TL;DR
- Hire when: post-PMF, ongoing eng work for 12+ months, ₹15L+ runway for 1 hire.
- Who first: a senior generalist, NOT a specialist. ₹15-30 LPA in Bangalore/Mumbai.
- Where to find: LinkedIn (slow), Wellfound (startup-friendly), referrals (best), Cutshort (SaaS pool).
- How to onboard: pair with current agency for 2 months; transition codebase ownership cleanly.
When NOT to hire your first dev
- Pre-PMF — you'll waste 6 months of salary on something that pivots
- Less than 12 months runway — hiring + losing dev is ₹5-15L burn
- Engineering load is <15 hrs/week — agency or freelancer is cheaper
- You can't manage a developer (set tasks, review work, 1:1s) — hire a manager OR keep agency
When to hire
- Recurring revenue ₹3-5L+/month with proven retention
- Engineering work consistently 30+ hrs/week for 6+ months
- You can articulate the next 12 months of product direction (or have a CTO/co-founder who can)
- Your agency-spend is exceeding what an in-house salary would cost
What level to hire
Hire a senior generalist (5-8 yr exp), NOT a junior. Reasons:
- Junior needs senior to mentor — you don't have a senior
- Generalist can do frontend, backend, devops, simple design — your stage doesn't justify specialists
- Senior makes architectural decisions you don't have to second-guess
- Cost difference (₹8 LPA junior vs ₹25 LPA senior) is small vs delivery impact
2026 compensation ranges (Bangalore/Mumbai)
| Level | Years | Annual CTC | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior generalist | 5-8 | ₹18-32 LPA | 0.5-1.5% |
| Tech lead | 8-12 | ₹35-55 LPA | 1-3% |
| Staff / Principal | 12+ | ₹50L-1.2cr | 2-5% |
| Frontend/backend specialist | 3-6 | ₹12-25 LPA | 0.25-0.75% |
Add 15-25% loaded cost (PF, gratuity, equipment, insurance). For startups, ESOP is real currency — use it instead of cash where possible.
Where to find them in 2026
| Channel | Best for | Time-to-hire |
|---|---|---|
| Referrals from network | Trust + cultural fit | 1-3 weeks |
| Wellfound (formerly AngelList) | Startup-minded talent | 3-6 weeks |
| Cutshort | Indian SaaS pool | 2-4 weeks |
| LinkedIn (active outreach) | Senior + passive candidates | 4-8 weeks |
| Naukri | Junior-mid pool, less startup-y | 4-8 weeks |
| HackerRank / Codeforces communities | Strong-coder filter | Variable |
The handover from agency
If you've been with an agency (e.g. Big Helpers), the handover matters:
- Pair new hire with agency lead for 4-8 weeks
- Agency does architecture walkthrough, code tour, deployment process
- New hire shadows on tickets, then takes them over
- Agency stays on retainer for 60-90 days for escalations
- Then either: agency exits cleanly OR stays for 1 day/week of senior support
Don't fire your agency the day your hire starts. Costs you 3-6 months of productivity and creates anxiety on both sides.
Our model
Many of our SaaS clients move from agency-only to agency + in-house dev around month 12-18. We support the transition — paid handover, code knowledge transfer, ongoing escalation support. No hostage tactics.
Last reviewed: 27 April 2026.
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