Updated September 2026
A slow hire costs a startup the work that does not get done while the seat is empty, the founder hours spent covering and recruiting, and sometimes the candidates lost along the way. In an illustrative example of a $140,000 engineer, those costs add up to about $3,600 a week, so a role left open for three months costs around $43,000. After about three weeks, the open seat has cost more than a fixed recruiting fee.
Founders usually judge hiring options by the fee, because the fee arrives as an invoice. The cost of waiting never does. It shows up as a feature that ships a quarter late, a sales pipeline nobody works or a founder answering support tickets at midnight, and it rarely gets added up.
A simple way to price a vacancy
You do not need a finance model to estimate what an empty seat costs. Two numbers get you most of the way there, and both are easy to adjust for your own situation.
- Lost output. You would not hire someone unless their work was worth at least their salary, so use the salary as a floor. For an illustrative $140,000 engineer, that is about $2,700 a week.
- Founder time. Count the hours a week you spend covering the gap and running the search yourself, and put a value on your hour. We used an illustrative 6 hours at $150, which is $900 a week.
Together that is roughly $3,600 for every week the role stays open. These are illustrative numbers, not market data, so swap in your own salary, hours and hourly value.
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On these assumptions, a month of delay costs about $14,400, two months about $28,700 and four months about $57,500. The fixed fee for this hire on Funded.club's pricing is $11,500. A contingency fee at 20 to 25% would be $28,000 to $35,000.
What the numbers mean for your decision
Compare each route by its fee plus the weeks it is likely to leave the role open. If running the search yourself saves $11,500 but adds six weeks, on these numbers you have spent about $21,500 of lost output and time to save it.
A decision rule falls out of this. Estimate your weekly cost of vacancy, then ask how many weeks faster each option is likely to be. If the time saved is worth more than the fee, the paid route is the cheaper one, even before you count the stress.
This works in the other direction too. For a role that fills quickly from your network, or one where the work can wait a quarter, the weekly cost is low and doing it yourself can be the right call.
The costs that don't fit in the chart
Salary and founder hours are the costs you can estimate. The ones below are harder to price, and in many startups they are bigger.
| Hidden cost | What it looks like | How to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| Team overload | Others cover the gap, then start to burn out or look elsewhere | Be explicit about what is paused until the hire starts |
| Delayed revenue | A sales or customer role left open means deals and renewals slip | Put revenue roles first in the hiring plan |
| Roadmap drift | Features promised to customers or investors move back a quarter | Tie each open role to the milestone it unblocks |
| Lost candidates | Strong people accept other offers while you wait on feedback | Give feedback within 48 hours and block interview slots |
| Salary creep | A long search ends with a rushed, higher offer to close quickly | Agree the range at kick-off and test it early |
| Starting again | A search stalls and restarts months later from zero | Set a checkpoint at 30 days and change approach if needed |
Speed only helps if the hire is right
None of this is an argument for hiring the first person who applies. A wrong hire costs far more than a few extra weeks, because you pay the vacancy cost again once they leave, plus the damage in between.
Keep your interview bar where it is and take the slack out of everything around it: the brief, the feedback loop, the diaries and the decision. Our guide on how much a recruiter costs for startups covers the fee side of the same decision.
Where Funded.club fits
Funded.club is a fixed-fee recruiting partner for funded startups and fast-growing teams across North America, Europe and APAC, and we have helped 500+ startups from Seed to Series D. One dedicated recruiter runs each search end to end, from sourcing and headhunting to screening and support through the offer.
Speed is built into how we work. You see first screened candidates within 7 days, searches take 33 days on average from kick-off to hire, and our fill rate is 100%. Supernova (YC W19) made 22 hires with us at a 27-day average time to hire, saving about EUR 210k compared with percentage fees.
The fee is fixed and agreed upfront, averaging 6 to 9% of salary and running from $4,900 to $21,900 per hire (see pricing). Part is an advance at the start of the search and the balance is due when your candidate accepts the offer. If we don't deliver a shortlist of at least 3 qualified candidates within 30 days, you can claim the advance back in full.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the cost of an unfilled position?
Add the weekly value of the lost output, using salary divided by 52 as a floor, to the weekly value of the founder and team time spent covering the gap. Multiply by the number of weeks the role is likely to stay open.
Is it cheaper to hire without a recruiter?
Only if you can fill the role about as quickly on your own. On illustrative numbers for a $140,000 engineer, every extra week open costs about $3,600, so a slower DIY search can cost more than a fixed fee.
Which roles cost the most to leave open?
Usually roles tied directly to revenue or a committed milestone, such as sales, customer success or the engineer who unblocks a key feature. Price those first and fill them first.
How fast can Funded.club fill a role?
First screened candidates arrive within 7 days, and searches average 33 days from kick-off to hire, with a 100% fill rate.
Worth a brief chat about your next hire? Book a free call.
Hiring after a funding round?
First candidates in 7 days. Fixed-fee, no commission.