Winging your product = bold
Winging your people = a disaster
Startups survive messy code, but they don’t survive messy teams. Get practical, psychology-led People support in your corner and build a team you can trust.
TRUSTED BY
Policies don't manage people, people do
HR kinda sucks.
I’ve spent my career rebelling against the kind of People work that slows founders down.
You don't need policies for the sake of it. You need someone who understands that every People decision feels existential when it's your company, and can help you build structure without killing what makes your startup yours.
The People Vault is your startup’s fractional People team: practical, psychology-led People support for founders who care about culture but hate bureaucracy.
We build the scaffolding that lets your team run without you in every decision - so you can get back to building the company.
Commercially minded • People obsessed
Commercially minded • People obsessed
Put the people part at the heart of your startup
From quick start people support to a full fractional people team, we flex with your startup needs.
People Vault Discovery
A psychologist-designed diagnostic that shows where your People foundations are strong, stretched, or slowing growth.
Small People problems get expensive fast, stay ahead and catch them early.
Build the base
Light touch fractional People support for founders who want structure without the bureaucracy.
We turn your intent into clear roles, rhythms, and rituals so you can grow without losing your sanity.
Mini People Team
Your startup’s fractional People function - strategy, systems, and bandwidth sized for your stage.
The team you’d hire if you had the budget (and the time).
Your people plan comes with upgrades
Your people plan scales with you. These are the high touch projects that take things from “working” to “working like a dream.”
Need just one thing? Manager development, pay frameworks, values work, off-sites - we can scope and deliver standalone projects.
Already on retainer but need extra bandwidth? We can add capacity for the big builds.
Commercially minded. People obsessed.
Most people consultants talk about culture and values like they’re separate from the business. They’re not.
We’ve worked with dozens of founders across industries and timezones, and we’ve seen the same patterns on repeat. When growth hits, the people stuff either accelerates it or breaks it.
We're commercially minded, comfortable with chaos, and can bring lightness to the hardest moments. We bring organisational psychology grounded in startup reality - embedded with your team, focused on building high-care, high-clarity teams who actually like where they work.
15+ founder-led startups backed
We’ve got seen it all experience
95 % + clients stick around
We build real relationships
100 % referral-led growth
Built on trust
Here's what that looks like in practice.
We’re not corporate HR. We care about People work that actually works.
Curiosity never killed this cat
No copy-paste playbooks. Every startup is different - and we like it that way.
Curiosity means we don’t assume, we explore. We notice patterns, test hunches, and invite teams to do the same. Whether through diagnostics or dialogue, the goal’s the same: to help founders understand themselves and their teams more clearly.
Capability over dependency
We build systems that run without us, not because of us
We'll create performance review cycles that embed over time. Manager development programmes that build confidence, and pay and progression frameworks teams can own and evolve without us in every decision. And when it comes to talent? Give them to me. We've got a sharp eye for talent and we know how to grow it.
Kindness always
Low ego, high trust. Founders need honest partners, not policy police.
Most founder are doing their (very) best. We offer non-judgemental support when the stakes feel highest. Whether it's coaching first time managers through difficult conversations or navigating co-founder dynamics with care and confidentiality.
Raise the damn bar
Pretty things matter. So do functional ones. Good People design should feel as good as it looks.
Workshop design that’s actually sticky (not death by theory), hiring systems that make sense for founders and candidates, and manager standards that people actually use - all crafted with care so they work beautifully in practice, not just on paper.
truly Exceptional People Person
“
Danielle is truly an exceptional people person. Great people are rare finds at the best of times, but HR folk that can also think commercially and strategically are particularly rare.”
Natasha Guerra (CEO, Runway East)
You've built the product. Now build the team.
The People stuff compounds - in both directions.
Small wins build trust. Trust builds momentum. And momentum builds teams that can keep up with your growth.
STARTUPS STAY HAUNTED BY THEIR PAST.
It's free, but far from a freebie. This is a research overview drawn from a year of studying the invisible dynamics that shape startups as they grow.
If you're the kind of founder who wants to understand the system you're building, and the ghosts forming within it, this is essential startup reading.