Project F Australia has relaunched its Tech Startup Toolkit, a practical blueprint originally developed to help early-stage tech companies put strong hiring, pay and culture systems in place from the start.
The toolkit was originally developed with input from Australian venture capital firms and founders who recognised that many companies struggle with people systems once they hit the scaleup phase and teams growi rapidly.
Project F is a social enterprise focused on improving gender equity and inclusive practices in the technology sector, founded in 2019 by Emma Jones. She also developed T-EDI Standards, Australia’s first workplace standards framework for the tech industry.
The updated startup toolkit features policies, templates and frameworks covering areas such as hiring processes, interview design, role levels, pay structures and workplace policies.
Jones said it was developed to address a recurring challenge across the startup ecosystem.
“Most startups don’t have the time or resources to build proper hiring frameworks, pay structures and workplace policies from scratch,” she said.
“The toolkit essentially makes those foundations plug-and-play, so founders can put strong systems in place early without needing an HR team.”
The relaunch comes as broader industry data continues to highlight structural issues across the technology workforce. Recent reporting from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) shows the technology sector still has some of the widest gender pay gaps in Australia.
Prevention before scaling
Jones said these kinds of gaps often reflect deeper structural issues around hiring practices, role design and pay transparency that can become difficult to correct once companies scale.
“Many startups reach 80 or 100 people before putting proper frameworks in place,” she said.
“By that stage, founders are often trying to unwind inconsistent hiring practices, unclear role levels and cultural issues that slow companies down.”
Leading names in Australian tech, including Search.io, Dovetail, Kasada, Linktree, Nextgen, Vero, and Kanopi are among the users.
Project F said the goal of the toolkit is to make strong operational foundations accessible to early-stage startups that would otherwise not have the resources to develop these systems internally.
Jones said investors are also increasingly aware that early discipline around hiring and culture is an indicator of how well a company is likely to scale.
“Strong foundations around hiring, pay and culture are increasingly seen by investors as a signal of operational maturity,” she said.
The Project F Tech Startup Toolkit is designed specifically for tech startups with fewer than 100 employees as a single implementation guide for founders and leadership teams.
It’s available online here.
