I'm Lauren, founder of Amity. My first job in recruitment was as an administrator at Hays. Over the next 20 years I worked in-house at Johnson Controls, then spent 15 years in RPO with Cielo, Korn Ferry, InterQuest, Reed Talent Solutions and Scede, where I was Managing Director. I've built talent functions from scratch and led teams of 60+ across Europe and North America.

In that time I kept seeing the same thing. Companies of five or ten people, ready to grow, got shut out of expert help. Either it cost too much, or the big names didn't see enough money in them yet.

Those founders still have to hire, write contracts, set salaries and deal with the first person who isn't working out, usually with no one to ask. Some have never been an employee, let alone an employer. Hiring and HR are heavily regulated, and that's where the expensive mistakes happen.

I launched Amity 20 years to the day after that first job at Hays, to give those founders somewhere to go.

Our support is sized to the business. Amity gives teams of 1-25 a self-serve platform with templates, a founder community and monthly time with an experienced advisor, from £250 a month. As they grow, we add fractional people and talent leadership (25-50 people) and embedded talent partners (50-250+).

Our 20+ associates are experienced recruiters and talent leaders. We don't keep a permanent talent bench, so clients get the person who suits them rather than just who is available.

We provide flexibility on 30 days' notice. When most providers say flexible, they mean adding another full-time person. Amity goes up or down to suit your needs.

If you're building something and the people side is keeping you up at night, that's who I built Amity for.

Amity gives start-ups the people and talent expertise usually priced for much bigger businesses, at the level they need right now. Founders with up to 25 people start with Amity for Founders. It's a self-serve platform with templates, a founder community and monthly time with an experienced advisor, from £250 a month. As the team grows, we step in with fractional people and talent leadership, then embedded talent partners once hiring outpaces the team. Everyone we work with is senior and matched to the business by fit, and support goes up or down on 30 days' notice with no long contracts.