The 3 biggest mistakes leaders make when hiring their first PMs

One of the most common questions I get asked by founders is: "What should I look for in my first PM?"

A lot of hiring PMs is just like hiring any great tech person — eg, create a tight pitch, outline expectations for 3-6 months, keep a pipeline of multiple candidates until you’ve got someone locked in. But across different stages of company growth, I’ve seen 3 big mistakes repeatedly come up when hiring PMs.

1. Hiring a PM who’s too senior. Founders in particular often get advice to hire the most senior person possible. And of course, that experience is really valuable! But senior PMs often expect to do senior work — hiring and managing teams, setting high-level strategy, and delegating execution.

That’s usually a mismatch with an early-stage startup, where most founders still carry the product vision in their heads. They need someone who can work with them to execute quickly, iterate fast, and stay close to users.

A senior PM may not be as excited about the hands-on, scrappy nature of an early-stage role. When I hire someone senior onto a small team, I design an interview including in-the-weeds work to check not just whether someone can do the work but whether they like doing it.

This is also often true in large companies too, where it’s tempting to bring in someone super-senior from the outside but often better to bet on someone internal who’s high-capacity and hungry to learn.

2. Looking for the “perfect” PM instead of the right one for the role. When hiring my first PM onto a team, it’s tempting to look for a unicorn who’s the best at everything. But while PMs tend to be generalists, every PM spikes on different strengths. Clarifying exactly what I need focuses the search and sourcing pipeline. Do I need someone who can look at dashboards and analyze metrics quickly, someone who is going to spend their day in Figma, or someone who needs to rapidly prototype their ideas themselves?

3. Valuing domain expertise over adaptability. Who wouldn't want to hire an expert who already knows the problem space inside and out? But the industry evolves so fast, any domain knowledge rapidly goes out of date. Instead, it’s most important to find someone who knows they need to stay sharp and constantly learn. I try to gauge this in interviews by asking people to talk about the pros / cons of their own ideas, how their weaknesses in one role were improved in the next, or how they keep themselves sharp in their current job. A pattern of growth and change from year to year signals they’re willing to try new things and learn.

It’s always tempting to hire for the team we want to be in 2-3 years. But I’ve found it’s usually better to hire for what we need right now, then add new skill sets as the company evolves. This also means I’m hiring people who have room for growth — keeping them engaged, motivated, and focused on building great products for our customers today.