When to Prioritize Building an IT Team for Early Stage Startups

Scaling Beyond Founder-Led IT

In early stages, founders or technical co-founders handle IT tasks. Hiring happens when these responsibilities become too time-consuming.

Security & Compliance Needs Increase

If the startup deals with sensitive data an IT team is needed early to handle security, access management, and compliance (e.g., SOC 2, HIPAA).

Onboarding / Offboarding & IT Support Becomes a Bottleneck

When headcount grows past 10-30 employees, a dedicated IT team is needed for device management, account provisioning, deprovisioning and troubleshooting.

Cloud & Infrastructure Complexity Grows

If the company runs cloud-based applications and DevOps isn’t enough, an IT engineer is needed to manage cloud security, networking, and SaaS tools.

Funding & Budget Allow

Some startups wait until Series A or B funding to justify an IT hire, while others prioritize it sooner for security, operational efficiencies and lowering the barrier of entry cost.