Why Early-Stage Companies Need a Different Kind of HR Conference

Most HR conferences are built for big companies. They highlight enterprise playbooks, polished case studies, and theory-heavy sessions. That’s fine if you’ve got an HR department of 20 people, but what if you don’t?

When you’re early-stage, the People challenges look very different. And to make it harder, there aren’t many resources designed specifically for early-stage HR and People functions.

At 10, 20, or even 50 employees, you’re dealing with:

• Hiring fast without a clear process

• Priorities shifting

• Building culture before it drifts

• Staying compliant without in-house legal

• Balancing scrappy choices with the need to scale

And usually, all of this sits on one person’s plate. The founder, the ops manager, or the first HR hire. They’re wearing multiple hats and figuring it out as they go. The playbooks designed for Fortune 500s don’t fit here and most of the resources available to early-stage teams just don’t make sense.

The Realities of Growing Without a Net

I’ve seen this up close and lived it personally. A founder doubling as Head of People because they can’t yet afford an HR hire or don’t quite know when to hire an HR leader. An office manager who suddenly finds themselves responsible for onboarding, payroll, and compliance on top of everything else. A new HR generalist who’s brilliant but overwhelmed, trying to create policies while also handling every employee issue that comes through the door.

This is what “HR” looks like in most startups. It’s not a department, it’s a person. Often, that person is trying to figure things out with limited tools, little support, and almost no guidance tailored to their stage. Meanwhile, the company is scaling quickly and demanding more HR support every day.

When you’re in this position, you don’t need abstract frameworks or enterprise case studies. You need resources that speak to the work you’re doing today, with the resources you actually have. Unfortunately, those are hard to find.

Why the Traditional Playbook Doesn’t Work

Most advice assumes infrastructure and budget that just don’t exist in early-stage companies.

• “Just buy a system.” Which one? And will it still work in 12 months when your needs change (or 3 to 6 months)? Most startups I’ve worked with end up cycling through three HR systems in their first few years.

• “Build a robust onboarding program.” Great advice — but what does that look like with a lean team? In early-stage companies, onboarding isn’t about glossy slides or a weeks-long agenda that keep new hires busy for days. It’s about creating a foundation that’s structured enough to ensure consistency, automated where it can be to save time, and flexible enough to grow with the company. The goal is to deliver an onboarding experience that feels intentional, doesn’t overwhelm the team running it, and gets new employees up to speed quickly.

• “Follow compliance best practices.” Easier when you’ve got in-house counsel. Much harder when your only legal resource is whatever you can Google at midnight and let’s be honest, asking AI can’t replace real legal advice when there are real risks on the line.

That’s the gap. The standard playbooks don't translate, and resources built specifically for early-stage teams are few and far between. So leaders end up patching things together — recreating the wheel with borrowed templates, peer advice, and plenty of trial and error.

What Early-Stage Teams Really Need

Early-stage leaders don’t need more theory. They need clarity and guidance that’s actually designed for them.

• Real stories from people who have built People Ops from scratch and know where the landmines are.

• Tactical advice that’s stripped down to the essentials: what to do now, what can wait, and what to skip.

• Flexible playbooks that evolve as the company grows from 5 → 50 → 500 employees, without requiring a full rebuild every time.

Right now, most of this knowledge is hidden in 1:1 conversations, Slack groups, or scattered blogs. It’s not centralized or easy to access — which means many early-stage leaders feel like they’re starting from zero.

Where We Go From Here

I have lived and continued to see that there’s a real gap in how early-stage People leaders are supported. Most events, resources, and communities are built with larger companies in mind. The people doing this work at early stage companies, often alone, don’t have a space built for them.

That’s what I want to change. On December 10, I will be hosting the People Strategy Summit, designed to fill this gap. It’s not about theory or enterprise playbooks. It’s about real stories and practical strategies that people in lean environments can actually use. The People Strategy Summit is about bringing together operators and leaders who’ve scaled early-stage companies and creating a space to share real stories, lessons, and strategies we can all learn from.

Early-stage companies don’t just need another HR conference. They need resources and a playbook of their own.