Guides
Hiring engineers: what founders ask us, answered
Every guide starts from real questions founders asked Nam Dao and the Lyra team on hiring calls, 6 July to 7 November 2026. Names, companies and figures are left out.
- Research · 3 min read
What founders ask before hiring engineers: 46 calls, July to November 2026
We went back through every call where a founder talked to us about hiring engineers between July and November 2026 and tagged what they asked. This is what came up, how often, and what it tells us.
- Guide · 3 min read
How to trial an engineer before you commit
15 of the 37 founders who told us their concerns wanted the same thing: proof an engineer fits before they commit. Here is how to get it in a week or two.
- Guide · 3 min read
What senior actually means when you hire an engineer
Founders in 9 of 37 calls asked about seniority, autonomy or ownership. Almost none meant years of experience. They meant: can this person work without me?
- Guide · 3 min read
How solo founders get engineering capacity before a founding engineer
A common call: one founder, a product that needs to ship, and a founding engineer search they don't want to rush. Here is what we saw work.
- Guide · 3 min read
Australian engineers on a US startup team: what founders asked and what works
The Sydney morning overlaps the US West Coast afternoon. That's the easy part. These are the practical questions US founders asked us, and how teams handle them.
- Guide · 3 min read
Embedded engineers: conversion, IP, equity and the fine print founders ask about
Once founders like an engineer, the questions change: can we hire them, who owns the code, can they get equity? Contract terms or IP came up in 10 of our 37 calls.
- Guide · 3 min read
Hiring engineers before or after your raise
Money questions in our calls were almost never about price. They were about timing: add engineers before the round closes, or wait?
- Guide · 3 min read
Why AI startups run out of deployment capacity, and what to do about it
6 of the 46 calls were about forward deployed or implementation engineers. The story was the same each time: customers wanted it, and the team couldn't deploy fast enough.
- Guide · 3 min read
How to add engineers without creating a review bottleneck
More engineers can mean slower shipping if every pull request waits on one person. Founders asked us how to avoid that.