early-stage chaos demands a “we’ll figure it out” mindset. You can’t reliably assess for chaos tolerance until people are in the fire.
  • Define success early and measure it. Use the probation period honestly. Have the hard conversation in month one, not month seven.
  • Don’t hire sales too soon. Selling a product that isn’t ready burns revenue projections and the team. Align go-to-market with what engineering can deliver.
  • Trust but verify. Codify rituals (all-hands, stand-ups, weekly reports) so founders can let go without losing accountability.
  • ELT is your first team. Execs must represent the company and speak as one once they leave the room. “Disagree and commit” keeps teams from fragmenting.

Hiring at Each Growth Stage

What are you actually looking for in your first five hires? Why chaos tolerance is something you can’t assess until people are in the fire, and the hire that gets founders into the most trouble. →

Managing High Performance

How to keep teams productive without micromanaging. Why rituals – all-hands, stand-ups, weekly reports – aren’t bureaucracy but the way founders learn to let go. Trust but verify: give people ownership, then verify through regular check-ins. →

The Founder to Exec Transition

When to bring in experienced leadership – and when to look within first. Skills built vs skills bought: why you need both, and why some hires should be deliberately short-term for the phase you’re in. The danger of title inflation and loyalty that holds you back. →

Building Strong Leadership Teams

Your exec team is your first team – they represent the company, not their function. How to make “disagree and commit” work: argue behind closed doors, speak as one outside the room. Why founders who can’t pivot when the data says otherwise will fail. →

AI and the Future of Work

Swing big or phase it in? The debate on AI adoption – and why the innovation curve is straight up. Hiring for AI openness, taking reversible risks, and the human skills that still matter: critical reasoning, creativity, empathy. →

The Victoria Advantage

Victoria’s smaller ecosystem is an advantage: everyone knows each other, word of mouth delivers great talent, and support systems make it easy to find your way in even if you’re new. →

Meet the people leaders

Michael Delaney – Head of People & Culture at JET Charge. Ex-Preezie. Blends people-first leadership with AI-driven strategy to build teams that scale. Former professional ballet dancer with 20+ years in talent and culture at Salesforce, DocuSign, and high-growth startups. Co-hosts the Talent Savvy podcast and leads diversity initiatives with Jobs for Humanity.

Sarah Sherriff – People Experience Manager at Factor House. The Melbourne-based engineering-led software house behind Kpow and Flex. Builds people and culture in “by engineers, for engineers” environments. 13+ years in talent acquisition and people operations across high-growth scale-ups. Joined Factor House after their $5M Seed round to support scaling from 15 to 30+.

Pavi Iyer – Head of People & Talent at Fortiro. Purpose-driven people leader with a background in medicinal chemistry and experience across global organisations, startups, and co-founding a coffee business. Champions workplace cultures that enable individual and organisational growth, and advocates for empathy, mentorship, and supportive networks in the Victorian talent community.

Anthony Meek – Chief People Officer at Edrolo. Australia’s leading edtech. Reformed teacher and people-and-culture champion with an MBA and background in organisational psychology and therapy. Has led Edrolo through two CEO transitions while scaling the team to 200+ and speaks widely on burnout, trust, and building teams you can rely on.

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About the Series

BOLD is produced by LaunchVic and filmed at Sanders Place in Cremorne, Melbourne’s startup hub. Our mission is simple: show the real journey of entrepreneurship to inspire and guide the next generation of Victorian founders.

Available now on our YouTube channel.