Elly Research · LinkedIn Top Startups 2026

How top startups actually build their teams

We read the LinkedIn work histories of everyone hired at the companies on LinkedIn's Top Startups 2026 (US) list. Three findings stood out. The rest is in the explorer below, where you can slice the data by company size, age, funding, sector and role.

17,077hires analyzed47companies in the hiring data50companies on the list

Source and scope: Elly analysis of LinkedIn work histories for 17,077 staff hires at 47 of the 50 US companies on LinkedIn's Top Startups 2026 list. Data as of October 16, 2026. Founder counts cover all 50 companies; the first go-to-market hire comparison covers 37 consumer and B2B companies. Results describe hiring patterns, not what makes a startup succeed.

Three things that stood out

01 · Who they hire

Top startups aren't hiring who you think

7%of hires had less than three years of work experience

These teams were mostly built from people who had already done the job somewhere else. More than half had 10+ years of experience when they joined.

Hires by years of experience when they joined

Bar chart. Share of 17,077 hires by years of work experience when they joined: Under 3 years 7%, 3–5 years 9%, 5–10 years 32%, 10–15 years 27%, 15+ years 25%.

1,111 of 17,077 hires (6.5%) had under three years of experience when they joined. This shows who was hired, not who performed better. Experience is counted from each person's first non-intern job.17,077 hires at 47 companies on LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 (US)

02 · How they build go-to-market

Your first GTM hire depends on what you're building

8 of 11consumer startups hired marketing before sales

6 of 26B2B startups did the same

Consumer startups mostly started with a marketer. B2B startups mostly started with a seller: 20 of 26 hired sales first.

Chart with one square per company. Consumer startups: 8 hired marketing first and 3 hired sales first (11 companies). B2B startups: 6 hired marketing first and 20 hired sales first (26 companies).

Marketing firstSales first

Consumer startups · 8 of 11 marketing first

B2B startups · 6 of 26 marketing first

Each square is one company.

This shows hiring order, not whether it worked. It covers 37 consumer and B2B companies of the 47 in the hiring data (11 consumer, 26 B2B). Where a first hire couldn't be fully verified, we used our best estimate. Companies with a same-month tie or no GTM hire, and AI labs, are left out.LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 (US)

03 · What backgrounds they bring

Many hires have already been a founder

12%of hires had founded a company before joining

Among product hires it was 21%, the highest of any function. That makes founder experience one background worth a look when hiring early.

Had founded a company before, by job function

Bar chart. Share of hires in each job function who had founded a company before joining: Product 21% (330 hires), Executives 19% (547 hires), Design 18% (252 hires), Marketing 17% (961 hires), Engineering 14% (5,036 hires), Sales & GTM 10% (3,117 hires), Research 10% (550 hires), Ops & finance 6% (1,494 hires), Recruiting 4% (896 hires). All hires: 12%.

All hires: 12%

1,982 of 17,077 hires (11.6%) had founded a company before joining; among product hires, 69 of 330 (20.9%). This is a pattern in who was hired, not proof that it makes a better hire. It counts founder titles listed on LinkedIn, so it's a floor.17,077 hires at 47 companies on LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 (US)

Explore the hiring data

Start with a question founders ask, or pick your own measure and split below. Every bar is a group of companies or people, and the dashed line is the figure across all of them.

LinkedIn can record departures late, so first-year leave rates are floors.

How the teams are built

Share of current employees in each function. Darker cells are larger shares. The last two columns compare builders with product managers and with go-to-market staff.

How they started

Only 4 of the 50 companies had a solo founder. Two co-founders was the norm, at 26 of 50.

Founders per company

All 50 companies on the list, counted from company sites, press and YC profiles. The hiring data above covers 47 of them.

How we did this

Everything here describes observed hiring patterns. None of it shows what makes a startup succeed.

Data

Source: LinkedIn work histories of people who have worked at the companies on LinkedIn's Top Startups 2026 (US), matched by Elly. Data as of October 16, 2026.

The list has 50 companies. Hiring figures cover 47 of them, and founder counts cover all 50.

Who's counted

Founders, interns, advisors, investors, contractors and expert or service networks (clinicians, travel agents, AI trainers) are excluded. Mercor, AfterQuery and CareYaya are left out because their contract workers can't be separated from staff.

"Hires" includes people who have since left. Team mix uses current employees only.

Experience and departures

Experience is counted from each person's first non-intern job. "Left within first year" covers people hired at least 12 months ago, and LinkedIn records departures late, so it is a floor.

Small groups and privacy

Groups with fewer than 3 companies or 80 people are not shown, and a note marks groups where one company makes up most of the people.

Results are shown for groups of companies only, never for a single company.

First go-to-market hire

Definition. The earliest non-founder whose title at the company was marketing, or sales (including partnerships, business development and GTM), by LinkedIn start month. Interns, contractors, freelancers, advisors, campus and creator programs, store-floor retail roles and service-network roles are not counted.

Verified. A company is left out if it has no verified marketing or sales employee, if both started the same month, or if an earlier hire with an unclear title, a year-only date or a start the year before founding could change the order. That verified 9 of 13 consumer and 22 of 28 B2B companies (7 of 9 and 4 of 22 marketing first).

Best estimate. For the rest we used our best estimate: unclear hires count, and a company with hires on only one side counts as hiring that side first. The chart uses those estimates for 37 companies. Two consumer companies whose first hires started the same month and two B2B companies with no marketing or sales hire are left out. AI labs are not compared.