Rajen Patwari

Built the HR function basically from ground zero as the company scaled from 15 people to 100+. What I actually did: - Handled all recruitment (500+ hires total, mostly campus hiring) - Built and implemented our HRIS system - Created our performance management and feedback process - Managed payroll, benefits, compliance, all the operational stuff - Built our culture initiatives and kept engagement strong during the chaos of rapid growth - Did grievance management and maintained clean compliance record - Started implementing AI tools for recruitment screening and analytics The numbers that matter: - Scaled from 15 → 100+ employees - Maintained 95%+ offer acceptance rate - Reduced hiring cycle from 60 days → 20 days - Improved employee engagement score from 35 → 72 - Zero escalated grievances - 22% reduction in attrition during scaling The real win: We grew 6-7x and didn't lose our culture or values. Most startups can't say that. Skills used: Startup HR, Talent Acquisition, HRIS, Performance Management, Compliance, Organizational Design, Culture Building, some basic AI/automation tools

What I’m Building Building the People & HR function from day zero at a very early-stage startup. This means wearing many hats and focusing on what actually matters at this stage: • Creating hiring frameworks that support early growth • Setting up HR systems, documentation, and compliance from scratch • Managing payroll, benefits, and core people operations • Designing simple performance goals and feedback loops • Acting as a trusted point of contact for employee concerns • Supporting founders on people and culture decisions • Laying the foundation for culture, values, and engagement The focus isn’t scale yet it’s doing things right early so growth doesn’t break people or culture later.

Started my HR career here as a Junior HR professional and grew into the HR Manager role over 4+ years. What I learned and built: - Started in junior role, quickly took on more responsibility - Managed campus recruitment and talent acquisition - Handled payroll, benefits, compliance for growing finance company - Built employee relations and grievance management processes - Learned compliance and governance in regulated (financial services) environment - Managed org structure changes and workforce planning Why this matters: This is where I learned HR fundamentals. Built a solid foundation in compliance, recruitment, and employee relations. Moved up from junior role to manager, which taught me how to grow and adapt. Then moved on to build HR from scratch at my current organization with all this experience behind me.