Land Your First 10 Hires: How to apply the 'Barrels and Ammo' framework to your startup

The framework that will change how you hire

Patrick Thompson a three-time founder. He’s hired over 20 people for “first 10” teams across his startups. At Iteratively—his second company— Patrick had zero regrettable churn. Every person they hired stuck with them through their acquisition by Amplitude two years in. At his current company Clarify, he's hired A-players from Atlassian, Meta, Amplitude, and more.

Here's what he’s learned: hiring your first 10 is always part art, part science. Founders are making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information, limited time, and no margin for error. A bad hire at employee #3 doesn't just slow you down—it can poison your culture, kill your momentum, and cost you the trust of your best people.

But one mental model has helped him more than any other: Barrels vs. Ammo.

It comes from Keith Rabois—legendary investor at Founders Fund and former executive at PayPal, LinkedIn, and Square. His portfolio includes companies like Youtube, DoorDash, and Airbnb.

Here's the core idea: Not everyone on your team does the same type of work. Some people are barrels—they can take a problem from zero to solved with minimal direction. Others are ammo—specialists who support and execute within a defined scope.

Your company's capacity isn't limited by headcount. It's limited by the number of barrels you have. You can add all the specialists you want, but if you only have three people who can independently own outcomes, you can only do three things at once. Add a fourth barrel? Now you can do four.

This framework completely changed how I think about sequencing, screening, and closing early hires.

What's in this playbook:

• The 3-Stage Hiring Sequence: How to sequence your first 10 based on what I learned across three companies

• The Barrels & Ammo Framework: How to identify force multipliers vs. executors, and when you need each

• The Secret Sauce: Interview questions I use to identify barrels, assess startup readiness, and spot red flags

This isn't generic hiring advice. It's tactical frameworks Patrick wishes he’d had when starting out. See for yourself.