I second the comment by zelon88. It's never too early if you have things in place to hire and retain the talent you are looking for (i.e., budget/other form of

I second the comment by zelon88. It's never too early if you have things in place to hire and retain the talent you are looking for (i.e., budget/other form of accepted compensation, a strategy/tasks to delegate, availability in the initial phase to train & brief your new hire on what you expect from them/overall vision/key metrics you'll be evaluating their performance on, etc.). When the best time is = when you got enough resources + when your startup is at a stage where you can no longer do everything yourself. Can't also expect an intern to have the best of CVs & experience so the job scope has to be limited in that regard. If you treat them well, they can be great brand advocates or even stay/recommend other potential hires. If not, the possible negative word-of-mouth or subpar performance could make hiring more detrimental than beneficial.