One System for Startup Payroll
Matt Drozdzynski, CEO and co-founder of Plane, on global payroll post-COVID
The missing piece is not software breadth, it is workflow continuity from company formation to first paycheck. Startups can already incorporate, open a bank account, set up a cap table, and outsource bookkeeping in a few clicks, but hiring still breaks into separate tools for contracts, tax forms, onboarding, domestic payroll, international contractors, and EOR. Plane’s bet is that the winner in startup payroll is the product that makes adding a person feel as simple as opening the company.
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Plane is positioning for the earliest company moment, not just the global edge case. Its core product vision is one system for W2 employees, 1099s, international contractors, and EOR, because most startup teams are mixed from the start, with the US as the base and a smaller international layer around it.
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This gap existed because global hiring used to mean stitching together bank wires, spreadsheets, tax forms, and local legal advice. Contractor payroll turned that manual process into a payroll like workflow, which is why companies like Deel grew so quickly after COVID and why payroll became a strategic control point in the startup stack.
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The broader stack is also converging. Banking, cards, incorporation, cap table, and back office tools are increasingly overlapping as companies like Mercury, Brex, Stripe, Carta, and others try to become the default operating system for new businesses. HR and payroll is one of the last major wedges still open.
Over the next few years, the category should shift from separate domestic and global tools toward one startup system of record for everyone who gets paid. The company that wins will not just run payroll, it will become the default place where a new business adds people, manages compliance, and grows from first hire to global team without switching systems.