Where to Start When You Have No HR Function: A Smarter Roadmap for Small Companies

If you’re running a growing biotech or startup, chances are you didn’t start your business with a CHRO on speed dial. But once hiring ramps up and people problems start surfacing like burnout, turnover, and mixed signals about culture, you realize you need something more than good intentions and a payroll system.

That something is HR. Not just as a compliance function, but as a lever for scale, clarity, and momentum.

But here’s the catch: most small companies don’t need everything at once. And trying to implement “best practices” without context can leave you spinning your wheels or worse, over-engineering solutions that don’t match where your business actually is.

At Compass HR, we help early-stage teams build strategic HR roadmaps that meet the moment and evolve with the business. Here’s where we recommend starting:

1. Start with Business Priorities, Not HR Templates

Before you invest in handbooks or org charts, ask: What are the company’s short- and long-term priorities and where are people matters likely to become important? Maybe you're preparing for a fundraise and need hiring rigor. Or you're scaling fast and starting to feel culture drift. Or your founders are spending hours managing people problems they weren’t trained for. The right starting point depends on your current friction.

At Compass, we root every HR roadmap in business strategy first. From there, we identify which people levers—culture definition, hiring clarity, compliance scaffolding, or leadership development to name a few—will drive the most impact right now.

2. Define the Culture Before You Try to Hire For It

Too often, founders try to scale before they’ve articulated what they’re actually trying to scale. That leads to mismatched hires, unclear expectations, and values that live on a slide instead of in daily behavior.

Culture isn’t a vibes memo; it’s a set of operational and behavioral norms that shape how your company functions. Ask:

• What behaviors are rewarded here?

• What do we tolerate (even when we shouldn’t)?

• What kind of decision-making do we expect from leaders?

• What needs to stay the same as we grow and what can flex?

Once you define this, you can hire, lead, and manage with clarity. That’s what culture-driven companies do differently.

3. Build the Minimum Viable Infrastructure

Yes, you need policies. But no, you don’t need a 90-page handbook written like a legal treatise.

Start with what we call your People Operating System—the basic rules, tools, and rituals that support consistent, compliant, and human-centered operations. This often includes:

• A starter handbook that’s readable, aligned to your culture, and flexible. Limit to what’s going to be most used and legally necessary; holiday schedules, paid time off, state-specific regulations, and travel policies are usually hot ticket items.

• An offer-to-onboarding workflow that’s clean, welcoming, and consistent

• A compliance pulse-check (think: exempt vs. non-exempt, offer letters, anti-harassment training, etc.)

• An early compensation philosophy, even if it’s simple, to guide internal equity and external competitiveness

This is the invisible scaffolding that keeps you stable as you scale.

4. Clarify Your Hiring Philosophy and EVP

Every hire is high-stakes when you’re small. You’re not just adding skill; you’re shaping identity.

That’s why we work with clients to define a clear Employee Value Proposition (EVP)—not just for marketing, but for operational alignment. Your EVP should answer: Why would someone choose to work here, stay here, and grow here?

From there, you can:

• Write job descriptions that reflect both the role and the reality

• Create a consistent, values-based interview process

• Align compensation and benefits with your EVP

It’s not about flashy perks. It’s about clarity, intentionality, and trust.

5. Don’t Wait to Invest in Your Leaders

Your managers are your culture’s delivery system. If they’re unclear, burned out, or underprepared, no amount of policy will fix it.

Start small: provide role clarity, regular feedback rhythms, and bite-sized development. Coach founders and early people leaders. Set expectations around communication and decision-making. Model the behaviors you want to scale.

The Compass POV

At Compass, we don’t believe in plug-and-play HR. We believe in building smart, phased, business-aligned roadmaps that reflect your growth stage, leadership style, and long-term vision.

Whether you’re pre-Series A or prepping for commercialization, we help you:

• Diagnose the real friction in your team and org

• Prioritize what matters right now

• Build practical, flexible infrastructure that scales with you

Want to know what should be on your roadmap? Let’s talk.