> How do you hire your first employee as a solo founder without giving them 50% of your venture? > I've developed the entire business plan and written the init

> How do you hire your first employee as a solo founder without giving them 50% of your venture? > I've developed the entire business plan and written the initial app myself It's sounds like you already have an MVP ready. Depending on the specific nature of your startup, I would most likely launch it before thinking about hiring any employees. If you can get some recurring revenue by yourself, then you can hire and give them very little shares <2% with a good salary. If it's more of a B2C venture you'll probably have find an angel investor soon, which is never easy (esp. for first-time solo founder).