How We Help Growing Businesses

Six representative HR engagement scenarios. Identifying details are illustrative to protect client privacy.

These scenarios represent the types of challenges TalentForge360 addresses across fractional HR, compliance, recruiting, and HR leadership engagements with startups and small businesses across the United States.

Fractional HR

The founder who got their Fridays back

28-person SaaS company · Raleigh, NC

Situation

The CEO was handling all hiring, onboarding, and employee questions personally — spending an estimated 15–20% of every week on HR tasks that never made it to the top of the priority list.

What we did

  • Transitioned day-to-day HR ownership to a fractional HR partner within the first week
  • Audited and rewrote offer letters, the employee handbook, and core policies
  • Set up an onboarding workflow that reduced time-to-productivity for new hires

Result

The CEO reclaimed roughly a full day per week within 30 days. Three key hires were completed in the following 60 days using a structured process the founder had never had before.

Compliance Audit

Seven compliance gaps found before California expansion

44-person company · Multi-state expansion

Situation

A growing business was preparing to hire its first employees in California and New York. No prior compliance review had been done since the company was founded. Their existing policies were built for a single-state employer.

What we did

  • Conducted a full 25-point HR compliance audit across all current and target states
  • Identified seven material compliance gaps, including I-9 handling, handbook gaps, and offer letter language
  • Delivered a prioritized written action plan with severity ratings and remediation steps

Result

All seven gaps were resolved within six weeks before the expansion went live. The company entered two new states with compliant documentation and no open enforcement exposure.

Scaling Support

From 22 to 58 employees in eight months

Series B SaaS startup · Remote-first

Situation

The company had just closed its Series B and needed to roughly triple its headcount in under a year. There was no HR infrastructure, no compensation framework, and no hiring process beyond ad hoc outreach.

What we did

  • Placed a Fractional Head of People to own the entire HR build
  • Built a compensation structure benchmarked against industry data for each role tier
  • Designed and documented a full hiring process — from JD to offer — that hiring managers could run independently

Result

36 hires across 14 roles in eight months. Performance management launched in month five. The company entered its next growth phase with HR infrastructure that could scale without adding an internal team.

Recruiting

The technical hire that eluded three agencies

30-person engineering team · 14-week open role

Situation

A senior DevOps role had been open for 14 weeks. Three agencies had presented candidates — none progressed past the second interview. The hiring manager had given up on the external market.

What we did

  • Rewrote the job description to reflect actual role requirements rather than aspirational ones
  • Sourced directly from DevOps communities and referral networks outside standard job boards
  • Structured the interview process to reduce evaluation inconsistency across rounds

Result

An offer was accepted in 31 days at a market-rate compensation package. The candidate has been with the company for over a year.

HR Foundation

Investor-ready HR in 30 days

Pre-Series A startup · 18 employees

Situation

The company's Series A term sheet included a diligence requirement for employment documentation. The founding team had no formal offer letters, no handbook, and no documented HR processes.

What we did

  • Delivered compliant offer letter templates, an updated employee handbook, and a core policy set within 30 days
  • Restructured equity and compensation documentation to meet investor standards
  • Set up a compliance calendar and basic HR infrastructure for the next phase of growth

Result

Diligence closed without HR-related flags. The company used the same documentation framework through its Series B two years later.

Bridge Coverage

Continuity after an unexpected HR departure

52-person company · HR Director resigned with two weeks notice

Situation

The company's only internal HR leader resigned unexpectedly. With an open benefits renewal, two active performance issues, and a class of new hires starting in three weeks, leadership had no one to own HR operations.

What we did

  • Stepped in as fractional HR within 48 hours to own open items and maintain continuity
  • Led benefits renewal negotiations and completed the onboarding cohort on schedule
  • Ran the recruitment process for a permanent HR Manager while providing day-to-day coverage

Result

Zero operational disruption during a three-month coverage period. A permanent HR Manager was placed before the engagement ended and was fully onboarded by the fractional partner before transition.

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