How does AbstractOps position itself in relation to other startups (e.g. Rippling, Ramp) that automate HR/finance and expand to different functions?

The problem that Rippling is trying to solve is not the same problem we're trying to solve. Take a look at what they launched last year with Unity. I thought a very powerful use case they described was: when an engineer goes on vacation, you can set up an automation so their Jira tickets are rerouted to someone else. 

We have zero desire to get involved in that. We don't want to touch the work being done inside the company at all. What we touch is the work of the corporation itself.

Both of us have used the phrase “company OS”, but the word “company” is being used in a very different sense. The company can be used to mean an organization, or a corporation. Rippling is building an operating system for the organization -- the work being done inside a company; and we're building an operating system for the corporation -- the business that an enterprise engages in. We’re solving for, its business relationships, its contracts, its payments, its transactions, and things like that.

There's some overlap: specifically in HR around the hiring and onboarding workflows. But there the overlap ends; as a result, we end up working with Rippling a meaningful portion of the time. A third of our customers are on Rippling, which clearly means that a customer is getting value from both our platforms.Because: but does Rippling handle all of your contracts? Does Rippling think about all of your vendor payments and management? They don’t. I'm sure they'll continue to expand that surface area more and more over time, but am I really worried about competing for market share, or share of wallet, with Rippling? Not really.

Everybody wants to grow their circle over time, and of course, there's going to be overlap. But over time, there's still going to be plenty of work for each of us to do in our respective spheres. With any of these tools -- Gusto, Rippling, Mercury, Ramp, Carta, Pulley… I'm a big believer in the idea that we should be competing with the SAPs and the Oracles of the world, not with each other.