[farbklang]

I started recently (2 years ago) and running a small consultancy, and using part of the revenue to build my own product.

What worked for me was starting to give out small tasks via <your favorite freelancer platform>, often giving the same tasks to multiple individuals and then decide with whom I am going to stick.

Has been pretty successful for finding talent, not sure how much my anecdote weighs in though.

Working together with friends is something I probably won't do again, it's just too easy to cross damage professional or personal part of the relationship when there are issues arising.

So if you can afford it and have the time, I would recommend starting on freelancer platforms. It also allows you to make mistakes as these relationships do not require commitment from any side. Down side of course is, that you might lose good talent as they are also not comitted to you.