Manera is one founder + Claude. We're profitable on day one, bootstrapped forever, and we'll open our first role only when revenue can pay a market salary without compromise. Below: when that happens, what role opens first, and how to be the first to know.
We've made a public commitment to the 80% margin floor and to "private forever, no VC, no IPO." That math sets the hiring trigger. We won't hire from cash reserves or by raising — we'll hire when monthly recurring revenue sustainably covers the salary plus our margin floor.
Target: $10,000 MRR. At Mesh Tier ($999/mo) that's roughly 10 paying flagships. At our current build pace and pipeline, we expect to cross that in Q3 2026. If we cross it earlier, we'll open the role earlier. If it takes longer, it takes longer — we'd rather wait than hire wrong.
The first hire isn't an engineer — Claude is the engineering swarm and that's working. The first hire is the human-shaped layer between customers and the product: onboarding new flagships, running 30-min check-ins with design partners, writing the technical pre-sale notes for new prospects, and capturing every "I wish it did X" into the roadmap.
Why this role first: the product can ship faster than we can listen. Hiring this role 6 months before we hire a second engineer keeps us buyer-honest.
One short email gets you on a quiet list. We'll write to you the day the role opens — no marketing drip, no quarterly updates, no shouting about funding rounds we're not raising.
Please don't. We won't engage outbound recruiter outreach until at least two roles are open, and even then we'll work directly with candidates first. If you represent a candidate who's perfect, send the candidate the link to this page and ask them to apply when the role opens.