40+
Founders & Leadership teams
Post-Seed→Series B
Stage focus
FOUNDATION - BY ZED ESS
You didn't start your company to do HR.
Get back to your mission.
Foundation is the people infrastructure programme for post-seed to Series B founders - so you can scale without burnout, people debt, or wasted money.
19+
Years in digital & tech
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Founders scale product and revenue faster than their ability to scale people.
It's not a failure of leadership. It's a structural gap. And it shows up the same way, every time.
• Hiring is reactive
Post-fundraise, hiring turns into a trolley dash. Everything feels urgent. You're bringing people in without a clear sequence or plan.
• A hire isn't working
Someone isn't performing. You're not sure why. Is it the hire, the onboarding, the role scoping, or the feedback. Probably all four.
"That's people debt. Common in startups. Expensive if you leave it to grow."
• Ownership is unclear
Everything escalates to you. Decisions, standards, problems all climb back up because there's no clear "how we do things here."
• Managers are struggling
Your best people became managers. Now they're improvising. They were great at the work - leading is a different skill entirely.
THE PROGRAMME
Foundation
A structured people infrastructure programme. Five stages, one coherent arc - from reactive and noisy to clear, confident, and ready to scale.
Most engagements start with a single acute pain point - a bad hire, a chaotic headcount push, a manager who isn't landing it. Foundation starts there, then builds the infrastructure that stops it coming back.
1
2
3
4
5
Stabilise
Stop the pain. Diagnose and solve the immediate people or hiring crisis - so you can think clearly again.
Define
Establish your culture. Vision, mission, values and behaviours - the foundation everything else is built on.
Build
Connect your business plan to a hiring plan. Right people, right sequence, right time - no more guessing.
Embed
Onboarding, performance frameworks, levelling and progression. Systems that run without you in the room.
Sustain
Hand over to a full-time people lead - or stay on as fractional support. Foundation complete.
£5,000
1-4 weeks
£12,000
6-8 weeks
£10,000
4-6 weeks
£60,000
6-9 months
£3,000/mo
Ongoing
Founders stop scrapping around trying to be a People team - and get back to building the company you dreamt of creating.
START HERE
The People Clinic
Every Foundation engagement starts with a free 30-minute diagnostic conversation. Sharp, focused, and practical - we identify the root cause of what's going wrong and agree the right next step.
You share what's going on. I ask the questions nobody else has asked.
We identify the root cause - not just the symptom you came in with
You leave with clarity on the real problem and a clear recommendation for what to do next.
An honest conversation about what's happening and what would actually help.
People Clinic
Free • 30 minutes • Video call
For post-seed to Series B founders with a people or hiring challenge. Come with your most pressing problem - we'll spend 30 minutes getting to the bottom of it together.
Limited slots available each week. No commitment required.
WHAT FOUNDERS SAY
Real results, real founders.
"Before working with ZeShaan, we faced significant challenges as a growing company. We wanted a formal review process but didn't know where to start. ZeShaan partnered with our leadership team to build custom competencies for our career framework that aligned perfectly with our company's identity. Employees now understand exactly what is required to progress. The impact was tremendous."
Bruno Lecoq, CEO & Sylwia Chmielewska, Director of People
BEMO
"He gets to the big problems instantly and will help you find solutions that will work. I'd recommend him to anyone with people, talent or culture problems."
Barry Cranford, Founder
RecWorks
"ZeShaan stepped in at a critical moment. He brought clarity, structure, and real pace - scoping the role, designing an interview process, and guiding us from first conversation to signed offer in under 25 working days. His approach was highly strategic, but also deeply practical."
Sam Moorhouse, Founder & CEO
turntabl
"ZeShaan was one of our most trusted advisors - whether working with Series A companies on building high-performing teams or individual coaching with executives. We would never have been able to support so many amazing companies without him."
Liam Ward, Head of Programmes
Tech Nation
Some companies I’ve helped
ABOUT ZESHAAN
I'm not a recruiter, a coach, or an HR consultant.
I'm a systems thinker for people. I diagnose the root cause, solve the immediate problem, and build the infrastructure that stops it coming back.
19+ years across digital, tech, and startups. 40+ founders and leadership teams. The full arc - from crisis to scale.
Agency - learned to assess and close talent in fast-moving markets
Startups to scale-ups - built hiring and people systems as companies scaled
Consultancy - 40+ startups and scale-ups across funding stages and leadership styles
Tech Nation & Plugged Founders advisor - supported early-stage to Series A companies on high-performing teams
WHY FOUNDATION EXISTS
Too many founders get trapped in operational firefighting instead of focusing on strategic growth. They become the accidental People team - solving the same people problems over and over, burning cash and energy that should be going into the mission.
Foundation exists to change that. To give founders the infrastructure that lets their team perform - without the founder needing to be in the middle of every people problem.
The goal is simple: get you back to the work only you can do.
READY TO START?
Your next hire, your next manager challenge, your next people crisis -
it doesn't have to derail you.
Book a free 30-minute People Clinic. Come with your most pressing challenge. Leave with clarity.