Building a content team from zero

At a certain level people hire me to build the group of people who make the content. Week one is an audit: who is here, what it costs, what has been tried. Then I move the people I have before I hire anyone. When I do hire, I want someone who shoots and edits. Then the boards go in, every approval gets a name, and by day thirty my gate has a successor.

How do I use it?

1. Spend week one on the audit: the people, the costs, the tools, the output and what has been tried.
2. Move people into the job their skill fits before you open a new role.
3. Write the ad with the pay range and a bar for month 1, month 3 and month 6.
4. Hire someone who shoots and edits for a small team, and keep short form off the first hire.
5. Ask for a full video over a cut down, and three written answers of under 150 words each.
6. Put a one week notice period on a junior role.
7. Name who approves what, hold the editorial gate yourself, and name a successor by day thirty.
8. Brief editors with their best videos and competitor work they love, and replace an editor whose quality still drops.
9. Send the founders five numbers every Friday.

In his words

Often when I come in, it’s about building systems and processes, and quite often teams.

Tom Sharman, 2026