How do you start a product management team from scratch if you are the first PM hire expected to build and grow the team?

The hardest part in this scenario is to accurately capture the moment when you tap out of your own capacity and need to bring on someone else. One potential framework for this: keep a list of things (as in, capabilities to explore/build) you would want to start today if you had bandwidth; the moment this list has five items on it is the time to hire another PM. Make sure you're honest with yourself and only list things that you 100% believe in and that are truly major, not small improvements. Then, repeat this process for every net new five items on the list until you hire 3 PMs under you.

When you are looking for those early PMs, take note of their ability to scale as team leads during the interview process. Do not hire someone brilliant if you think they would not scale to lead a team within 12 months. This generally implies you want to opt for somewhat senior PMs; however, keep your eyes open for folks that are hungry and capable and can hyper-scale quickly.

It's better to have a small team of highly skilled and motivated PMs who align with company values and help meet company goals. Especially in an early-stage company, where ambiguity is high and agility across customer targeting, sales processes, product development, support, and more is key, ensure that your hires are comfortable with ambiguity yet capable of executing and making decisions based on available information.

Plan your hiring needs based on projected company growth. Think holistically about product development when hiring, considering roles like product manager, product designer, data scientist, product analyst, and user researcher. Create a hiring plan that aligns with your roadmap and identifies the necessary roles.

Create a lightweight onboarding process. Hiring requires significant effort, not just during recruitment, but also in onboarding new team members to ramp them up quickly. As the first PM, you set the example. Cultivate a user-centric, high-velocity mindset within your team as it grows.