Focusing on Irish high-tech start-ups, this paper reports on the results of an empirical study of organization building by entrepreneurial firms, specifically in relation to human resource practices. The research findings are benchmarked with findings from SPEC, the Stanford Project of Emerging Companies (Baron and Hannan, 2002). Human resources management and entrepreneurial research have rarely been combined in the literature and there is no distinct body of work in the area of human resource management in entrepreneurial firms. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure and 2 notes.)