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How to hire your first team using army squad sizes
Executive overview
Most founders stay stuck in operations because they hire reactively rather than following a proven sequence. The British Army's team sizes — 2, 4, 8, and 30 — map directly onto business growth stages and tell you exactly who to hire next.
Start with an executive assistant to free operational time. Add sales and product delivery next. Hire a general manager last to run day-to-day operations so the founder can focus entirely on brand and growth.
The general manager is the pivotal hire that makes everything else scale.
The two-person scout team (up to ~$300k)
- Key person of influence (KPI): content, speaking, brand, intellectual property
- Executive assistant: diary, email, inbound/outbound logistics, operations
- Classic starting structure; frees the founder to build profile
The four-person fire team ($300k–$800k)
- KPI: face of the business, involved in sales and delivery
- Sales: lead generation, pipeline management, follow-up
- Executive assistant: ongoing operations
- Head of product / customer success: delivery and retention
- Can stretch to seven figures if the KPI has a large brand
The eight-person section ($1M–$5M)
- KPI: brand, positioning, thought leadership only
- General manager: runs the business day-to-day; interfaces between KPI and the team
- Marketing: lead generation
- Sales: pipeline management
- Product delivery: manages suppliers, oversees delivery
- Customer success: retention and satisfaction
- Operations
- Finance
- Delivery person may manage external suppliers not on the core team
Hiring sequence
- Executive assistant — frees operational time, elevates personal brand
- Sales and product delivery — frees time spent winning and delivering business
- General manager — takes over day-to-day running; recruits and promotes the remaining roles
Where to find a great general manager
- Hospitality (restaurant, cafe, pub managers): experienced running chaotic, people-heavy operations
- Military (platoon commanders, section leaders): process-driven, calm under pressure, good with teams
- For businesses under $5M, an MBA or big-tech background is not required
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