From Fire Drills to Forecasts: Designing Headcount Plans That Actually Work

Hiring isn’t broken—the forecast is.Every founder has lived the cycle: Finance locks the budget, Talent staffs against the plan, and then Sales closes a whale or Product commits to a new feature. Suddenly, headcount needs surge, recruiting looks “too slow,” and leadership is scrambling in fire-drill mode.In this live conversation, Katie Wagner (Principal, Advisory at Growth by Design Talent; Advisor at Tarro; author of Talent in Beta) and Haris Ikram (Co-Founder & CEO of CandorIQ) will unpack why headcount plans so often collapse under real-world pressure—and what to do about it.They’ll dig into:• Why headcount forecasts break down (and the hidden costs for founders)• How Talent, Finance, and the business can build a “translation layer” that actually works• What a living headcount plan looks like—one that flexes with revenue, product shifts, and hiring velocity• The wishlist for the future: AI-assisted forecasting, scenario planning, and a single source of truth across teamsIf you’ve ever asked “why can’t recruiting keep up?”—this session is for you. You’ll walk away with frameworks for designing headcount plans that align with business realities, reduce fire drills, and set your teams up to scale sustainably.

Read the recap blog here.