The contractor economy: why startups hire specialists before full-time teams (opens in new tab)

The contractor economy: why startups hire specialists before full-time teams Startups used to follow a familiar hiring pattern: raise money, build a core team, open more roles, and slowly fill the gaps with full-time hires. That model still works for some companies. But it is no longer the only default. A growing number of startups now do something different: they bring in independent specialists first. A senior backend engineer for a specific architecture problem. A product manager for a lau...