Warp – Modern payroll and compliance for startups

Hey, my name is Ayush Sharma, and today we’re launching Warp – a modern compliance and payroll stack built for founders to easily run their startups.

Warp automates mandatory compliance that existing solutions don't – including state tax registrations, unemployment insurance, annual reports, ongoing notices, and more. With Warp, founders can confidently hire, onboard, and pay their team no matter where they are.

We launched 4 weeks ago, and are already running payroll and simplifying compliance for several YC and non-YC startups. We are already processing tens of thousands of $$ in payroll, and you can hear what customers are saying about Warp, here.

Problem

As a startup founder, you want to focus on building your product, not trudging through CA or NY state department websites to learn about obscure regulations on how to pay your team in those places.

• Existing payroll solutions don’t handle compliance: You sign up for payroll, believe that your work is done, only to start getting countless emails about this or that compliance work you need to do. There are state tax registrations, foreign qualifications, unemployment insurance, ongoing reports to file, and franchise taxes, to name a few.
• Distributed startups = MORE compliance: In the US, each state has 3 different obscure agencies you need to register with. Today’s startups are often spread out across multiple states like CA, NY, WA, and FL, compounding this compliance burden.
• Software designed for HR heads: in 2023, as incumbents have ossified, their software has become bloated, full of upsells you don’t need, forcing you to go through multiple back-and-forth sales calls just to get started.

Solution

Enter Warp.

First, we onboard your company, collecting all the necessary information we’ll need to automate your compliance and your payroll ops, in just 10 mins.

Next, our Warp handles the most common (and frustrating) parts of the payroll process such as registering with state tax agencies, obtaining certificates of good standing, helping with foreign qualifications, and monitoring upcoming deadlines.

Warp allows you to run fully-automated payroll, built to cover everything your startup needs –

• US W2 employees in all 50 states (we file federal, state, and local tax returns).
• US 1099 contractors in all 50 states.
• International contractors in 150+ countries (we provide robust contracts localized for all geographies and support payouts in international currencies)

Why us?

We’re a team of engineers. I’m the founder and CEO, and I work with two brilliant full-time engineers – Adam Rankin (founding engineer) and Olzhas B (founding designer/front-end engineer). Previously, I was at MIT where I did my undergrad and master’s in Computer Science.

In my last startup, I hired and ran a fully distributed team – multiple US states + multiple countries. Two things quickly became clear to me.

1. The future of startups is distributed. After COVID, in 2023, we’re still only at the beginning of this revolution.
2. The compliance burden sucks, and it falls on founders’ shoulders at a time when they’d rather do anything else than have to navigate government red tape.

With Warp, I’m building the product I wish I had in my previous startup.

Our asks

If you or someone you know might be a fit for Warp, ping me at ayush@joinwarp.com.

The next 10 customers signing up to Warp will get the exclusive YC discount!