Post-funding startup
Before hiring your first full-time developer, consider two days a week
You just raised. The pressure is on: ship faster, prove traction, show the team is growing. Hiring a first full-time developer feels natural — but it's often the most expensive and slowest way to get solid technical leadership.
An experienced Product Engineer two days a week can own technical direction, architecture, and delivery — in a comparable budget band, with less risk if the product pivots.
Let's talk about your context Book a 30-minute callLinkedInhello@lucrousseau.com
The trap
Why the first tech hire is risky
A junior or mid full-time developer means salary + payroll burden + onboarding + management — often before the roadmap is clear enough. The founder still arbitrates product and tech alone. A bad hire is brutally expensive for a young company.
The offer
What two days a week give you
Same budget band, more seniority
A budget planned for a first employee can fund two days a week of a senior profile: someone who has already shaped products, teams, and delivery — not just executed tickets.
Technical direction + delivery
I help decide what to build and why, design the architecture, and ship code or guide the team. No handoff between « the strategy person » and « the delivery person ».
Flexibility if you pivot
Before locking in a full internal team, you validate pace, stack, and priorities with someone who can adapt without a layoff or emergency re-hire.
Bridge to a future team
When it's time to hire, you already have standards, a clearer backlog, and a realistic job spec — and possibly a developer I've helped onboard.
Compare
First full-time dev vs fractional partnership
Ballpark for a Quebec startup — we refine on a call.
| Dimension | First full-time dev (junior–mid) | Product Engineer, 2 days / week |
|---|---|---|
| Total annual cost | Salary + burden + benefits; often the heaviest line in the company. | Comparable band for ~40% of an experienced senior's time. |
| Time-to-value | 2–4 months hiring, onboarding, learning your domain. | Start in weeks; architecture and delivery impact from month one. |
| Technical direction | Depends on level; founder often remains default decision-maker. | Explicit ownership of direction, trade-offs, and production quality. |
| Risk if the product pivots | Person to reposition, lay off, or replace. | Scope or days adjust without a major social rupture. |
| Weekly coverage | 5 days on code — useful when scope is already well defined. | 2 focused days + async between sessions; enough for direction and unblocking when framed well. |
Objections
Common questions
Often what you need daily is clear decisions and a backlog that moves — not yet five days of unsupervised development. Two days from a senior who structures and unblocks often beats five days from someone still learning your context.
When code volume truly justifies full-time, we'll see it together — and you'll hire with criteria already tested.
Yes, if that's the right model. My role is to get you to that moment better prepared: architecture, process, realistic job description. I can support onboarding so continuity doesn't break.
I partner with you: product priorities, technical reviews, ceremonies when useful. You keep the vision; I bring technical translation and delivery without turning you into a default CTO.
Post-raise and torn between hiring and going fractional? A 30-minute call is enough to see if two days a week make sense for you.
Talk about your first tech hire
LinkedInhello@lucrousseau.com