Guide 09
Team structure, hiring, tools, and support
Build a structure that scales, hire for commitment, and use the right tools to keep momentum.
Team structure
Start with a two tier team, then move to three tiers when commitment grows.
- Founder (Product Owner): focuses on product and vision.
- Leads (Seniors): run meetings, assign tasks, review results.
- Contributors (Juniors): execute tasks and share daily results.
Motivation and incentives
- Team leads: motivated by the idea and learning to build a startup. Consider equity or partnership after MVP.
- Junior contributors: motivated by experience. Give clear tasks and let leads manage them.
- Scrum Masters: enjoy rituals and momentum tracking.
- Product Owners: translate vision into clear goals and specs.
Hiring tips
- Prioritize candidates with more time over more skills.
- Choose people who respond fast and schedule interviews quickly.
- Avoid candidates with low availability or unclear motivation.
Ideal profiles
Students, recent graduates, visa restricted talent, and candidates seeking local experience often have the most availability and motivation.
Tools to use
Communication
Discord, Slack, Teams
Video calls
Google Meet, Zoom
UI/UX
Figma
Source control
GitHub with kanban boards
Hosting
Firebase free tier
CDN and assets
Cloudflare, Cloudinary
Proof and history
- JobSearch.Works
- QuickSite.space
- TalentHub.show
- HeartFull.online
- SeedStart.world
300+ participants over 3.5 years, 6 active teams, 5 co founders, 10 team
leads.
Support communities
- StageZero.win: senior advisors in business, marketing, and tech.
- BetaBuilders.org: volunteer and intern network across APAC.
- Hiring help, branding support, and meetup events to pitch ideas.
SeedStart platform support
- Organize work across volunteer teams.
- Reward and recognize team members.
- Create structured pitch decks and progress updates.
- Advertise vacancies to the volunteer network.