The HR Tech Hype: Disrupting the Disruption

Nice to be here everyone thanks so much For welcoming us well Nicole it's it's So exciting to be here in San Francisco And with some tech runs and and with the Category changing creating founder thank You Matt thank you so how did you start This what was your vision for GP yeah Absolutely so Um When I started GPU which was Global made Possible uh we we ultimately I guess the What I had been doing was helping Companies establish their operations all Over the globe as a consultant and it Was kind of the same thing over and over Again in those days it was netsuite and Infinera and Tesla saying hey we need to Hire somebody in Singapore or Brazil or The UAE and it was essentially the same Thing over and over again and every time They would have to set up a company in Each country before they could issue an Employment offer to even one employee Figure out how to run payroll take care Of all the tax legal and HR issues in That location It was like the same thing over and over Just this super bureaucratic process so Originally the intention was around Setting up a legal entity in each Country and telling the customer we'll Hire this person to work for you you Tell the terms we'll pay the person and Building software on top of that to make

It super scalable and easy Um And today you know it's really about Um both the employer of record platform Which was the original business model And making that super scalable quick so That everyone can hire everyone in our View you know it's like the market has Just caught awareness of this being Being uh that you can hire people all Over the globe quickly and easily using An employer of record platform it's Still nascent in the market awareness There's like one to five percent Market Penetration but the product is Essentially built for that so now we're Building a new category on top of that Which is global growth technology that Enables anyone to hire anyone quickly And easily anywhere in the world without Necessarily setting using our entities If they want to set up their own or There's just another way of doing it and That's really using AI to record a lot Of the you know like to to automate and Guide customers through the same things That we talk our customers through every Day and make it easy and seamless thank You thank you Nicole so you did it with Eor and and I would love to hear your Personal inspiration of what's what got You to start GP thank you yeah I mean I Know there's a lot of Founders in this Room and ultimately like you have to

Rely on your own passion and intuition Every single day when you're building a Company because if it's just an idea That you don't just believe in with all Your heart and soul you're just never Gonna make it Um Nat and I were talking earlier about Um about just like the Journey of 10 Years as a company and and now we've Built a quadricorn and ultimately that That I've been through three economic Downturns and like how important it is To build a real vision and basically or Build something that you really believe In to get you through those Hard Times Um But ultimately what inspired me is That when I was young as a college Student I was traveling and I just saw That there were so many talented people All over the globe doing incredibly Entrepreneurial brilliant things but Then when I was working in the Silicon Valley like people are only hiring People who worked within a five mile Radius of of their home location and at That time it was really about Outsourcing so Outsourcing to you know Because this is the beginning of Telecoms I know I'm aging myself but Like it was the beginning of like oh my God we can hire talent in India that's So much cheaper and um And yet these are really talented people And and the Telecom industry was just

Like making it possible to hire people But instead of seeing it as people are Equally talented all over the globe for What they really create at that time it Was about lower cost now what we're Seeing it's really about what it should Be right like the world is finally Caught up actually people in India it's Not about low-cost Talent it's about Hiring the best talent you can find Anywhere in the world and with some of The macroeconomic trends like the Brilliant people are not going to be in Our backyards they're going to be Everywhere and the world's caught up to That idea as well just kind of forced Acceleration through the pandemic So yeah that was the inspiration smart People everywhere needing access to Opportunity and and as a 19 year old you Travel the globe and and you know that Was your inspiration so you created the Employer of record eor category and now Global growth Tech how do you think About category creation it's a pretty You know tall order right yeah thank you You know I mean I think at the end of The day Um I you know a lot of people at the time Just said like this isn't possible and It and like it would be illegal to build This Global employer of record platform And I will say luckily I came from a

Background of kind of looking at Loopholes in different countries and Like trying to help customers like be Within the con be within the law and yet And yet make it all make sense and make The right decisions because sometimes You have to kind of weave things Together Um And it it was both like trusting my Intuition but also like knowing knowing That I could make it fit and then Respectfully like I took it a little Slower at the beginning than a lot of Venture capital back companies do now Because I knew how much liability there Is when you're employing people and People are relying on you and at the end Of the day like if we don't pay people In the Philippines for example for one Of our customers like those people like Their kids like if we were to miss a Payroll their kids aren't going to eat That weekend so there's a lot of Responsibility when you're hiring people On behalf of other companies around the Globe and building a new category where So many people are reliant on the Infrastructure so it was really Important to me to build something that Functionally worked and like build a Really solid infrastructure and Something I could go to the market and Say I believe in this instead of just a

Slick user interface and go get funding Which might work for for some Industries But just not not this one Thank you yeah thank you Nicole so how Do you build the product you you you uh Your own engineer But you build a great product how do you Do that well thank you not Against one of which you are for sure But yeah I think it comes down to hiring Really good people with complementary Skill sets so like most entrepreneurs I'm really good at the vision and I need Somebody else to tie together the Details and and execute on things Um so I've been very fortunate to have Extraordinary people in this business Every step of the way Um I will say that like the right person For the first stage of the company you Know when we were being super Entrepreneurial all hands on deck to get To 50 employees was a different set of Leaders and I needed to get to 200 Employees internally and then to my Surprise as a first time like super Scaling founder it was a different set Of people to get from 200 to a thousand You know and it's just I wanted to like One thing I always try to tell other Entrepreneurs is like just to set your Expectations that having the right People around you at every stage of the Company it's probably the most

Emotionally wrenching thing you can do To move people in and out of the Business because because you need Different skill sets and yet It Ultimately it's the only way you can Grow and succeed and if somebody would Have told me at the beginning Nicole Just like set your expectations you're Going to need different people along the Way then I think my heart would have Been it would have been a little easier On my heart because Um yeah moving yeah like I think I would Have set other Executives expectations Too like you're in it for this amount of Time and then we're probably going to Need other people because then everybody Because I think when you're in the Trenches with people from in the early Days it's uh quite challenging to make Those decisions but very necessary these Are some interesting founder nuggets Trusted gotten intuition and you've got To make hard decisions with people as a Company scales so thank you thank you For that Nicole I just thought I'd share A little bit about the strategy of the Company you know I've I've had the Privilege of working with uh with Nicole Almost two years now and as we scale and Grow this company right strategically There are 350 million knowledge workers Who sit outside their headquarters and That's our Market opportunity and and we

Think it's about a 50 billion dollar Market opportunity at the very Conservative end and we're Reinventing It right so uh think about uh cloud Computing almost 20 years back it was a Hey I don't think we can do this uh Security is not there data is not there And today everybody is doing it today Cloud computing is here and I think with Global growth technology we have a Similar opportunity where where any Company thinks about going global they Think of a platforms like GP who can Help them grow globally without all the Compliance headaches that Nicole has has Really you know spent time I mean Thinking about so so thank you for that Now from a Founder standpoint is there Anything else you would you would give Advice to people here you know listening To you yeah Um well definitely one thing is like I feel like one of our key strategies is To not rebuild technology that other People have already built but rather to Partner with those people so that we can Be really careful in where we use our Limited time and resources so ultimately To build things that are truly creative That fit in with an infrastructure Instead of just like Yeah rebuilding things that already Exist we partner with established Industry players that that we complement

What they need and ultimately that's Going to drive our revenue and growth so Much faster but yeah Global growth is Hard and it's different for every Company but we focus on what we're Experts in which is global growth You know one thing that you mentioned is Is uh that you really spend time Learning the business and uh leveraging Your experience with what is possible Would love to share you know um as you Did that What did you learn about compliance and Things which are very hard to do and not Just a UI as you mentioned yeah yeah Exactly I mean ultimately what we do is Actually really complicated under the Hood because we're we're basically Weaving We've woven together a global platform That ultimately ties doing so each Country has their own infrastructure Globally their own Financial system Their own HR System their own social Security system in some cases like their Own banking systems and certainly their Own tax system and what we've built is a Platform that overlays over the top that Is compliant in each country that any Country can plug into and use our Infrastructure so they don't have to Build their own And I guess there's some things that are Simply not scalable

Um That would not be scalable unless unless You were to leverage that and so always Staying on top of the details and how Important compliance actually is I guess I'm really happy that we invested so Much in the infrastructure at the outset Of the business because what we've seen In this market is that in the early days You know a lot of competition came into The market during uh during the pandemic Because suddenly Global growth Global Growth was was the idea behind what Everybody wanted to be the market Everybody wanted to be in and a lot of Competitors focused on like the slicky You know user interface and like a Flashy website and saying that they Could do it with the idea of building The building the plane while they were Flying it or maybe maybe selling it Before it was ready for takeoff Um but it's it yeah I mean ultimately Without being able to actually run the Business Um a lot of companies would be running Into trouble in such a in a company that Requires so much infrastructure as ours Underneath things thank you Nicole talk About your customers we have a lot of Customers any advice you would give These folks on how to build customer Relationships for the long term yeah Yeah so we always had a rule around the

Triple bottom line that what's good for Our employees and what's good for our Customers is ultimately good for our Shareholders I think that mentality Served us really well Um the the industry is about people Right so if we're in global growth Technology and that's around enabling Everyone everywhere to have access to Opportunity and the the opportunists are The companies who are hiring these People Um the companies also want to take care Of people and their livelihoods so what We our approach has always been you know Make it technology when you want it but Have a human available when you need it And that's also really critical to the Our business so one thing related to That just just to give an example Um we had an employee who kind of Disappeared from the payroll in Hong Kong and the customer is calling and They're like we just don't know what Happened to this person like he's not Showing up to work software is never Going to solve that problem for you Um so we we you know dug in we had our HR person in Hong Kong calling around And it turned out that this person Just kind of went off on a bender Ultimately and and was in a hospital That's a really human situation you're Never going to be able to build software

Around that so the tech one you want it But human when you need it has been a Critical and core component Um but yeah customers are a compass and And like we have to follow what they Want and need and build for what they Want and need and in some cases think Ahead you know Henry Ford said if I Would have given people what they wanted It would have been a faster horse and Now look at look at Tesla for example Thank you thank you Nicole um you know You you talked about future proofing Building for scale I'm I'm super excited About what we're building for scale Actually we we uh started with people Right we have uh people across the globe We are very compliant and we're matting That up with AI it'll be very difficult For me not to talk about AI in in San Francisco today but using that using the People using Ai and creating a platform For the future I think that's about Future proofing we really believe this Is a huge business we are dog fooding Our own stuff we have you know employees In close to 41 countries and we look Like a company 10xr size and it works it Scales I have people across the globe to Run and build our product and Technology Teams and we believe this can be the way Companies build for the I mean for the Future so you know one of the things I I Want to get your thoughts on was um as a

Founder right you have these these Shifts right so you created the eor Category you're now creating will growth Tech what's the most challenging thing You've had to do in in these phases Yeah I mean it does it does go back to The people and just making sure that I Always have the right people at the Table and identifying like when we're at The end of the end of a chapter and it's Like okay we need new leadership in Um Another thing I think is a really Challenging thing is as a Founder is That the hard decisions always stop with Us you know I mean like we can try to Delegate decision making Authority but When when it hits the fan we're the ones Who are responsible and what I've found Is that no matter who you hire you know No matter you can hire the world-class CFO Co Croc it doesn't matter like at The end of the day you're gonna have to Make the really hard calls yourself But I want to turn it back to you for a Minute Nat which in terms of building I Mean I feel like yes I built the you Know the eor category was my idea the Global growth technology is my idea but It's really a collaboration and you're Taking you're taking the vision and Executing on it so what are your hot Tips for building a product and Technology team and the current

Environment and just where where there Is Talent all over like how are you Managing such a global remote Workforce And team and What are your tips for people well thank You thank you Nicole one it's an Inspiration to be with a Founder like You because you you push the envelope And it inspires all of us and it makes Things possible I think um how do we Build for scale you look for you know Today we have X number of people on our Platform right tomorrow we want 1000x we Want 2000 X or 100 000x and how do we do That so we intentionally build for the Future right that's one secondly through Our platform I've been able to hire the Best talent in the world I'm not Restricted by any jurisdiction any Country so I can hire in Europe I can Hire in Asia I can hire in uh I mean all Of America so that's been very Intentional uh third you know we're a Remote first company and this is not a Fad covet right so Nicole started this Almost 12 years back and we've been Remote ever since and being so remote For us we have really good Rhythms on How we make sure people stay engaged Whether meeting every so often in person And that makes the remote work for the For the time that we're not in person Work secondly on the technology uh Really thinking about you know for

Instance we are we are making a big big Bet on serverless we're already in the Cloud but we're making a big bet on Serverless technology apologies which we Think is a future of how we can scale up Products and third being very Intentional about what the platform will Do what is differentiating about the Platform so I think it's a combination Of you know having the right operating Rhythms to begin with as a remote first Company using our own you know Technology and platform to hire people Any everywhere across the globe and then Having operating rhythms to make it work Meeting in person when you need right And really betting on some future Edge Technologies that's how we're we're Building what we are so just to Reiterate it accompany our size we you Know if you look at how Global we are And how we operate globally we are like 10 exercise companies 10 exercise would Probably deal with the same with the Same challenges but that's how we do it Nicole you know as we wrap up I just Want to leave some founder nuggets right What I heard from you was uh one you Know category creation is hard but You've got to go with your gut Second make the hard decisions on people Right the third is really leverage all Your experiences that you have right Even as a 19 year old you were so

Thinking about how to reinvent a problem Area that you saw anything else you'd Like to add to you know wrap up for this For this audience yeah absolutely I Think there's a There's a round scalability and systems That you know it's it's like you can Have the big vision and big idea but It's the execution that ultimately Matters Um and re and related to that it goes Again to actually building a core Business so in the last 10 years I've Been through three economic downturns And every single time I'm really Grateful that we didn't get overly Caught up in the hype around the pre-ipo Cycle so pretty much Everybody Was Preparing for an IPO in You know a year or so a year and a half Ago And and uh Important but not to be overly spendy I Mean it's like there's uh people Bringing in flying in Beyonce to sing on Stage at the company meetings and things Like that like at the end of the day you Have to like focusing on Core Business Fundamentals of what's our revenue and What's our expenses and how is this Ultimately hitting our kpis and and Building an actual business I've been Really grateful for that every single Time that the economy down it has a

Downturn so it's a journey and it's Driven by Vision hard work and grit and Every entrepreneur in this room knows That it's a lot of grit so striking a Balance between Innovation disruption And and just sustainability and Scalability I think is a critical Balance to meet and that's what we're Doing with global growth technology Thank you Nicole so you know build a Great business don't just go after Valuations yeah Exactly well thank you it is such a Privilege to be a part of GP and and and To share uh what we have and I love your Founder nuggets Nicole thank you thank You today thanks for being here thank You for the opportunity

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