Hiring Your First 5 People Without Regret

By ACC Finance Team
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This week, I sat down with the brilliant Sarah Lamontagne, Founder of Montagne Motion Consulting, to dive into smart hiring and what really matters when founders make those all-important first hires.

Sarah’s seen it all, from prisons to AI scaleups, and brings some refreshing honesty, and tonnes of experience to bear hiring, culture, and building the foundations for a people-first business.

Some personal highlights from our conversation:
✅ Why founders waste time (and budget) trying to DIY their early hires.
✅ The real cost of a 5-stage interview process (and why it needs to die).
✅ How finance and HR should actually collaborate (hint: start with muffins).
✅ What culture really is, and why Slack emojis don’t count.
✅ Why every founder needs to think about succession planning before they think they’re ready.

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ACC Finance Team

ACC Finance are a team of experienced CFOs and management accountants who combine executive financial leadership with practical commercial judgement to work closely with founders and leadership teams to strengthen margins, improve cash flow, and guide critical financial decisions.
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