Rippling

1. Rippling is taking a unique approach to a SaaS startup business model. Unlike the (generally tried and true) approach of focusing hard on one idea and then expanding outwards once the business is fully established, Rippling is instead seeking to do vertical integration from day 1.

Rippling's primary strategic approach is to essentially be the AWS of business enablement and build a suite of HR, payroll, insurance, device management, contractor management, employee management, corporate credit card, expense reporting, and various other fintech tools that can each help every other product grow.

I was skeptical about this at first, but after seeing first-hand Rippling's tremendous advantage in being able to underwrite corporate credit cards to customers that our competitors lack the data to comfortably support, I am seeing proof of the success and acumen of Rippling's alternative approach.

Because of this unique approach, we are in the fortunate position of being one of very few tech SaaS startups that are not only not doing any layoffs but are still actively growing and hiring out more employees.

1. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to hire out a brand new team to prevent Financial Risk and Fraud on the Rippling platform. This is a very unique role both due to being able to build out a team from scratch and also due to Risk being a fundamentally unique aspect of engineering.

2. We are able to move very quickly and accomplish a lot of great work without the heavy load of bureaucratic hindrances that are more common at larger organizations.

And although I cannot speak for the experience on other teams, work-life balance on my team has been stellar despite the fast-paced nature of our work.

Since I've built out my team about a year ago, I have not had a single time where I had to stay late-nights or weekends, nor have I ever had the need to pressure my team to work any harder.

My team has been fortunate enough to run fast despite working very reasonable hours.

1. Due to the international nature of the company, time zones can be a big challenge in finding time to meet with coworkers working out of remote locations. I haven't had to deal with this too much on my team due to everyone being located in the US (with the vast majority being located in the SF Bay Area). However, teams that have to interface with international folks more often can potentially see more challenge in this space.