--- title: How to make your first people or HR hire at a startup description: Make your first people or HR hire when onboarding, policies and compliance outgrow the founders. Choose a hands-on generalist and test on real scenarios. image: https://funded.club/hubfs/og_image_funded.png --- [![Primary\_logo](https://funded.club/hubfs/Primary_logo.svg)](https://funded.club/) [Book a call](https://funded.club/contact-us) - [Hire](https://funded.club/hire) - [Pricing](https://funded.club/pricing) - [Find a job](https://funded.club/startupjobs) - [Case Studies](https://funded.club/case-studies) - [Locally](https://funded.club/case-studies/locally) - [Supernova](https://funded.club/case-studies/supernova) - [Isolocity](https://funded.club/case-studies/isolocity) - [WeTravel](https://funded.club/case-studies/wetravel) - [Digital Science](https://funded.club/case-studies/digital-science) - [Blog](https://funded.club/blog-results) - [Resources](https://funded.club/resources) - [Predict success](https://signup.predict.ventures/) - [Growth Planner](https://funded.club/growth-planner) - [Glossary](https://funded.club/glossary) - [FAQ](https://funded.club/faq) - [Contact us](https://funded.club/contact-us) [Book a call](https://funded.club/contact-us) - Engagement options: - [Hiring solutions](https://funded.club/hire) - [Pay-as-you-go](https://funded.club/pricing) - Membership plan # How to make your first people or HR hire at a startup ![how-to-make-your-first-people-or-hr-hire-at-a-startup](https://funded.club/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-featured-images/fc-first-people-hr-hire-startup.png?width=1200&height=628&name=fc-first-people-hr-hire-startup.png) [Ray Gibson](https://funded.club/blog/author/ray-gibson) Sep 29, 2026, 8:33:11 PM *Updated September 2026* Make your first people or HR hire when hiring, onboarding, payroll, policies and employee questions take up more founder time than you can afford, usually as the team grows quickly after a funding round. For most startups the right first hire is a hands-on people generalist who can run operations and build culture practices, not a senior HR director, and the best test is a real scenario from your own team. ## When a startup needs a people hire Signs it is time: onboarding varies depending on who is free, contracts and policies live in scattered documents, managers ask founders the same people questions every week, you are hiring in several countries, or a difficult employee issue has shown you that nobody owns the process. Before hiring, list what you actually need. People work at a startup can include operations and compliance, recruiting coordination, onboarding, performance reviews, compensation, and culture and engagement. The first person will usually cover several of these. If hiring volume is the main pressure, see our guide to [your first 10 hires after funding](https://funded.club/blog/first-10-hires-after-funding) and consider whether recruiting support or a people generalist comes first. ## Generalist, specialist or senior leader? - **People operations generalist:** handles contracts, onboarding, benefits, payroll coordination, policies and tools. The most common first hire. - **Talent or recruiting lead:** the right choice when hiring volume is the main bottleneck and operations are already covered by providers. - **Head of People:** suited to a larger or fast-scaling team where strategy, managers' development and organisation design need senior ownership. Whichever you choose, look for someone who has worked at a startup of similar size, who is comfortable doing the work personally, and who can explain employment rules in plain language. If you employ people in several countries, experience with international teams and employer of record providers is valuable. ## Where to find people and HR candidates - People operations managers at startups one stage ahead of you. - HR generalists at growing companies who want more ownership. - Office or operations managers who have been handling people work informally. - People and HR communities, and referrals from other founders. Ask your investors which people leaders their portfolio companies trust. The profession is well networked and references travel quickly. ## How to assess a first people hire - **Experience walkthrough:** what did they build at their last company, from scratch, and what did they inherit? - **Scenario discussion:** give them two or three anonymised real situations, such as a manager conflict, a performance concern or setting up onboarding for a new country. - **Practical task:** ask for a short onboarding plan or a draft policy for something you need now. - **Manager interviews:** let two or three team leads meet them. They will be the main internal customers. - **Judgement and discretion:** probe how they handle confidential information and when they escalate. A people hire shapes how everyone else experiences the company. Take references seriously and ask about trust and fairness specifically. ## Closing and common mistakes Good people professionals want to know that founders will back them on policy and let them say no. Explain who they report to, usually the CEO or COO, and what decisions they will own. Share your hiring plan so they can see the scope. - Hiring a senior HR director to do hands-on operations work. - Expecting one person to run operations, recruiting and culture at full speed. - Treating the role as administration and leaving them out of leadership conversations. - Waiting until a serious employee issue before hiring. ## How Funded.club supports people and hiring Many startups pair a first people hire with an external recruiting partner, so the people lead can focus on operations and culture while hiring keeps moving. [Funded.club](https://funded.club/hire) is a fixed-fee recruiting partner that has helped 500+ startups from Seed to Series D, with a 100% fill rate and a dedicated recruiter on every search. Supernova (YC W19) made 22 hires with Funded.club at a 27-day average time to hire. Fees are fixed and agreed upfront. For a people generalist at $110,000, a 20 to 25% contingency fee would be $22,000 to $27,500. Funded.club's fee for roles up to $110,000 is $7,500. See [pricing](https://funded.club/pricing), or compare options in [fractional recruiting vs RPO vs agencies](https://funded.club/blog/fractional-recruiting-vs-rpo-vs-agencies-for-startups-2026). ## Frequently asked questions ### When should a startup make its first HR hire? When people operations, onboarding, policies and employee questions take up significant founder time, often during rapid growth after a funding round. The trigger is workload and risk, not a fixed headcount. ### Should the first HR hire be a generalist or a Head of People? Most early startups benefit more from a hands-on people operations generalist. A Head of People fits better once the team is larger and needs senior ownership of organisation design and manager development. ### Can a first people hire also do recruiting? They can coordinate hiring, but running many searches alongside operations is hard. Many startups use a recruiting partner for sourcing and screening so the people hire can focus on the rest. ### Who should the first people hire report to? Usually the CEO or COO. Reporting close to the top signals that people matters and gives them the authority to set policy. Worth a brief chat about your next hire? [Book a free call](https://funded.club/contact-us). ## Hiring after a funding round? First candidates in 7 days. Fixed-fee, no commission. [See pricing](https://funded.club/pricing) [Book a free call](https://funded.club/contact-us) [Try the Growth Planner](https://funded.club/growth-planner) [![Primary\_logo](https://funded.club/hubfs/funded-images2022/Primary_logo.svg)](https://funded.club) © 2019-2026 Funded.club B.V. All Rights Reserved. Chamber of Commerce: 63083809    VAT (BTW): NL855084844B01 ## Contact Us - [Hiring service](https://funded.club/hire) - [Pricing - Recruiting projects](https://funded.club/pricing) - [Find a job](https://funded.club/startupjobs) - [Our team](https://funded.club/fundedteam) - [Blog](https://funded.club/blog) - [Case studies](https://funded.club/case-studies) - [Startup resources](https://funded.club/resources) - [FAQ](https://funded.club/faq) - [Contact Us](https://funded.club/contact-us) ## Follow Us © 2019-2026 All rights reserved. - [Privacy Policy](https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/56133290) - [Cookie policies](https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/56133290/cookie-policy) - [Terms of Use](https://funded.club/terms) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "dateModified" : "2024-10-01", "datePublished" : "2024-10-01", "headline" : "How to make your first people or HR hire at a startup", "image" : [ "https://7828179.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7828179/blog-featured-images/fc-first-people-hr-hire-startup.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://funded.club/blog/first-people-hr-hire-startup", "@type" : "WebPage" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://funded.club/#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "areaServed" : [ "North America", "Europe", "Asia-Pacific" ], "description" : "Fixed-fee recruiting partner for funded startups and fast-growing teams across North America, Europe and APAC. 500+ startups helped since 2019. 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