STARTUP HR PLAYBOOK
HR policies for a startup company before great people leave
You built the product. You raised the funding. Now you need people policies that do not blow up when you hit 50 employees. We help you build structured, legally sound, and practical HR policies before things start breaking.
- Essential HR policies built from scratch. Leave, benefits, code of conduct, onboarding, exit, and more.
- Designed for startups scaling from 10 to 200+ employees across India.
- 24 years of HR expertise distilled into a practical, startup-friendly format.
- Delivered as a consulting engagement with ready-to-use policy documents that you own permanently.
Tell us about your startup and we will scope the right playbook for your organization.
THE PROBLEM
Why startups wake up one day with an HR crisis they did not see coming
Most founders do not think about HR policies until something goes wrong. And by then, decisions have already become inconsistent, reactive, and risky.
At 15 people, you do not need an HR playbook. Everyone knows each other. Policies are informal. Leave is managed on a WhatsApp group. Salaries are decided by the founder. It works.
At 50 people, everything breaks.
An employee takes three weeks off, and nobody is sure what the leave policy actually says. A manager lets someone go without documentation, and the company receives a legal notice. Two people in the same role discover they are paid very differently. A new hire asks for the employee handbook on their first day, and nobody can find one because it was never written.
We work with startups across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. The pattern is identical every time.
The patterns we see across every industry
After building startup HR policies for companies at every stage, from seed to Series B, the same problems surface with striking regularity.
1. Leave policies are ad hoc
No written policy. No consistency. No trust.
Some people take unlimited leave, others feel guilty taking any. There is no written policy. When someone takes advantage, the founders have no policy to point to, so they either ignore it or overreact. Both damage trust.
2. Compensation has no structure
Salary chaos becomes resentment.
Early employees were paid based on negotiation, urgency, and whatever the founder could afford that month. As the team grows, salary inconsistencies create resentment when people inevitably compare notes.
3. There is no onboarding process
New hires are left to figure it out.
New hires show up and figure it out by watching others. Nobody explains the culture, the expectations, or the basic people policies. Some people thrive. Many feel lost for weeks. A few leave within the first quarter.
4. Code of conduct does not exist
Until the first serious issue arrives.
Until the first serious behavioural issue lands on the founder’s desk. Then the founders realize they have no documented expectations, no process for addressing violations, and no basis for taking action.
5. Compliance is an afterthought
Legal requirements are ignored until forced.
POSH compliance, PF registration, gratuity provisions, and shop and establishment registration. These are legal requirements that many startups ignore until a problem forces their attention.
6. The founder is doing HR
The most expensive HR hire you never planned.
Between fundraising, product development, and customer acquisition, the founder is also approving leave, handling salary negotiations, and mediating team conflicts. Without standard operating procedures for HR, this continues by default, and the founder burns out solving problems that a simple policy would have prevented.
The first wrongful termination claim. The first salary discrimination complaint. The first star performer who leaves because they felt the company was “unorganized.” The first POSH complaint with no ICC in place. Every month without structured people policies adds compounding risk. Enquire Now →
WHAT WE DELIVER
A complete HR framework tailored to your stage
We build every policy your startup needs, written in plain language, legally sound, and designed for the stage you are at now, with room to grow. This is not a generic template download. It is a consulting engagement that produces a finished, usable HR playbook.
Employment policies
Offer letter templates, employment agreements, and core HR policies covering probation, confirmation, separation, and full and final settlement. The foundational documents every growing company needs.
Leave and attendance
Leave types, accrual rules, encashment, hybrid work from home policy, remote and hybrid work policy, attendance expectations, and holiday calendar framework. Reflects how your team actually works.
Compensation and benefits
Salary structure guidelines, benefits framework, variable pay guidelines, salary review process, and a compensation philosophy document. A basis for consistent, defensible pay decisions as you grow.
Code of conduct
Expected behaviours, conflict of interest policy, social media guidelines, anti-harassment commitment, disciplinary process, and escalation procedures. Written so your team understands what is expected.
Onboarding framework
A 90-day onboarding plan, welcome kit checklist, buddy system design, and first-week schedule template. One of the most overlooked pieces of the puzzle, yet it directly impacts retention and early performance.
Performance management basics
Goal-setting framework, feedback cadence, review cycle calendar, and a simple performance conversation template. Practical and startup-appropriate, not an enterprise-level system.
POSH compliance setup
POSH policy, ICC constitution, complaint process documentation, and awareness training outline. A critical compliance requirement in India, especially as teams grow and investor scrutiny increases.
Statutory compliance checklist
PF, ESI, gratuity, professional tax, and shop and establishment obligations. A clear roadmap of what applies at your current size, so you are not scrambling under pressure later.
Want to see the full scope for your startup?
We will tailor the playbook to your team size, stage, and growth plans.
OUR APPROACH
The engagement process
Unlike generic HR templates you download online, this playbook is built specifically for your company. A fintech company in Bengaluru scaling to 80 people has different needs from a D2C brand in Mumbai at 30. We build for your reality.
2-hour founder session
Just you and Excellential. We understand your company, your culture, your current pain points, and where you are headed in the next 12 to 18 months. This is where we learn what makes your startup different from the last one we worked with.
Build over 4 to 6 weeks.
Every policy is built with regular check-ins and reviews. Written in plain, jargon-free language. We do not produce 40-page legal documents that nobody reads. We produce practical, readable people and culture policies that your team can follow and your managers can enforce.
Walkthrough and rollout support
A one-hour session with your leadership team on how to roll out and communicate the playbook to your people without making it feel like “corporate” just arrived.
You own everything
Editable documents that belong to you permanently. No licensing fees. No ongoing subscriptions. Your playbook. Your company. Built once, updated as you grow.
Not a template. A finished playbook built for your company.
See how this looks for startups at your stage.
YOUR STAGE
We adapt to where you are, not where a template assumes you should be
Every startup is at a different stage. A 15-person team needs clarity without bureaucracy. A 70-person company needs consistency and fairness. A 150-person organization needs scalable systems that satisfy investors and senior hires.
0 to 10 employees
Founders and early team
Focus: Clarity without bureaucracy
Basic employment structure, including offer letters and agreements. Foundational startup HR policies covering leave, work norms, and a basic code of conduct. A compensation philosophy so you have a basis for pay decisions going forward. A light onboarding structure. Ideal for founders who want to avoid a future mess while staying agile.
11 to 50 employees
Early scale stage
Focus: Consistency and fairness
Structured people policies across leave, conduct, and the employment lifecycle. Defined SOPs for HR processes, including onboarding, confirmation, and exits. Compensation structure guidelines. A basic performance management framework. This is where the cracks show up, and this is when most founders reach out to us.
51 to 100 employees
Growth stage
Focus: Scalability and control
A full employee handbook. Advanced HR processes covering goal setting, review cycles, and feedback systems. Compensation bands and salary benchmarking logic. Strengthened HR compliance for startups in India, including PF, gratuity, and statutory coverage. Manager enablement tools. At this stage, investors and senior hires expect structure.
100+ employees
Scaling organization
Focus: Maturity and optimization
A refined HR framework aligned with business strategy. Leadership-level policies and governance structures. Performance and talent development systems. Audit-ready statutory compliance. This is where HR becomes a business enabler, not just a function.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Deliverables
You receive a complete employee handbook along with all supporting HR documents and templates
- A complete Employee Handbook, editable and branded with your company identity.
- Individual policy documents for each area: leave, code of conduct, POSH, compensation, hybrid work arrangement policy, and more.
- Offer letter and employment agreement templates.
- Onboarding checklist and 90-day plan template.
- Performance review template and goal-setting guide.
- POSH policy, ICC constitution document, and complaint form.
- Statutory compliance checklist with action items.
RESULTS
What changes after this playbook
For the founders
- Less time spent on people issues and escalations.
- A clear decision-making framework for hiring, pay, and performance.
- Confidence during investor due diligence.
- The founder stops being the default HR department and gets back to building the company.
For the organization
- Consistent and fair people practices across every team and location.
- Stronger employee trust and clarity on expectations and entitlements.
- Reduced legal and compliance risks.
- A scalable HR foundation that grows with the company instead of breaking under pressure.
Ready to build your HR foundation?
Tell us about your startup, and we will scope the right playbook for your stage.
Testimonials
WHO IS THIS FOR
Startups that need structured people policies without slowing down
If any of the patterns above sound familiar, this engagement is built for you.
Startups scaling from 10 to 200+ employees
Those that have outgrown informal HR practices and need a proper human resources standard operating procedures framework before things start breaking.
Founders still handling HR decisions personally
You need to hand over to a process, a person, or both? The playbook gives you a system to delegate against, not just another problem to manage.
First-time HR hires at startups
You need a foundation to build on instead of starting from scratch? We build the playbook and train your HR hire to own it going forward. They get a head start of months.
Companies preparing for Series A or B due diligence
They need their HR house in order before investors start asking questions. Structured HR compliance for startups is no longer optional at this stage.
Any growing company that has been putting off HR policies
And knows the risk is growing with every new hire. The longer you wait, the harder and more expensive the cleanup becomes.
Not sure where to start?
We will assess your current state and recommend the right scope. No hard sell.
WHY EXCELLENTIAL
What makes us different
You have options. HR consultancies, freelance HR professionals, and template libraries. Here is what makes working with us different.
We have built this before
For startups, you have probably heard of. We know what policies a 30-person startup needs versus a 150-person company. We do not give you an enterprise-level HR manual that gathers dust. We give you what works at your stage.
We understand startup culture
Speed matters. Flexibility matters. We build people and culture policies that provide structure without killing the agility that makes your startup work. The goal is clarity, not bureaucracy.
Legally sound, practically written
Every policy is reviewed for compliance with Indian labour law. But they are written in language your team will actually read and follow. Not legal documents. Working documents.
Contextualized for Indian workplaces
A Bengaluru team has different leave expectations than a Delhi team. Regional compliance varies. Cultural norms around hierarchy and communication shape how policies land. We account for all of it.
You own everything
No subscriptions. No licensing. Editable documents that belong to you permanently. Your playbook. Your company.
24 years of L&D and HR expertise
15,000+ professionals trained. 80+ organizations served across IT, BFSI, manufacturing, retail, pharma, and startups. We have seen what works.
THE GAP
Why putting this off is the most expensive decision you are making right now
A founder spends two hours resolving a leave dispute that a one-page policy would have prevented. A star performer resigned because they felt the company lacked professionalism. A compliance gap surfaces during due diligence and delays funding. A termination without documentation turns into a legal notice.
None of these is hypothetical. Every one of them happens regularly to startups that delay building their HR foundation. The cost is never just the incident. It is the founder time, the team trust, and the organizational credibility that erode quietly in the background.
Technical skills and a strong product get startups funded. Structured people management policies determine whether startups can scale what they built.
Build the foundation before you need to fix the cracks
Every month you delay is another month of risk. A wrongful termination claim. A salary dispute. A compliance gap that a diligent investor will flag. We build your HR playbook in 4 to 6 weeks, so you can get back to building your company.
FAQS
Frequently asked questions
When should a startup invest in HR policies?
Ideally, between 5 and 10 employees. Before that, informal practices work. After that, legal exposure, salary disputes, and compliance gaps grow fast. If you are past 20 without written HR policies, you are already behind.
We already have some policies. Can you review and fill in the gaps?
Yes. We audit what you have, flag what is missing or risky, and rewrite what needs fixing. You only pay for work that still needs doing.
Do you help with implementation or just write the documents?
Both. The standard engagement delivers the documents. The add-on covers implementation manager training, employee communication, and running the first few cycles of any new process.
Can you work with our existing HR person or the first HR hire?
This is our favourite engagement. We build the playbook and train your HR hire to own it. They hit the ground running instead of starting from scratch.
What if we already have policies, but they are inconsistent or outdated?
We audit what you have, identify inconsistencies, flag compliance risks, and rebuild what needs rewriting. The goal is one coherent HR framework, not a patchwork of documents from different eras.
How is this different from downloading HR templates online?
Templates give you a starting point. We give you a finished playbook built for your company, your stage, and Indian compliance requirements. A template does not know your Bengaluru team has different leave expectations than your Delhi team. We do.
Will this slow down our startup culture?
No. We build policies that create structure without killing speed. Startups that avoid policies usually end up with something worse: inconsistency, favouritism, complaints, and founders firefighting HR issues instead of building the company.
Do you work with startups outside the major metros?
Yes. We work with startups across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and beyond. The engagement runs on virtual sessions and document delivery, so location is not a constraint.
What does this cost?
We scope the engagement based on your team size, current setup, and how many policy areas need building. We discuss this on the initial founder call and share a clear proposal before any work begins.
