Scaling up a startup advice

I second the idea to find mentors, but instead of finding generic mentors, find people who "in the know" about what you're doing specifically. Try to find 3-5 of them, and then pay them something significant to have 2-4 hours of phone calls with you per month.

There's actually a lot of knowledge that you can pursue both in terms of books, podcasts, blog posts, etc.

Start going heads down and trying to get all the information you can find.

One thing that I found works well is to fine 1-2 people that you think really get it... then keep following them. Read their posts, etc. Find who THEY keep referencing, and repeat.

Things like how to sell into SaaS, how to price, etc.

These things are important and a lot of the work has already been done by a lot of smart people so just borrowing common experience can get you pretty far.

I would suggest you to go through your network. If you are already 8+ people, it means you should have a vast network of entrepreneurs, managers, etc. not only in your niche. Engage with them, see what they have to offer. Organize an event in your office and invite them all.

If you are looking to hire someone as a manager, you probably will need to make him/her a partner, not just an employee. This decision is super tough if you don't know the person at a level much deeper than what a job interview gives. Making a partner gives that person the feeling of ownership that you need to secure commitment and passion.

I would suggest you not to rush, take your time, but start cultivating your options ASAP. Depending on the status of your company, you can seek for mentors who normally will have a chat with you in exchange of a dinner a couple of times per month, or offer a small take in your company or money for a fixed amount of time per month.

When you start opening yourself to people, be sure you can trust them. If you don't trust them, you will hold back yourself and the advise they can provide will be just partial. Also, be sure it's people who went through the phases you are experimenting right now. Theoretical advise is not the same as practical.

And by the way, I've checked nightwatch (if that is what you were talking about) and it looks great!

Check out www.growthmentor.io - Would recommend a call with Manish, (see his profile here https://app.growthmentor.io/manish-balakrishnan ) Super smart guy with a lot of corporate startup experience at the post product-market fit level.

One idea could be to join a community of professionals (e.g. CTO/CEO/COO mailgroup) and share your current troubles with them and ask for advice as many of them have gone through the process.

You should also actively seek mentorship - do you have friends or know someone who knows someone who has helped companies move on to the next stage? Ask for an introduction. That would massively help.

I believe that taking a management course may be beneficial but time is running against you and you are unlikely to muster years of experience in the field without being supercharged by professionals who have been there and done this before.

In short: seek help from people who have done it before by leveraging your contacts.

I think it would be good for you to get a management course by yourself. You can get one of those courses from a good school (they take a few weeks). Most of the good business schools have them.
Not only you will get knowledge, but also access to the teachers which will allow you to consult about your process.
This will allow you to make better decisions and to be able to see if the staff hired performs as they should.