What to do with your team and organization in the first 90 days after closing a funding round

You've just closed the round. There's a half-finished glass of cava in the office, the team is euphoric, and you're already thinking about what's next: hiring fast, executing the plan you presented to investors, and showing traction within the expected timeframe.

Where and how to start. Here are 3 examples of things worth keeping in mind from day one.

1. Hiring in the right order

The first thing, and the one that adds the most value in the medium term, is translating the business plan into a concrete org chart: deciding which positions to fill first and which can wait. Not all positions are equally urgent; there's an order that depends on what generates revenue first, what blocks other people if left uncovered, and what can reasonably wait another 2 months.

Getting this right from the start brings three very concrete benefits: good onboarding for every new hire, since they arrive exactly when they're truly needed, with the rest of the team ready to welcome them; strong performance from month one, with no uncovered dependency gaps slowing down whoever just joined; and an organizational structure that grows in a healthy way, instead of an org chart patched together as urgencies arose.

In what order should you hire after closing a funding round? Start by translating the business plan into a concrete org chart and deciding which positions to fill first. The order depends on what generates revenue first, what blocks other people if left uncovered, and what can reasonably wait another two months. Before posting the first job listing, identify the three positions that would block your 12 month goal if unfilled within 60 days.

Before posting the first job listing, it's worth answering this:

• What needs to happen in the next 12 months to justify this round to investors?
• Which 3 positions, if not filled in the next 60 days, would directly block that goal?

2. The salary structure

Defining a compensation structure for the company before you start hiring is what allows you to grow with judgment, instead of negotiating each new hire from scratch. Without that structure, it's easy for two people at the same level to end up with different conditions simply because they joined at different times, and this ends up affecting workplace climate and company culture, beyond the numbers themselves.

The questions that help you get ahead of it:

• What salary and level structure will we use, so we don't negotiate it from scratch every time?
• What individual benefits will be considered?

Should you set a salary structure before you start hiring after a round? Yes. Defining a compensation structure with clear levels before you start hiring lets you grow with judgment, instead of negotiating each new hire from scratch. Without it, two people at the same level can end up with different conditions simply because they joined at different times, which affects workplace climate and company culture beyond the numbers themselves.

3. Internal communication

The team that was already there before the round needs to understand what changes for them. When this is handled well, the round is experienced for what it is: shared good news. When it isn't, it generates silent questions like "are they going to bring in people above me?" or "does my role change?", questions it's far better to answer before they even come up.

The key question here:

• How and when do we communicate it to the current team, before they find out, for example, about open positions through a LinkedIn post?

How should you tell your current team about a funding round? Tell them before they find out another way, for example by seeing open positions in a LinkedIn post. The team that was already there needs to understand what changes for them. Handled well, the round is experienced as shared good news; handled badly, it raises silent questions about people being brought in above them or roles changing.

How we do it at DO'IN TALENT

With DO'IN SCALE we do exactly this exercise with the founding and leadership team: we turn the plan that justified the round, the credit line or the grant into a concrete structure, with hiring order, salary bands and an internal communication plan, among several other points also at play, so the business doesn't stall while you stay focused on execution and the next round of investor reporting.

If you've just closed a round, just secured a credit line or a grant, and don't have that map yet, now is a good time to make it, before the first hire. Let us know and we'll organize it with you.

The ninety days after a round concentrate several of the eight people decisions a company makes every year. The full map, with the cost of each model, is in the guide to the eight people decisions.

And when headcount starts growing fast, the next question is who decides what. The split by company size is in the decision map of a growing company.

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