The Problem With How Founders Hire Their First People Lead

You don't need an HR person. You need an exceptional Operations Lead who understands HR and Talent, and knows how to flex between the two.

This is what most founders get wrong… 

1. Hiring someone too wedded to process Founders often bring in a People person who leads with policy, frameworks, procedures, structure. This is important later and damaging to growth too early. At your stage, the business will outgrow any rigid system within 6-12 months. What you need is someone who can navigate the grey space. Someone adaptable, consultative, comfortable without a playbook. Compliance still matters, that's non-negotiable, but HR shouldn't be the thing that slows you down. It shouldn't be restrictive.

   
   

2. Leaving HR out of the commercial conversations

   If your People Lead isn't in the room for commercial and growth conversations, you're not getting a strategic partner, you're getting admin support. The best HR/Talent people think in business outcomes first, HR second. 

   
   

3. Hiring transactional over fractional

   A standard HR hire solves today's problem. A fractional operator who moves across Talent, Ops, and People solves the next six months of problems too. Growth-stage companies need to shift faster than a full-time job description can.

   
   

4. Investing in AI software instead of people

   Fancy HR tech feels like progress - especially these days. It isn't a substitute for a person with a strong network and sharp instincts for who to hire next and how to keep them. Systems support people, they don't replace the judgment a good operator brings. 

   
   

5. Bringing them in too late

   Don’t wait until you are in pain (or something has gone wrong!) to bring in support. You will be reactive in your hiring, and it can cost you. Fractional, retainer-based support earlier acts as a buffer and scales with you before you need to make a costly permanent hire.

What good looks like instead

The right person isn't building your handbook in month one. They're diagnosing where the business is actually stuck, plugging the gaps, and building just enough structure to hold, without boxing you in before you've figured out what you're scaling into.

Where I come in

If any of this resonates, it’s probably not the first time you’ve felt it. Most founders or leaders I work with already know something is off, they just haven’t had the right person to help them name it. 

I work fractionally across People, Talent and Ops with growth stage founders who need senior support without a full time hire.

If you’re weighing up your next People hire and want to think it through before you commit, let's talk.