So we’ve been reviewing our 2008 financial plan and trying to anticipate how many employees we’re going to need to hire and which positions they’ll fill. It’s not an easy process.

We’ve been outsourcing our development and expect to keep most of our technology outsourced in 2008, as well as our customer service. However, the time is going to come when we need to expand our team in the United States to help carry the load. We haven’t decided what the first position we’re going hire internally will be, but since we’ll be a small company, obviously any outside hire will need to be someone who can assume multiple roles. If I had to guess, because Rogomo will be driven by our product (a web service) and sales/partnerships, our first hire will be in the sales/marketing or technology/development areas.

One thing is for certain, though. As we ramp up our team, we’re going to need to keep everyone as motivated as we (i.e., the founders) are. Taking a cue from Reebok’s brilliant commercial about Terry Tate, we should think about bringing in our own Office Linebacker.

On a serious note, though, if you’ve gone through this process and have any experience in making the first outside hire, we’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.