Every startup starts without any HR. You are small and you see no particular need for an HR department. However, you also know that as you grow, you’ll need one. When is that? 10 employees? 20? 50?
And what does a good HR do?
Articles
Management Quality Assurance by Ben Horowitz
A good HR team will help your management team in doing their job. And will also let the CEO know when managers are not getting their job done. A good HR team helps in:
- Recruiting and hiring
- Compensation
- Training and Integration
- Performance management
- Motivation
What kind of person should you be looking for:
- World-class process design skills
- A true diplomat
- Industry knowledge
- Intellectual heft to be the CEO’s trusted advisor
- Understanding of things unspoken
Management Debt by Ben Horowitz
Having a good HR team would prevent you from accruing “management debt” – decisions that are easy and may benefit in the short term, but that will cost you in the long term. While it is very hard to avoid it, you should be conscious of it while making such decisions and try to fix as and when you can.
Getting Human Resources Right by Fred Wilson
Fred has some good tips on setting up your HR team.