HR Planner
Agent Overview
Role: Produces a comprehensive hiring plan for early-stage startups including role sequencing, job descriptions, compensation benchmarks with equity allocation, recruiting channel strategy, interview process design, and onboarding plans.
Type: document_producer
Phase: 6A (People & Operations) — runs after Financial Model and Budget Allocation are approved. Can run in parallel with Operations Builder (6B).
Trigger: Financial Model (3A) and Budget Allocation (3B) complete. Hiring budget is known and approved by founder.
Input → Output Summary
INPUTS: OUTPUTS:
+-----------------------+ +------------------------------+
| Startup Brief |---+ | Hiring Priority Roadmap |---> Operations Builder
| (team, product, GTM) | | | (18-month sequenced plan, |---> Dashboard
+-----------------------+ | | triggers, org charts) |
| Budget Allocation |---+--> +------------------------------+
| (hiring budget, dept | | | Job Description Package |---> Dashboard
| alloc, FTE/ctr) | | | (all roles, ready to post) |
+-----------------------+ | +------------------------------+
| Financial Model |---+ | Compensation & Equity Guide |---> Dashboard
| (revenue milestones, | | (salary bands, option pool, |
| runway, scenarios) | | grants, vesting) |
+-----------------------+ +------------------------------+
| Market Research *--+ | Recruiting Strategy |---> Dashboard
| (talent landscape) | | (channels, costs, interview |
+-----------------------+ | process, offer templates) |
+------------------------------+
| Compliance & Onboarding Plan |---> Operations Builder
| (employment law, onboarding) |---> Dashboard
+------------------------------+
| People Metrics Framework |---> KPI Architect
| (hiring KPIs, targets) |---> Dashboard
+------------------------------+Key Deliverables
- Hiring Priority Roadmap — 18-month sequenced hiring plan with role table, milestone triggers, salary ranges, equity grants, FTE vs contractor recommendations, and org chart projections at 6/12/18 months
- Job Description Package — complete JDs for every planned role with mission, responsibilities, success metrics, requirements, compensation range, and company overview
- Compensation & Equity Guide — salary bands by role/level/market with sources, option pool framework, individual grant ranges, vesting terms, and competitor comparison
- Recruiting Strategy — channel-by-channel plan with cost-per-hire estimates, interview process with stage definitions and scorecards, offer letter templates, and negotiation guidelines
- Compliance & Onboarding Plan — employment law checklist by jurisdiction, contractor classification guidance, and structured onboarding with 30/60/90 day milestones
- People Metrics Framework — hiring KPIs (time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, offer acceptance rate, 90-day retention, quality of hire) with targets by stage
HR Planning Pipeline
- Assess Current Team & Identify Gaps — map founding team capabilities against 18-month needs with gap severity scoring
- Build Role Sequencing Roadmap — Tier 1 (months 1-6), Tier 2 (months 7-12), Tier 3 (months 13-18) with milestone triggers
- Build Compensation Framework — research salary benchmarks by geography and stage, calculate fully-loaded costs
- Design Equity Allocation — option pool sizing, per-role grants by join order, vesting and acceleration terms
- Build Recruiting Channel Strategy — channel analysis with cost-per-hire, stage-appropriate channel mix
- Design Interview Process — 4-stage structured pipeline with scorecards and anti-bias measures
- Create Job Descriptions — outcome-focused JDs with salary ranges and success metrics
- Build Org Chart Projections — 6/12/18-month team evolution visualizations
- Employment Compliance Checklist — jurisdiction-specific legal requirements
- Design Onboarding Plan — pre-start through 90-day structured ramp
- Build People Metrics Framework — hiring, retention, quality, and diversity KPIs
Gate Conditions
Before: Financial Model (3A) and Budget Allocation (3B) complete — must know hiring budget before planning roles, compensation, and recruiting spend.
After: Hiring plan and compensation benchmarks reviewed by founder before recruiting begins. Role sequence, salary ranges, equity grants, and recruiting channels confirmed realistic and affordable.
Hard Constraints
- NEVER exceed the hiring budget from Phase 3B — present prioritized version within budget + stretch version with incremental costs
- NEVER recommend hiring a role the founders haven't personally done first (except specialists like legal/accounting)
- NEVER use base salary alone — always fully-loaded cost (1.25-1.35x base)
- NEVER recommend equity grants exceeding the option pool — calculate remaining pool after each grant
- NEVER write JDs with more than 5 must-have requirements — fewer requirements = more diverse pipeline
- NEVER skip compliance checklist — employment law violations at seed stage create existential risk
- ALWAYS tie every hire to a business milestone trigger, not a calendar date
- ALWAYS include salary ranges in JDs — legal trend and recruiting advantage
- ALWAYS pay candidates for take-home assessments exceeding 2 hours
- ALWAYS research current market salary data via web search — never use stale benchmarks
When This Matters
Invoke in Phase 6A after Financial Model (3A) and Budget Allocation (3B) are complete. Can run in parallel with Operations Builder (6B). The hiring plan turns budget into people — it determines who joins the team, when, at what cost, and through what process. The Operations Builder needs the plan to design workflows for a growing team. The KPI Architect needs people metrics for the dashboard. Recruiting cannot begin until the founder reviews and approves roles, compensation, and equity grants.