When starting a new business, should you hire a lot of employees at once or should you start small and then expand?

Small project or the new success associated with a reduced cost so you must work on the right choice of staff and a limited number can be per person more than a business function to cover and fully exploits his time and then expanded after the continuation of the project

Generally, for any start-up  hire the most important people  Step by step ,depends on what is business like is it a hotel or company or shop ,what is the type of your business .sales or retail or service like pest control or a company that will have contract for maintenance and cleaning services ,is it a marine or oil& gas ,or financial serviceses  .........etc

As a business owner, I want to increase profitability and productivity of my business, so when I choose someone to manage my business, I will hire a manager who has the competence in three areas: technical, human relations, and conceptual skills. Technical -- knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of a specific job Human relations -- understanding of people and being able to effectively work with people. Conceptual -- ability to think and see the relationships between various parts and the whole picture.

That is relative to:

• Nature of business: If your business plan objectives requires the need of human resources without which it may fail, then you have no choice but to ensure you have the right people in the right jobs. Where you could save cost is finding the multi tasker who believes in your business and is willing to do more to help grow the business.
• Stage of business: Again, depending on stage of business you are at, you could delay the hiring of personnel. However, if certain personnel are critical to the success of your business even at the start-up stage, then it's prudent not to compromise the success of your business by not hiring the right people.
• Available funds: Ideally, start a business with at least 12 months' worth of cash flow in your account. It may seem like a lot but nothing in life ever goes according to plan. The last thing you wouldn't want to happen is finding traction with your new business and running out of funds.
• Risk appetite: The great entrepreneur Vs businessman question. If you are an entrpreneur, you are most likely a multi tasker with a creative mind and a large risk appetite. If you are a businessman, you are more likely to have a more conservative mindset. A balance between the two is ideal thereby ensuring you take calculated risks hiring the right people at the right time. 

When starting a business, we don't need to hire a hundreds or thousand of employees. We first need to identify the positions needed for operation of the business. In production, how many employees do we need in order to produce a bunch of products? How many people needed to operate the machine? How many people do we need for the advertising and sales? How many people needed for the administrative functions? Those are some of the questions we need to answer in order to know the number people we really need in starting a business. So that we won't be wasting money. So when we the business worked and needed more people for the production, we can add people. 

Well, that depends on the scale of the company. if it's a new business venture being promoted by a large group which already has deep pockets and is a cash-rich company, then the company can be more aggressive in hiring e.g. Reliance JIO in India. On the other hand, if it's a business being promoted for the 1st time, then, of course, one should start with a strong business plan and can increase the reach, and market share in terms of revenue and customers with hiring people as the business grows. This will also help in managing the growth by deploying the right policies, procedures, systems etc. 

Currently, I am in the process of starting a new business, and I believe that it is very important to choose the right quality of people during the process of recruitment, while making sure they match the culture of your business and have the entrepreneurial attitude that would drive your business forward. Therefore, It is better t start small and then expand, carefully and slowly growing your team into becoming a potential leader in the market, because your team is your essence.

Its depend on industry type but for average industries we should start from small than expand.

For any business, you have to follow your plan which has been made at the beginning of the project. So, you should recruit as it's required according to running plan's requirements. However, a new business needs to be run gradually. The small No. of employees are needed to operate the main functions are the best No. when you start a new business.

As per company requirement.