Unlike traditional HR platforms, Central automates everything you need to operate a compliant US startup, like state registrations, worker's compensation and other filings – saving weeks of work, headaches and fines. Join 100+ companies that run on Central.
Hey Product Hunt people - I have a confession.
I’ve paid over $20,000 in government fines.
At my last YC W20 company, Clayboard, I only wanted to design and build. Instead, I was constantly drowning in back-office work related to payroll, benefits and government filings. Even with the currently recommended solutions, it was a never-ending pain in the...
Why do makers need to understand all this stuff?
Why do we still have to register in multiple states to run payroll, set up worker's compensation, pay random payroll-related taxes, deal with scary government mail, update addresses across state filings, and troubleshoot with insurance companies?
This is why for the past year and a half, @joshwymer, @pranavkash & I have been building Central.
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🥁 ENTER CENTRAL
Central is the first back-office platform designed for busy founders rather than HR/finance professionals.
Unlike other platforms, Central handles all the related compliance work and government filings from start to finish. There's no jargon to learn and there's no extra hidden work.
Think of Central as abstracting away the government and also declarative, i.e., you send offers to people, and Central does everything else automatically.
Here’s everything you get when you sign up:
1️⃣ Payroll & compliance
- Hire and pay anyone globally
- Offer letters, NDAs, I-9 verification, and more.
- Automated payroll state registrations
- Automated payroll tax filings
- Automated worker’s compensation insurance
- Government mail monitoring
2️⃣ Business compliance & insurance
- Foreign qualifications & city registrations
- Continuous BOI reporting to FinCEN
- General liability insurance & other business insurance
3️⃣ Benefits
- Medical, dental & vision insurance
- Life insurance
- 401k
4️⃣ <4 min support
- Shared Slack channel, phone, email support
- White glove migration from existing providers
- Dedicated payroll & benefits expert.
5️⃣ Slack integration to get stuff done fast
- Retrieve company info & docs
- Update employee info
- Access personal docs
- Track offers & payroll
- Breakdown paystubs
Central is the product I wish I had at my last company.
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Today, 100+ companies run on Central and I'm so excited to finally share Central with all of you:
https://centralhq.com
Please leave your first impressions and feedback below 👇
This is a game-changer for startups! Automating HR tasks is a huge time-saver dan
Central sepertinya punya asisten HR pribadi yang selalu siap. Mantap banget deh!
WOW, this is such an amazing product. One thing I'd like to know is what is your expansion plan, geographically.
It sounds like Central could really simplify the back-office chaos for makers like us. I'm curious, though—how does Central ensure compliance across multiple states, especially with constantly changing regulations? Also, for those of us who are not super familiar with these processes, how steep is the learning curve to start using Central effectively? The idea of automating these tedious tasks is appealing, but I wonder if there are any limitations on what it can handle, particularly with unique state requirements. Excited to see how this evolves! @nilay_modi
I'm interested in learning more about what distinguishes it from other tools in its category.
Could you share some insights into its unique features and how they've impacted your workflow? Additionally, how do you see this product evolving and contributing to industry trends in the near future?
Congratulations on the launch! I am saving your challenge for the future once we go out to the US.
This is a promising use case for many aspiring startups to simplify their backoffice setup efforts
Happy to have Central in our journey! We really appreciate everything you folks have done!
That's a wild story you shared @nilay_modi and it sucks you had to find out that the hard way. Glad you are helping the startup world solving this annoying problem. I honestly never seen a solution that's this comprehensive at handling all the noise so the founders can focus on building the right product for the right people.
I'm curious on your thoughts on how do you deal with the problem where your customers need more features in one of these areas, for example payroll. Will you keep your focus just on early day startups?
Congrats on the launch though Nilay and team!
It is more than just a tool; it's a partner that grows with business. Kudos to the team for creating a product that not only solves a real problem but also demonstrates a deep understanding of the challenges faced by founders. Congrats!
Omg, this. I've used Gusto, TriNet, checked out ADP, and BambooHR in the past to manage 0-50 employees. Not huge by any means, but such a nightmare. Especially attracting, hiring, and retaining West Coast based employees was a constant logistical burden.
Some platforms would offer a decent user experience, without offering benefits, and others vice versa. Then piecing together all the company info, insurance stuff, and trying to find a separate platform to manage another 40 global employees took up more hours than it should.
I love the Slack demo, especially trying to get the EIN quickly :D which seems silly, until you've had to bring it up 1000 times.
A few quick questions from previous pain:
- when you say Government mail monitoring, do you redirect and handle all the federal and state government mail? I remember getting a mail per week from Washington state for a single employee we had based there, even with being fully onboarding with other tools, it was ridiculous.
- for the benefits, do you bulk negotiate all the PPO rates with the providers or is this a BYO model?
- for global contractor management, do you handle the local paperwork and taxation requirements there? And what about the exchange rates?
To be honest, this got me more excited then it should have. Congratulations on the launch and hitting a major startup pain point!
If you are startup founder - Just Use Central. Don't midcurve.
And then, with the extra time that you got back, focus on changing the world.
We work with Central for Ply Health and its such a joyful experience! The slack app is extremely convenient for day to day tasks and the team are true thought partners in all things HR and compliance. Couldn't recommend enough.
Central has been absolutely awesome for us - Nilay, Pranav and Josh have demystified a lot of the back-office work that we had very little idea about since we are UK founders new to the US!
Still trying to figure out how they can respond in literal minutes!
