The Startup Zig-Zag: Turning Chaos into Momentum
By: Marta Voda, Senior HR Consultant
Startups don’t grow in straight lines; they zig, zag, loop-the-loop, and sometimes trip over their own sticky notes. The forming stage is exciting as people come together with a shared passion for solving a problem and the dream of becoming a unicorn. Then things quickly start to feel chaotic. People are hired before systems are finished, tech is half-plugged in, and employees are inventing SOPs, SLAs, and KPIs (with plenty of OMGs and LOLs along the way). It’s messy, and that’s normal. Your job isn’t to escape the chaos but to channel it by setting a clear vision and defining a culture where everyone knows what values really matter. The vision will guide your team while you balance short term wins with long term goals. Having a people strategy, support, and entrepreneurial energy can turn chaos into momentum, not burnout.
The first steps matter, and people are a priority. Having an HR framework gives you a foundation to build your team and company on. An HR roadmap helps you clarify priorities and goals. Defining culture and values gives everyone a compass for how the work should get done. But even with these building blocks, you’ll still run headfirst into what Bruce Tuckman famously called the Forming–Storming–Norming–Performing cycle. In the storming stage, conflicts, tensions, and blind spots inevitably pop up. This stage is where growing pains begin. Suddenly, you hear questions like: Why is this job different from the one I applied for? Who’s supposed to be doing that? Who told you to do this? Do we have the structure to support that right now? These are the soundtrack of building something new.
At scale, blind spots emerge even when you’re doing everything right. You’re building, leading, learning, and moving fast, all at once, while juggling competing priorities. Mistakes will happen. Costly missteps and unexpected setbacks will pop up too. But those bumps are also opportunities: chances to sharpen your leadership skills, improve communication, refine your operational systems, and move forward with more clarity. These aren’t flaws or failures; they’re lessons waiting to be integrated into better processes, stronger self-awareness, and smarter product decisions. In the moment, you may feel overwhelmed and second-guess yourself. That’s normal too! The goal is to shorten that stormy period, learn quickly, and get back to leading. And this is where an HR Partner can help. When you have a people strategy running alongside your business strategy, the chaos doesn’t linger.
An HR leader doesn’t just write policies, they translate your vision into daily reality. When roles start morphing and people wonder “Why is this job different from what I applied for?” HR helps you communicate changes proactively and reset expectations before resentment builds. Those “Who’s supposed to be doing that?” moments? An HR leader creates clear role definitions and decision-making frameworks so your team stops stepping on each other’s toes. When you’re moving fast with competing priorities, they act as your organizational memory tracking what was promised and what changed so nothing falls through the cracks.
Most importantly, they free you up to lead. Instead of firefighting people problems, you’re focused on product, customers, and growth while knowing your team has the support, clarity, and systems they need to perform. That’s how you shorten the stormy phase and get back to building.
A lot of early-stage founders feel they “don’t need HR yet,” but the right kind of support can save you from expensive mistakes while keeping your business lean. You don’t need a full-time hire right away. What you do need is someone who can set up the right foundations, help you see around corners, and make sure your people strategy grows at the same pace as your business. Get in touch with us to find out how fractional HR can take you from chaos to clarity.