First Hires & Team Equity
First Hires & Team Equity: Building the Foundation That Scales
The earliest decisions founders make about people, who they hire and how they structure ownership, shape everything that comes after. This session brings together Britt Gage, founder of of All Trades, and Alexis Jenkins, a People Operations leader with 12+ years in early-stage organizations, to cut through the noise on two of the most consequential and most mishandled levers in company building. Together, they'll share hard-won frameworks for making your first hires count and designing equity structures that actually retain and motivate the people who matter most.
Key Takeaways:
Who your first hire really is and why the job title is almost never the right starting point
How to hire for a company that doesn't exist yet and navigating the generalist vs. specialist tension in early-stage teams
Equity as a retention tool, not just a recruiting pitch and how to think about equity philosophy before you're under pressure to close a candidate
The mistakes that are hardest to unwind and how to avoid early equity structures that create misalignment down the road
Bios:
Britt Gage is the founder of oAT (of All Trades), a company reimagining how teams are built in the age of AI. With 15+ years in early-stage startup operations working across operations, growth, and people functions, she founded oAT to provide right-sized, embedded solutions for founders struggling with antiquated hiring models. Over five years, oAT has grown from a solo operation to 50+ generalist operators serving startups, scale-ups, nonprofits, and growing organizations through their dynamic teaming methodology.
Alexis Jenkins is a People Operations leader who specializes in building thoughtful, high-performing workplaces where both people and companies thrive. She has 12+ years joining and supporting early-stage and high-growth organizations, helping them scale from their foundational stages by establishing strong people practices, developing effective managers, and building cultures that can grow sustainably alongside the business. Alexis partners closely with leadership teams to design people systems that balance operational rigor with genuine care for employees. She believes great companies are built through clarity, trust, and a deep investment in people.