#46 JooBee's newsletter

TL;DR

🛑 HR, stop bracing for layoffs, start driving revenue

✂️ Refocus HR for growth, not just cost-cutting

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HR, stop bracing for layoffs, start driving revenue

It’s halfway through the year and for many start-ups, the numbers are in. If we’re off track, the pressure’s building up fast:

• Revenue is below target.

• Customer acquisition costs are creeping up.

• Cash runway is tightening.

And that familiar, sinking feeling returns: Are we about to revisit headcount costs, again?

Let’s be clear: HR’s value is NOT just in cost-cutting

But too often, that’s when we’re called in. When it’s time to deliver the tough news. I recently had a conversation with a business leader about HR’s role in driving growth. They pushed back with comments like:

• “Isn’t that too much to expect of HR?”

• “What makes them qualified?”

• “They just need to handle the firing well.”

(Yes, I’ll park my frustration… for now 🧘🏻‍♀️)

But here’s what I tell every HR leader I work with:

We say we’re stuck firefighting. But if we see the 🔥smoke now, we have time to 🧯prevent the blaze. That means shifting from reactive to strategic. Right now.

And it starts with one question: “What are the levers that will get revenue back on track and how do we, in HR, enable them?”

This isn’t the full STEP UP Bootcamp😅, but here are 3 simple steps to get you started:

Step #1: Understand where revenue is leaking

You don’t need to be a CFO to do this.  Sit down with your founder, Head of Sales or GTM lead and ask the right questions. 

These aren’t exhaustive, but they’ll get you started:

• Are we short on leads or failing to convert?

• Is churn hurting us more than new acquisitions?

• Are certain customer segments more profitable than others?

• Is Sales enabled with the right tools, training and messaging?

• What’s blocking Product from shipping what Sales needs to win?

This is how you spot where the business is leaking value, and where HR can drive commercial outcomes.

Step #2: Refocus HR for growth

If revenue’s under pressure, every HR initiative over the next 6 months should serve one purpose: preventing the next fire.

Forget the “nice-to-haves.” Focus on the people levers that unblock performance, accelerate delivery and protect revenue.

Business problems are people problems. Start treating them that way.

(👇See the second article below for a breakdown of common revenue challenges and the HR initiatives that can address them.)

Step #3: Communicate like a business leader

When revenue pressure is on, the exec team shifts into risk management mode. We can’t afford to speak in soft HR-speak – they might not ‘hear’ it. Translate our work into commercial impact:

❌ Not: “We’re reviewing our L&D strategy.”
✅ Instead: “We’re redirecting L&D to strengthen Sales enablement and customer success, aligned to Q3 growth.”

❌ Not: “We’re doing an engagement survey.”
✅ Instead: “We’re running a retention audit to de-risk churn in top-performing revenue teams.”

 Don’t wait, lead the turnaround 

If revenue’s off-track, don’t wait for Finance to come knocking with cost-cutting demands.

If we are at the exec table, we’re not just HR leaders. We’re business leaders who happen to specialise in people. We don’t just manage cost, we’re more than capable of driving revenue growth.

Refocus HR for growth, not just cost-cutting

I’ll be honest, it’s a lot easier to coach an HR leader 1:1 through a revenue challenge than to write something that actually lands with 3,000+ of you at once. But I’m giving it a go 💪

If your mid-year revenue numbers are off-track, you're not alone. Start-ups hit these walls all the time. So, I’ve pulled together the most common revenue challenges I see and matched each with a potential HR move you can make now.

This is not a prescription. I repeat: not a prescription.

My goal is to show you that behind every stalled pipeline, rising churn stat or missed upsell opportunity, there’s almost always a people problem in disguise. And where there’s a people problem, there’s an HR solution.

Which means: we’ve got this 💪

4 Revenue issues that are actually people problems

Revenue issue #1: Low conversion or stalled pipeline

🫗Like pouring water into a funnel only to find it’s leaking halfway through.

When leads aren’t converting, the fix isn’t always “more leads.” Often, it’s a people issue inside the Sales engine.

💥What could be going wrong?

• Sales doesn’t know the ideal customer → Time wasted, low conversions.

• Messaging is unclear or weak → Prospects drop off, deals stall.

• Sales and Product are misaligned → Slow responses, missed opportunities.

💡What can HR do?

• Run customer persona workshops to sharpen ICP clarity.

• Refresh Sales enablement materials and drive targeted training.

• Facilitate regular GTM alignment rituals between Sales, Product and Marketing to close the loop fast.

This isn’t fluffy. It’s frontline impact. The faster Sales teams are aligned and enabled, the faster revenue recovers.

Revenue issue #2: Rising customer churn

🛁 Like filling a bathtub without realising the drain’s open.

You win customers… but they don’t stay. And it’s not just Product. It’s misalignment across the teams that touch the customer experience.

💥What could be going wrong?

• Sales, CS, and Product pull in different directions → Disjointed customer experience, higher churn.

• Customer feedback doesn’t reach the right teams → Problems go unsolved, frustration builds.

• CS teams are undertrained or misaligned → Poor onboarding, missed retention targets.

💡What can HR do?

• Review and realign comp plans and shared KPIs across CS, Sales, and Product.

• Clarify roles, responsibilities and decision-making boundaries — fast.

• Invest in tailored L&D programmes for CS to close capability gaps.

If we want customers to stay, our internal teams need to function as one unit. HR builds that cohesion.

Revenue issue #3: Delivery speed is slowing growth

🐢 Like trying to win a race with the handbrake half on.

You’ve got brilliant plans, but execution is crawling. The product isn’t shipping fast enough, teams are blocked, it’s not a process problem — again, it’s a people problem in disguise.

💥What could be going wrong?

• Priorities are unclear → Teams pull in different directions, momentum stalls.

• Work is stuck in bottlenecks → Delivery slows, goals slip.

• Lack of trust delays decisions → Execution drags, growth stalls.

💡What can HR do?

• Facilitate quarterly planning to bring clarity to goals and decision rights.

• Map where work is getting stuck—use retros and team ops reviews to fix the flow.

• Rebuild team rituals and psychological safety so collaboration accelerates rather than stalls delivery.

Speed is a competitive advantage. HR can build the conditions to unlock it.

Revenue issue #4: Weak expansion revenue

👨‍🌾 Like having a gold mine… but forgetting to bring a shovel.

If expansion revenue is weak, it’s not always because customers aren’t ready to buy more—it’s because internal teams aren’t set up to make it happen.

💥What could be going wrong?

• Account Managers lack product depth → Upsell opportunities are missed.

• Customer Success isn’t incentivised on growth → Teams focus on retention, not expansion.

• No system for upsell signals → Valuable cues go unnoticed, revenue left on the table.

💡What can HR do?

• Deliver advanced product training to commercial teams.

• Redesign compensation to reward account expansion, not just retention.

• Clarify who owns the feedback loop; who's responsible for spotting, surfacing and actioning upsell triggers?

When revenue depends on deeper customer value, HR must enable the teams closest to it.

HR’s mid-year pivot: From cost-cutter to growth driver

If we want to earn our place as commercial HR leaders, not cost-centres, this is how we do it: by translating revenue challenges into people strategies and driving action before the fire starts. 

Scaling your start-up?

Let’s make sure your leadership, people and org are ready. Here are 3 ways I can help:

🔗 LinkedIn | 🌎 JooBee’s blog | 🤝 Work with me