Case Study

Building a Scalable People Foundation for Surgicure

"Working with GrowthLab has been one of the most reassuring parts of building Surgicure..."

Challenge

Lack of HR function, no defined hiring timeline, and no compensation data to help guide offer decisions.

Industry

MedTech / Surgical Innovation

Services

• HR
• FP&A

Founder-Led Growth Without People Infrastructure

Like many early-stage companies, Surgicure lacked a defined HR function, a clear hiring timeline, and market data to guide offers and hiring decisions. Surgicure, a mission-driven MedTech startup, is gaining momentum with its innovative product, The HorseShoe™, and needs to plan for fast growth of its team. But like many founder-led companies in early stages, they faced people-planning roadblocks: no internal HR function, no defined hiring timeline, and no compensation data to help guide offer decisions.

The CEO, Irena King, was navigating high-stakes growth decisions with limited support in how to operationalize hiring. She needed a partner who could help her scale the team intentionally without rushing hires or stretching startup resources too thin.

Structured People Planning and Fractional HR Advisory

We started by helping Surgicure connect business goals with people strategy. That meant more than just hiring bodies; it meant building the right team at the right time, for the right reasons. Here’s how we supported them:

• Hiring Roadmap Development: Worked with the CEO to anticipate the pain points the current team would experience as the business scaled, helping identify which roles would be needed next and why; prioritizing hires based on impact and urgency rather than a fixed timeline or visual roadmap.
  
• Job Architecture & Descriptions: we edited current job descriptions and crafted clear, compelling job descriptions for upcoming roles that reflected Surgicure’s values and mission because attracting the right talent starts with saying the right things in the right way.
  
• Compensation Benchmarking: using real market data, we defined salary ranges that were fair, competitive, and sustainable for a startup budget. We also ensured alignment across roles to support internal equity.
  
• Fractional HR Advisory: we offered hands-on, proactive guidance; adapting quickly to strategy changes and flagging key next steps. 
  

"Working with GrowthLab has been one of the most reassuring parts of building Surgicure. The team is thoughtful, kind, and genuinely invested in our success. From the very beginning, they’ve been on top of things—often flagging next steps or handling action items before I even ask. They don’t just execute; they take the time to make sure I understand what we’re doing and why, which has been invaluable. Their flexibility, adaptability, and creativity make them the ideal partner for a fast-moving startup like ours. Whether we’re shifting strategies or building something from scratch, they meet us where we are and help lay a strong, scalable foundation. I’m incredibly grateful for their support and confident in the structure we’re building together."

Launching "Headhunting-as-a-Service" (HaaS)

With the right framework in place, Surgicure found clarity and confidence in its next phase of growth:

• The CEO had visibility into who to hire, when, and why.
  
• Offers can be made with confidence, backed by data and structure.
  
• The risk of mis-hiring was reduced significantly.
  
• Future candidates will walk away with a strong first impression of Surgicure’s values and professionalism.
  

Why It Worked

Startups move fast and plans shift often. Surgicure didn’t just need templates or one-off advice. They needed an HR partner who could adapt, simplify complex decisions, and bring structure to growth. That’s what we do best.

If you're building something big and want to build it the right way, we’d love to help.

From the customer’s perspective, the key elements important to her employees were the company culture, comprehensive benefits, and adequate paid time off. The owner expressed a desire to alleviate her team's workload and increase compensation while acknowledging the challenges they had faced during a difficult year that had included some layoffs. GrowthLab has supported these key elements for the owner by reviewing benefits and PTO and providing recommended changes to ensure that these are in compliance and are perceived as valuable by the employees.