Hey Ala,
Two founders recently asked me the same question, from very different businesses: "who do I actually need?"
Not "what's the dream org chart." Who, specifically, first.
The answer is three people. Everything else is paid per piece or comes later.
Seat 1: The producer-editor
One person who owns video end to end. They know your calendar, so they know that Sunday's planning session, Thursday's client call, and next month's launch all need cameras.
They package before they produce: titles, hooks, thumbnails decided first.
They edit the long-form, then cut it down themselves. When volume grows, they manage per-piece editors underneath them (around $1,000 a long-form edit, $50 a reel) instead of you adding headcount.
Seat 2: The designer
The seat almost every founder skips, and the one that makes you look one-of-one. My Instagram is run by a designer. Carousels drive about 70% of our organic growth there, and a carousel is a design product before it's a writing product. The same person makes your LinkedIn images, your decks, your landing pages. Think of your feed like a storefront. Most founders' storefronts look like a garage sale.
Seat 3: The social media manager.
Your head of distribution. Owns the calendar, the captions, the timing, the quality gate, and the feedback loop. The producer-editor makes the ingredients. The designer makes it beautiful. This person makes sure it actually ships, on schedule and on brand, every day, and that the data feeds next month's decisions.
That's it. Three seats, roughly $15K a month all-in at my rates, less when you're starting. And before you flinch at the number, run the math I run with every founder: if your offer is $25K and this team's content closes one incremental client a quarter, the whole team is free. Mine clears that daily, and 97% of our cash flows through what they ship.
What you should NOT hire: a copywriter to invent content for you. Your voice, captured monthly and formatted by systems, beats any hired voice. Format conversion, never voice conversion. The three seats exist to ship YOU, not to replace you.
And your job in this company? 60 minutes a month of talking, plus showing up on camera while you run your actual business.
Want to know which seat to fill first based on where your business leaks the most? That's exactly what the Brand Strategy Call maps. Book yours at founderos.com/apply.
Let's win together,
Matt
P.S. Oskar Lipinski built to $260,000 from my free content with a 5-person team and zero paid mentorships. Small teams win when the seats are right.
