That's a false choice. Your first marketing hire shouldn't focus on one or the other. They need to be an 'acquisition-for-retention' person from the very beginning.
The biggest mistake brands make is splitting these two functions. As the hosts of Shopify1Percent argue, acquisition and retention are two sides of the same coin. Your biggest retention problem is usually your acquisition strategy. If you spend your early days acquiring customers who are a bad fit, no amount of fancy email flows or cancellation offers can save that relationship later. Your first marketing hire is building the foundation of your entire growth engine, and if they build it on chasing cheap, one-off sales, you're just lighting money on fire. The goal isn't just getting a sale; it's finding a great customer.
Of course, the day-to-day work for a startup with few customers will naturally lean toward acquisition. But the mindset behind that work is what matters. This is about what Kristen LaFrance called “marketing for the long run” on an episode of Honest Ecommerce. It means that from the very first ad, to the landing page, to the welcome email, every touchpoint is designed to attract the right customer and increase Customer Lifetime Value. Real retention begins the moment a potential customer first interacts with your brand, not when they threaten to leave.