When should a startup hire their first Product Manager?

Many early-stage startups delay hiring a Product Manager - sometimes until after raising funding.

But in our experience, waiting too long often means:

Building features nobody uses

Wasting dev cycles

Struggling with prioritization

Curious: For founders here - when did you first bring in a PM?

And for PMs - when do you think the role becomes critical?

(I recently launched getproductsuccess.com

, a Product Management–only agency, and this is a question we hear often. Excited to learn how the PH community sees it!)