For founders and CEOs building technology teams
Hire the technical talent you need, without handing over the runway.
Startup Staffing gives international technology startups and scaleups — pre-seed through Series B+, bootstrapped or funded — experienced recruitment support for specialist technical and engineering roles, with the fee paid as an agreed monthly percentage of each hire's gross monthly salary for as long as they stay. Build the plan first, then talk to us.
The founder problem SUS is built around
You are usually deciding between the hire you need and the cash you want to keep. Recruitment fees make that decision harder than it should be.
Working capital stays where it is useful
A traditional fee lands as one invoice weeks after your new hire starts, at exactly the point you are also absorbing salary, equipment and onboarding. SUS spreads the recruitment cost into monthly payments tied to that employee.
Several hires do not become several large invoices
Growth usually means hiring in clusters. Three or four conventional fees arriving in the same quarter is a real cash event. With SUS each hire adds a known monthly figure instead.
You still employ the person, in the normal way
The candidate joins on your employment contract, your terms, your team. Nothing about the funding model changes who the employer is.
The trade-off, stated plainly
Monthly payments continue while the employee stays, so over a long tenure the cumulative cost can exceed a one-off fee. The calculator shows you that crossover month, and a pre-agreed buy-out exists for when you want to close it off.
Flexibility you can act on
If someone leaves, billing stops from their final date of employment. If you would rather end the monthly arrangement early, you pay the buy-out value agreed with you in writing up front.
Model the whole hiring plan, not one role
Most founders are not hiring one person. The team hiring planner takes up to ten role lines, each with its own salary and number of hires, and shows the month-one cash comparison, the cumulative cost over time and the crossover month for the plan as a whole.
You end up with a shareable link and a printable one-page summary — the two things you need when the conversation moves to your co-founder, your board or whoever signs off spend. Figures in the planner are illustrative until we agree your terms in writing.
The short version
SUS in 60 seconds
Everything that matters about the Startup Staffing model, in six answers.
- What is it?
- Permanent recruitment for international technology startups and scaleups, delivered by Humand Talent Solutions Limited under the Startup Staffing (SUS) model.
- How do I pay?
- An agreed monthly percentage of the employee's gross monthly salary, invoiced monthly in arrears from their start date, instead of one large fee at the point of hire.
- Who employs the person?
- You do, directly, on your own employment contract. We are not the employer and this is not a contract or umbrella arrangement.
- What if they leave?
- Billing stops from their final date of employment. Payments already made are not refunded.
- Can I buy out?
- Yes. Pay the pre-agreed buy-out value and future monthly billing for that placement ends. Previous payments are not deducted from it.
- What do I do next?
- Model your hiring in the calculator and send it to us, or just tell us what you are planning. Your percentage and buy-out value are agreed in writing before any work begins.
Percentages and buy-out values are agreed with each business individually in writing. Any figures shown elsewhere on this site are illustrative examples, not standard pricing.
Keep reading
- SUS explainedA clean commercial explainer you can send to a co-founder or investor.
- SUS vs traditional feesWhere the two models actually differ, including where SUS costs more.
- The cost of startup hiringWhat a hire really costs a young company beyond the salary.
- For finance leadsThe same model from a cash planning and cost timing perspective.
- Full FAQCosts, contracts, buy-outs and getting started, answered in detail.
- How SUS worksThe five steps from brief to monthly billing.
Tell us what you are trying to build.
You do not need a signed-off role or a finished job specification. Early hiring conversations are welcome, including whether SUS is the right fit for you at all.
- A specific live vacancy you are trying to fill
- Hiring you are planning over the next few months
- Several future hires and how they would work together
- Whether SUS is the right fit for your business at all
Prefer to talk? 01865 657 000
Prefer email? joseph@humand.co.uk