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I'm working on a business plan and estimating startup costs. I know the numbers vary wildly from enterprise to enterprise, but I'm trying to identify in my estimates how many people I would need to hire, and when. I am making some assumptions as best I can (e.g. one saleperson could sell (30) units per month) and I realize this is critical for VC's when determining how much capital we need and when.

I can make some other assumptions about developers, and designers; but what about other functions? When do you hire a lawyer, for example, or an HR person? Who else am I missing?

Social Media Manager Lawyer Accountant or Bookkeeper Administrative Assistant(s) Dedicated Marketing person

Are there any rules of thumb or guidelines? I don't want to look like a dunce for example if I say I need a lawyer before I need a social media manager, or that I'd want an Admin Assistant when I can do stuff myself.

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No assistants, no lawyers, no HR. Keep everything and I mean everything in two camps: Producing the product and selling the product. Tie it directly to revenue numbers.

Answer this question for potential investors: "How much money do I need to get to [impressive number] of [users/sales] per year?" Then add 33%.

The rest is just a distraction that can be grouped into "professional services" and should be an insignificant portion of the budget.

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Perfect, thanks Andy. That's what I was looking for in an answer. Because of the scope of this project I'm less worried about the "other stuff" (i.e. rent, electricity, phone bill) because all that combined is a fraction of a single person's salary. I was really battling with trying to figure out how to hire and when I would need to during growth. – Nick Mar 29 '11 at 0:57

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