The First Hire Is the Most Expensive Mistake You'll Make - Here's How to Avoid It | with Camper Bull

The First Hire Is the Most Expensive Mistake You'll Make - Here's How to Avoid It | with Camper Bull Most founders do not make a bad first hire because they chose the wrong resume. They make a bad first hire because they hired for a title before they understood the work that actually needed to come off their plate. In this episode of The Strategy Session, Camper Bull shares the hiring process that changed the way he builds teams. It started with a moment many founders know well: sitting at a desk, staring at open browser tabs, unfinished follow-ups, stalled decisions, and details that had quietly fallen through the cracks. The business had revenue. The team was in place. The methodology worked. But Camper had become the choke point on detail. The answer was not to hire a generic operator or invent a title. The answer was to identify the exact work that needed to come off his plate, define the behavior required to succeed in that role, and run a structured test that revealed how each person operated when the brief was incomplete. In this episode, Camper walks through: The ABC sort for identifying what work belongs on your plate and what needs to move Why the C-list should shape your first-hire scope How to write a work-not-title document Why job descriptions often filter for the average candidate How to embed a quiet detail-orientation test Why the one-hour paid test is one of the highest-signal hiring tools The three behavior patterns that show up when the brief is incomplete Why "initiative with a check-in" is the pattern to hire for This episode is for founders, consultants, and service business owners preparing to make a first key hire or rebuild the way they evaluate candidates. Because the first hire is not just about capacity. It is about behavior. And the behavior you see in the test is the behavior you will get every week.