I would say learn pinyin first, then some greetings and basic sentence patterns and vocab, then dive right in. The characters are an enormous time investment and the most painless way to do it is a little bit every day over an extended period of time, better to start early. But definitely get comfortable with pinyin first.

In my view, it'd be way too challenging to directly start with characters which might kill your motivation. It would be a good approach to find native Chinese speakers with whom you can learn much faster, since Chinese are usually very patient and willing to help. Or like many of my male foreign friends, find a Chinese girlfriend and talk to her every single day which turns out the most efficient way.

learn how to speak it first