Growing companies scale headcount and operations long before they scale HR infrastructure — and that gap is where the most expensive risks hide. Civil‑rights thresholds activate quietly, misclassification snowballs into wage‑and‑hour liability, informal discipline becomes legally indefensible, and untrained managers create documentation gaps that plaintiffs’ attorneys exploit. HR risk isn’t theoretical for growth‑stage companies; it’s structural, cumulative, and financially consequential.