Myself
In my opinion (and in the future, I will be using this lens more) your early-stage hires should be dedicated to the cause.
I think some hires in the past, I’ve tried too hard to pander to their goals and desires. In the end, they might work hard but they are always just working a job and trying to do other stuff on the side. Do side projects, other learning activities and personal pursuits but if our company’s success or your performance in the company isn’t a top 3-5 goal then this isn’t going to work.
You’ll do great over time but you’re not the best fit for an early-stage startup with < 20 people. After you’re in the scale-up phase, you’ll have more types of people and fewer people motivated by the overall mission/success of the company.
If the team is constantly worried about their own goals at the expense of company goals, it becomes really hard to manage at the early stages.
The early-stage team should be intrinsically motivated by the task at hand and the overall success of the company. We’re a band of pirates trying to get the ‘booty’.