Learning and development is one of those budgets that startups want to protect and struggle to justify. The intent is genuine. Founders and HR leaders know that people who keep learning stay longer and grow faster. But the programmes that look good on paper often end up with half-empty sessions and an invoice that is hard to defend at the next budget review.
An HR professional at a startup of under 200 people put this plainly in a recent community conversation. Past attempts had run into two problems at once: people did not participate, and the programmes cost too much. She asked what was actually working at other organisations. The replies, from a startup founder and from a seasoned people practitioner, pointed in the same direction. The fix is less about buying better content and more about how learning fits into the working week.
Why learning and development programmes struggle at startups
“There have been a few challenges in the past with respect to getting our employees to participate + the program being expensive.”
Aishwarya, HR at a startup
These two problems are usually connected. Expensive programmes tend to be long, external and generic: full-day workshops, certification courses, catalogues of modules. At a startup, where everyone is stretched and priorities change weekly, a full day away from work is a hard sell. So attendance drops, the cost per learner climbs, and the programme gets cut. The next attempt then starts with less goodwill than the last.
The people who replied did not suggest spending more. They suggested changing the format.
Keep sessions short and tied to real work
“What’s worked for us on participation: keep it short and tied to real work (30-min sessions, not full-day programs), let people pick what they learn, and get managers to share what they’re learning too.”
Kartik, Founder, Springworks
Each part of that advice addresses a specific reason people skip training. Short sessions fit around real work instead of competing with it. Letting people choose builds ownership, because a session someone picked is one they are more likely to attend. And when managers talk openly about what they are learning, it signals that learning is part of the job rather than a break from it.
The practitioner in the conversation reinforced the same idea from a different angle.
“What I have seen work is starting small and making learning part of the work rather than something extra.”
Shanti, TSOW community member
She suggested lunch-and-learns of around 45 minutes and monthly learning circles as formats that are far easier to attend than a full-day programme. The common thread is that learning happens in small, regular doses rather than in rare, large events.
Use the expertise already inside your company
For a cost-conscious startup, the most useful insight from the discussion may have been this one.
“Internal knowledge-sharing sessions also cost nothing and usually get better turnout than paid programs.”
Kartik, Founder, Springworks
Every startup has people who are very good at something: a sales lead who handles objections well, an engineer who writes clear documentation, a finance person who can explain unit economics simply. Peer-led sessions turn that knowledge into a learning and development programme at almost no cost. People also tend to show up for colleagues they know and respect, which helps participation as much as it helps the budget.
There is a second benefit that is easy to miss. The person running the session learns too. Preparing to teach something forces clarity, and being asked to share expertise is a form of recognition that many employees value more than a certificate from an external course.
Shanti added two more ideas in the same spirit. Small buddy or peer circles that meet regularly keep learning alive between sessions. And equipping managers to hold a simple growth conversation each quarter often does more for development than any external programme.
Let real problems choose the topics
Participation rarely improves because a session is mandatory. It improves because the session is useful.
“When a session helps with something people are already facing, participation rises on its own. Ask your teams what they are struggling with before choosing topics.”
Shanti, TSOW community member
This turns topic selection into a listening exercise. Instead of picking themes from a vendor catalogue, ask teams what is slowing them down. Is it difficult client conversations, giving feedback, prioritising work, or getting comfortable with a new tool? Each answer becomes a session that people already have a reason to attend.
“On participation, I have learned that people join when they see the point and when their manager encourages it. On cost, a few well-chosen, high-impact sessions usually beat a long catalogue of programmes.”
Shanti, TSOW community member
It is also worth asking what held people back last time. Was it time, relevance, or something else? Shanti raised that question in her reply, and the answer usually shapes the next programme more than any external benchmark.
A smaller, steadier approach to learning
For startups, effective learning and development does not need a large budget or a long catalogue. It needs short formats that fit around work, topics drawn from real problems, managers who model learning themselves, and a willingness to use the expertise already sitting inside the team. The HR professional who started this conversation was looking for programme ideas. What she got was a different way of thinking about the problem: build learning into the week, let people choose, and start small enough that it can actually stick. Those principles cost little to try, and they tend to compound over time.
