Should a start-up begin introducing HR processes at employee number 50 or 100? Ask Amit Somani ( pictured, below ), an ex-Googler and MakeMyTripper and currently Managing Partner at Prime Ventures, an early-stage VC that has funded HackerEarth, and he says there is no magic number to it.

He feels that the people process at a start-up needs to be different when scaling up headcount from 10 to 100, and when scaling up from 100 to 1,000. “In many ways, the process that is introduced during the 10-to-100 stage is the really important one as it defines whether you will make it to beyond 100,” he says.

“I am not a big fan of structured processes. But start-ups do need to have systems. However, every start-up has its own rhythm and style, and the system it introduces should fit in that mould,” he says. “When we fund start-ups, we evaluate their competence to attract and inspire people, and their ability to deal with leaders, and the first set of hires is crucial,” he says.

The Google model Somani, a veteran at working in start-ups, feels that Google, the most successful start-up of them all, mentored by Silicon Valley coach Bill Campbell, cracked the people process best, adding that as an investor, he often recommends Google’s OKR (Objectives and Key Results) and team performance-management systems to the start-ups he mentors.

“It’s a self-calibrating system. You post your own objectives as well as the key results achieved. No other human being is involved. And everybody can see it,” he says.

Much of scaling-up is also all about learning the art of delegating and making the right hires, says Somani. “It’s classic management school wisdom: you cannot scale if you do everything yourself, so you have to transition from doing it yourself to hiring others to do it.”

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