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Get the people part right.

Fractional VP People Operations and Hiring Services for Hardtech Startups

Get in Touch
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A happy young woman at work.
A client happily greeting Danielle Aplestone at her office.
A portrait of Jocelyn Mangan, a CEO and client of Applestone Consulting.
A male CEO explaining his product at his workshop.
A female CEO being interviewed outside.
Danielle, CEO of Applestone Consulting, listening to one of her clients.
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Services

A strong culture inspires your people to do more than they thought possible.

We are hardtech startup specialists.

Hardtech Hiring Service

We handle all the overhead of hiring so you can focus on choosing the right candidates.

One hiring mistake can tank your team dynamic, and traditional recruiters are a huge gamble. When it’s time to hire people you don’t already know, we’re the team to call.

A client demonstrating some of their manufactured materials to Danielle.A client demonstrating some of their manufactured materials to Danielle.

Leverage hardtech expertise.

We’ve built teams for startups in industrial hardware, biotech, energy storage, robotics, and more.

Reclaim your time.

From sourcing and screening to offer negotiation, we remove the time sink without removing your control.

Better value than recruiters.

We charge a flat monthly fee — about a quarter the cost of a traditional recruiter - and our incentives are aligned with yours.

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Fractional executive services

Great company culture doesn’t happen by accident.

We work with pre-seed through series C hardtech companies, supporting them on everything from people management and org design to culture strategy.

Danielle, Founder of Applestone Consulting, taking notes and working out of her laptop.Danielle, Founder of Applestone Consulting, taking notes and working out of her laptop.

We specialize in people ops for hardtech companies.

We've spent years working with hardtech teams. We tailor what we do based upon what you need for the phase of growth you’re in.

Strengthen your culture as you scale.

People leave or avoid companies because of poor management, a toxic environment, or a lack of growth. A strong culture attracts great people and keeps them.

Sometimes gnarly people problems come up.

Have an experienced resource in your corner when navigating people operations issues. We've got you.

Book a Call
Trusted by Hardtech Founders

What our Clients Say

Ali Forsyth

CEO

"Instrumental in leveling up."

  • Full testimonial

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Sam Calisch

CEO

"Powerful for guiding our growth."

  • Full testimonial

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Etosha Cave

Co-Founder & CSO

"Unique resource for understanding our organization."

  • Full testimonial

    Danielle sits at the intersection of strong technical knowledge and empathy, which makes her a unique resource for understanding our organization. She was able to deliver qualitative research on our team and pull out ways in which we could make the workplace more efficient and effective as well as ways to create more cohesion and connection.

A portrait of Etosha Cave holding a manufactured item.
Who we are

Our mission is to help hardtech startups win.

We become part of your team. Your vision, your work, and your people are important to us.

About Us
Contact Us

Let's build a great company together.

In hardtech startups, the CEO is usually wearing 10+ hats—fundraising, product direction, technical troubleshooting, customer conversations, and hiring. They often don’t have the cycles to focus on people operations, but that's where we come in.

What services are you interested in?

You can select more than one.

We'll be in touch.

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