What fast-growing teams wish they knew sooner
Scaling from 20 to 100 employees is one of the most exciting — and most chaotic — stages of growth. It’s also the point where many founders realize something uncomfortable:
You can’t “wing HR” anymore.
At 20 people, HR can be shared across a founder, an ops lead, and maybe a part-time generalist. Decisions are quick, communication is informal, and people problems feel manageable.
By 40 or 50 employees, everything changes.
Suddenly:
- Roles blur
- Culture starts to drift
- Managers make decisions differently
- Compensation becomes inconsistent
- Documentation doesn’t exist or lives in scattered folders
- You’re putting out fires instead of planning ahead
If this is where you are — or where you’re heading — you’re not alone. The 20–100 stage exposes every people-related gap. This blog lays out exactly what founders need to focus on to scale smoothly, even without a full HR team.
1. Clarify roles before hiring more people
One of the biggest traps founders fall into is hiring quickly without defining what success looks like for each role.
At 20 employees, everyone does “whatever it takes.”
At 50 employees, that model breaks.
What to put in place now:
- Clear job responsibilities
- Success metrics for each role
- Defined reporting lines
- Updated org chart (even a simple one)
- A 6–12 month hiring plan
This ensures new hires land in a structure, not in a guessing game.
Founder tip:
If people regularly say “I didn’t know that was my job,” you already feel the early stages of HR chaos.
2. Build a simple, consistent onboarding process
Poor onboarding is one of the biggest hidden costs of scaling. It leads to:
- Slow ramp-up
- Early turnover
- Confusion
- Manager frustration
- Culture inconsistency
You don’t need a full HR team — you need a repeatable process.
At minimum, onboarding should include:
- A welcome checklist
- Systems and access ready on day one
- Role expectations and goals
- A 30-60-90 day plan
- Regular check-ins with managers
- Culture, values, and norms
Founder tip:
If every new hire has a totally different experience, your culture will drift fast.
3. Set expectations for managers — early
When you scale, the founder stops being the default leader for everyone. Managers become the heartbeat of the company. But most new managers have never been trained.
The result:
- Inconsistent communication
- Uneven performance standards
- Employee conflict
- Founder escalation overload
Give managers the clarity they need:
- What decisions they own
- How often they should check in with their team
- How to give feedback
- How to document performance conversations
- When to escalate issues
Founder tip:
“Managers should just know” is the fastest way to lose good people.
4. Create a culture playbook before culture becomes accidental
At 20 employees, your culture reflects your personality.
At 100 employees, culture reflects systems and behaviour — not intention.
You need a shared understanding of:
- How decisions are made
- How people collaborate
- How conflict is handled
- What accountability looks like
- How recognition works
- What your values look like in action
This isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s the operating system for how your team works.
Founder tip:
If you feel like you’re repeating yourself more than ever, you’re missing shared definitions.
5. Implement basic HR infrastructure (no, it doesn’t need to be fancy)
You don’t need an enterprise HRIS at 20 people. But by 40–60, you do need structure.
Minimum systems to put in place:
- HRIS or employee database
- Payroll and benefits management
- Time off tracking
- Performance and feedback documentation
- Onboarding/offboarding workflows
Without systems, founders end up being the “single source of truth” for everything — which is not sustainable.
Founder tip:
If your people data lives in spreadsheets, you will hit a wall.
6. Make compensation consistent before it becomes a problem
In early-stage startups, compensation conversations often sound like:
- “We’ll figure it out later”
- “Let’s match whatever offer they want”
- “We’ll adjust it when we grow”
At 30–60 employees, this becomes a minefield.
To avoid inequity and resentment:
- Create salary bands
- Standardize titles
- Document promotion criteria
- Review compensation annually
- Ensure pay decisions are consistent
Founder tip:
If you can’t explain why people are paid differently, it’s only a matter of time before someone else asks.
7. Build performance habits early
Performance issues become 10x harder to address when there’s no structure.
Start simple:
- Monthly or quarterly 1:1s
- Clear goals each quarter
- Documented feedback
- Coaching training for managers
This prevents the “surprise performance issue” that escalates at the worst possible time (usually when you’re already stressed).
Founder tip:
If you avoid performance conversations, your managers will avoid them too.
8. Protect your culture during rapid hiring
Rapid growth can unintentionally dilute culture if you don’t guard it.
Ask yourself:
- Are we hiring people who reflect our values?
- Are new hires learning our ways of working?
- Are we overhiring too quickly?
- Do we have time to integrate people well?
Culture isn’t something you maintain by accident. It’s something you reinforce intentionally.
9. Don’t wait too long to get HR leadership support
Most founders wait until something painful happens:
- An employee relations issue
- A legal risk
- A compensation dispute
- A messy termination
- A manager conflict
- A turnover spike
By then, the fix is harder and more expensive.
A fractional HR leader can provide:
- Structure
- Policies
- Manager coaching
- Compensation frameworks
- Organizational design
- Change management support
You don’t need a full-time CHRO at 20–100 employees. You need the right expertise at the right moments.
Founder tip:
If HR tasks are distracting you from leading, you’ve waited too long.
Scaling doesn’t have to be chaotic
The jump from 20 to 100 employees is one of the hardest — but with the right foundations, it can also be one of the most rewarding.
Here’s what matters most:
- Clarity
- Consistency
- Communication
- Simple systems
- Manager support
- Intentional culture
You don’t need a large HR department to get there. You need a plan, leadership alignment, and support that grows with you, we can help.
