Parker Conrad: How I Got Ousted from Zenefits and Came Back with a Vengence | 20VC #932

(beeping) Three, two, one, zero. You have now arrived at your destination. Parker, I am so excited for this. I loved our last discussion, and so, uh, I was desperate to make this one happen. So thank you so much for joining me once again, Parker.

Thanks for- thanks for having me.

Not at all. Uh, I did a lot more work this time, and, uh, I have a lot more research notes, so this should be more in-depth. Uh, tell me, for- for- for those that missed the first show, how did you make your way into the world of startups, and how did you come to found Rippling most recently?

So I started Rippling really, um, as, uh, I guess sort of a, a round two after, after my last company, um, you know, that, that en- ended in, in, in a lot of ways that were, you know, sort of, uh, unpleasant for me, but also sort of really unsatisfying. And, um, uh, and so I, I started Rippling really, um, sort of with this thesis about w- you know, sort of em- employee data, and what the market that we're in really required. And, and the idea was that employee data, because it's a lot more distributed, we think, than just the HR department and HR business systems, um, (clears throat) you know, companies need a system that manages employee information in a way that's not merely just about HR, that sort of also cuts across a lot of the other functions of the company, and, and, uh, when you hire someone, sets them up in all the different business systems in your company, and manages a lot of employee data across all these different places, across E- IT, finance, you know, things like that.

So this is quite a deep question, uh, given it's like the first question, but I find it very revealing of one's character. You know, it was actually Jeremy Liew at Lightspeed that asked me this one, and he said, "We're all a function of our histories." So Harry, what are you running from, and what are you running towards? And I, I think it's really revealing of character. So when you think about that, what are you running from, Parker, and what are you running towards?

Well, I think, (clears throat) you know, um, you know, there was definitely a moment, you know, when, um, you know, after I was forced out of Zenefits, um, when, uh, you know, there were a whole bunch of reasons, like, legally and, and different restrictions I was under that sort of pres- prevented me from really talking about what happened, um, and, and sort of, you know, the proverbial sort of like my side of the story. Um, and there, there was this period of about six to nine months when, uh, there was just this overwhelming sort of like institutional apparatus that was like sort of a- arrayed ag- against me and sort of domini- you know, sort of writing this narrative about what had happened, and, and I sort of watched that unfold from like the basement of my house with, you know, um, this sort of growing horror. Um, and I, um, y- you know, at a certain point, I kind of decided that the only way I was going to be able to talk about sort of what was happening and sort of tell my side of the story... Because, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't sort of r- really, you know, in addition to just the restrictions I was under, I wasn't... You, you know, it's not my sort of forte sort of doing that kind of like, you know, media PR jousting.