Month: April 2025

When someone says “building a start-up company,” what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Recruitment. Well, either that or the money you need to fund the company in the first place. You do need money to build a start-up, but then again, there won’t be any company if you have nobody working in it.

Don’t wing It

When it comes to hiring freelance engineers for your firm, you can’t help but plan for the entire series of steps, from accepting applications and the screening process to interviews and the actual onboarding. Since the discussion is about start-ups here, we’re not exactly talking about a massive team of dozens of people but a small one with less than ten people. Just because it’s a small team, however, it doesn’t mean you can wing it and just hire the first applicants to get to your door.

No matter how small your first team might be (perhaps it consists of just 3 – 4 people), always take the time to flesh out the recruitment strategy. Define the job qualifications in detail, outline the interview questions and topics in advance, and prepare the engineering test if needed. “Winging it” is unfortunately all too common, although we do know very well that it’s just as shortsighted as it is destructive.

The people working in your company are the most important assets of the business, and even more so in the context of a start-up. Your first team is responsible for getting things going during the early and likely the hardest months, if not years, of the company. This is the team that will either enable growth if you’ve done the recruitment right or set the business up for failure if you do it wrong.

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Outline the career ladder

Here’s a likely scenario: you’ve already set everything up to the point where your start-up is now ready to hire a small engineering team. Your company does business in the architectural industry, manufacturing sector, information technology market, or basically anything else that has something to do with engineering services. Chances are you’re eager to launch your first product or work on your first official project if you sell services. As you’re looking to hire some engineers or avail freelance 3D design services for your company, it’s likely that you’re fixated with the desire to hit the ground running.

As a result, the early stage of recruiting may revolve around the idea of making the first sales as quickly as possible. While it’s definitely admirable, you may want to revisit the priority scale. Launching your first product and establishing a brand are all important, but they can only happen when the start-up already has a team working on those tasks. Because the company is still hiring and the focus is primarily on getting some professional engineers on board, first, you need to think about something we refer to as the “career ladder.”

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In simple words, a career ladder is an outline to showcase the pathways for employee advancement in a company or organization. Why does it matter, you may ask? Some people think of a career ladder as nothing more than a relic of the managerial past that only comes up when a company gets bigger and hires more people. Be that as it may, you can use it as an effective recruitment tool. If I were an engineer applying for a position in your start-up business, I would very much expect you to show me the kind of growth prospects the company has in store.

When you’re hiring to improve your engineering team for your firm, don’t think that you’re the only person in the position to evaluate others; all those applicants are also evaluating you, your company, and how good of a career progression you offer. This is why it actually works to your benefit to put some thoughts into the career ladder, as it demonstrates a mindset where you think about the employee’s future.

Take a look at the example below:

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Note: this is just an oversimplified example. On an actual career ladder, every step in advancement usually comes with the skills and years of experience required to reach the next level. The example is, well, simple because it probably suits a start-up best. Big companies have elaborate career ladders filled with many more levels for each track and detailed requirements to achieve promotion. The best advice I can give to a start-up is that you should start small. A comprehensive career ladder is beautiful to look at, but it might appear unrealistic for a start-up. And an unrealistic expectation may drive talented engineers away.

If you have to define the requirements for advancement, make sure to include not only a checklist of milestones (like experience and number of completed projects) but also other areas such as demonstrated behaviors, peer feedback, innovations, involvement in big projects, and so on. You’re allowed to list anything as long as there’s an unambiguous definition to explain each requirement. Once again, you’re not yet a big company, so avoid having too many levels in each track, like Project Manager Level 1 – 4.

Generally, these levels represent differences in salary bands but not much of a difference in terms of skill level. Level 2 and Level 3 Project Managers don’t have a recognizable gap in terms of expertise and critical thinking abilities. But you can notice that Level 3 Project Managers have higher salaries and certain benefits entitled to them. Having plenty of levels in each track can be avoided by pushing the idea that promotions must be based on level of expertise, continuous skill developments, and achievements rather than seniority and pursuit of bigger compensation.

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Aim for the right team composition

Every company, big and small, wants to have a high-performing team. And the key to a high-performing team is “collective intelligence.” I know it sounds pretty technical, but it’s quite simple, really. Collective intelligence refers to an engineering design team’s general ability to complete a broad range of tasks, from project planning and execution to client communication and creative endeavors. To achieve collective intelligence, you need the right team composition. Obviously, a well-composed team is made up of individuals who complement each other’s skills, knowledge, and characteristics.

An ideal team for an architectural firm should have an architect, a mechanical engineer, a civil engineer, a structural engineer, and an electrical engineer. Also, a drafter and a render artist are useful at a later stage of the project. On the other hand, a product design team must include several types of engineers, such as electrical, electronics, and mechanical engineers. Designers and a 3D CAD specialist are also needed for a product design team. The collective intelligence brought by these specialists makes the project successful as the team is able to understand, give constructive feedback, and attend to each other’s tasks.

The rule of thumb is that you should keep the team small and cross-functional. It’s a general guideline used by everyone from start-ups to enterprise-level companies. But just how small a team can be?

At the bare minimum, an engineering team for your firm should be no smaller than three people who report to a single manager. You might run a start-up firm, but still, it’s no excuse to have a one-person team. No matter how experienced, intelligent, and talented that person is, a one-person team has neither the internal dynamic nor the constructive criticisms it needs to thrive. A team of two isn’t much better either because the members still tend to work in isolation or with minimum communication. With three people plus a manager, you gain the benefit of a structured workflow, active interactions, and effective brainstorming every single time.

Is there also a maximum size for an engineering team? For a start-up company, of course, there is. Based on my personal experience, having seven to eight people is ideal, and 10 is pushing it. The model that seems to work best in most situations is to include four engineers of different educational backgrounds and two or three senior engineers who specialize in the project; all of them report to a project manager. Collective intelligence? Check. Diverse expertise? Check. Mentoring process? Also, check. Anything beyond that makes it difficult to maintain a good dynamic and sense of cohesiveness, which, in turn, hurts productivity.

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Where are the Engineers to begin with?

You have two places to start: personal networks like Cadcrowd and marketplaces. Remember that you can always search in both places. Hiring through personal networks is the ideal practice because you already know what those engineers are capable of. You’re also familiar with their work style, preferences, and probably some personal traits as well. This helps you prevent hiring the wrong engineers and having unnecessary turnover. What if you can’t be entirely sure that every engineer you know will form a good team?

Well, I would suggest picking your most trustworthy engineer and then asking the person for recommendations. Offer a referral bonus if you can afford it. As for marketplaces, you will have to rely on the engineers’ profiles and portfolios on the website. The good thing is that some marketplaces require you to tell them exactly what you need, and then they’ll help you find an ideal match. And the process doesn’t usually take long. Within a few days (or quicker, in fact), they’ll come back and give you a list of compatible candidates, all with the right qualifications and expected salary range for the positions you want to fill.

Cad Crowd bridges startups and Engineering talents

Marketplaces are great if you want to hire quickly without spending too much time and money on the recruitment process. But just like all else, not every marketplace is created equal. Do you want to work with the best engineering professionals in the country? Cad Crowd can connect you with the best of the best professionals that you need, as it is carefully verified by our in-house recruitment team. Feel free to contact Cad Crowd anytime, and we’ll schedule a discussion about how we might be of help to you.

MacKenzie Brown is the founder and CEO of Cad Crowd. With over 18 years of experience in launching and scaling platforms specializing in CAD services, product design, manufacturing, hardware, and software development, MacKenzie is a recognized authority in the engineering industry. Under his leadership, Cad Crowd serves esteemed clients like NASA, JPL, the U.S. Navy, and Fortune 500 companies, empowering innovators with access to high-quality design and engineering talent.

Connect with me: LinkedIn ✦ X ✦ Cad Crowd