Oh please, this isn't black or white. HR dept are not all like that and are beneficial for companies to have. Companies should not. think that the only options are "don't protect women" and "900 page manuals about bathroom breaks"
For a startup that has minimal chance of ever getting the capital to get off the ground it is black and white. I'm not talking about a company with 200 employees and a Series C.
Playing company can certainly bleed you dry before you ever get a chance to build something that can sell.
You can get HR paperwork from a third-party web startup for like $30/head or whatever, just like every other little productivity tool startups are all buying from each other in the Silicon Valley bubble.
