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Michelle Ko shared thisI’m hiring for product managers and a technical program manager for Scale’s Generative AI team, building intuitive ML-assisted tooling to advance towards an agentic ops platform. If this excites you, please reach out to me or apply here: https://lnkd.in/gY4K5tRh https://lnkd.in/ggkG5eQe We are also hiring for engineering managers and designers. Come join the fun! Mihir Pandya KK (Kyungmin) Kim https://lnkd.in/gVa_Kcm4 https://lnkd.in/gvtKvwXbProduct Manager, Gen AI Operator App | Careers | Scale AIProduct Manager, Gen AI Operator App | Careers | Scale AI
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Michelle Ko shared thisAnother one! A HUGE game changer for all the Finance and HR folks out there. Shoutout to Daniel Green and team 💡Michelle Ko shared thisWe’re launching Rippling Headcount Planning and Compensation Bands to make staying on top of hiring and compensation as easy as 3, 2, 1 🚀 🔎 Seamlessly manage your hiring plan 💳 Control headcount costs and rein in spending 🐜 Minimize Finance, HR, and Recruiting busy workIntroducing Headcount Planning and Compensation Bands | RipplingIntroducing Headcount Planning and Compensation Bands | Rippling
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Michelle Ko shared thisSo proud of the incredible Rippling team and the actions taken last week to serve our customers!Michelle Ko shared this[ANNOUNCEMENT] Rippling has raised a $500M Series E. Here’s an update on our fundraising round, along with our response to the recent SVB closure: https://lnkd.in/gndK8Edg Our Series E was an unusual financing: we raised it in support of our customers. This thread is for you. For the last eight days our team has worked around the clock—nights and weekends—to ensure your employees got paid in the wake of SVB’s closure. Through it all, you have shown incredible mettle, and your support has meant the world to us. Customer posts like these kept us going: https://lnkd.in/gUtqDtJs That, and the fact that so many hardworking people from across the country rely on Rippling and our services. Thank you for your support, encouragement and continued trust.
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Michelle Ko shared thisLaunching our Finance Cloud with Rippling Spend Management— the only way to manage your employee expenses, corporate cards, bills, and payroll— all in one place. 💵 I'm especially excited about this huge milestone for our team. Having lived and experienced pain points within finance workstreams, within rapidly growing teams, within cross-functional management for spend, I believe what we have built will be a game changer for the space and companies of all types. Shoutout to Rishab Hegde and team for making this happen. We're just getting started!With Finance Cloud, Rippling Hopes To Become The Salesforce Of Employee DataWith Finance Cloud, Rippling Hopes To Become The Salesforce Of Employee Data
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Michelle Ko shared thisWhat a crazy ride it's been to help grow and scale the company at this rate. 🚀 Excited to share our Series D round at an $11.25B valuation! We're hiring across the board - shoot me a DM if you're interested in joining the fun! https://lnkd.in/gD_znSfQMichelle Ko shared thisSome news: We just raised a $250M Series D at an $11.25B valuation, co-led by Bedrock and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, and more. This investment will help us further build on Rippling’s core thesis that employee data is critical to a surprisingly large number of business systems, including the ones well outside of HR. We’re very thankful for the trust of our investors, partners, and customers, and the hard work of our team. Read our announcement here: https://lnkd.in/ehut6YRK
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Michelle Ko shared thisSo exciting to see Andrew Tan and team build this amazing platform (and now mobile app!). Congrats 🎉 Check them out below! Signup: https://ladder.to/signup iOS app: https://lnkd.in/gSG44CKmMichelle Ko shared this✨ I’m excited to announce Ladder's new mobile app and $3.7M round led by Forerunner Ventures / Brian O'Malley along with Seven Seven Six 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ / Alexis Ohanian Sr. So what is Ladder and why did I drop out of Stanford to work on this important mission? 🚀 Read more below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gpyrWix7 When COVID-19 hit last year, millions of college students across the country were sent home in a frenzy with no job lined up, no idea what remote work meant, and no sense of community. I was one of these students. We were left with little direction or support. I was shocked by how disproportionate the pandemic affected Gen Z, especially those from under-resourced backgrounds, but not surprised. In the next few years, 46 million people in Gen Z will start their careers. The future will be built by us, and yet, most of us don’t feel equipped to build it. This problem, exacerbated by the pandemic, just didn’t sit well with me. So we went to work to help our classmates and peers get back on their feet. Ladder started as a mentorship program that connected 500+ students with industry mentors Then launched a newsletter to share remote work opportunities and resources to 75,000+ subscribers And is now a next-gen professional community platform and mobile app with thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of members, and hundreds of thousands of conversations, posts, and threads 🤯 With Ladder, we’re building the platform we wish we had when we were in school. We’re rethinking what it means to be a professional platform and rebuilding all the core components from the ground up — the feed, your profile, your communities, everything! 🛠 You can join professional communities, consume high-quality career content, engage in fun discussions, land your dream job, and form meaningful relationships with peers and mentors 💪 Our mission is to democratize access to career growth. And community is one of the most important aspects of growing and being successful in your career. It doesn't matter what you do or where you're from, you deserve to have a community for wherever you are at 🙌 Today, we take one step closer by launching our mobile app on iOS, so now you can take Ladder on the go for all your discussions, chats, and events 📱 (Android app coming soon too, I promise) iOS app: https://lnkd.in/gCmwpvFa To my teammates at Ladder, none of this would have been possible without your tireless dedication towards our mission and product. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and we’re still only at the starting block 💚 Oh, and we're hiring 🚀
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Michelle Ko shared thisTaking a second to step back and appreciate this amazing company Rippling and its people (we just raised our Series C and we're just getting started). 😄 I am so grateful to have been a part of this process and a part of building and growing this company over the last year! I'm hiring for roles within our team - send me a DM if you want to join the fun! https://lnkd.in/gFPxM2py https://lnkd.in/gAYh9ZQ4Michelle Ko shared thisExciting news: We just raised a $250M Series C at a $6.5B valuation led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Global Growth, with participation from Greenoaks and others. We’re grateful for our investors, partners, customers, and most importantly all of the talented folks here at Rippling. We’re using this new capital to scale our team across the globe and build new products that we believe will fundamentally change the way founders, HR, IT, and Finance operate. https://lnkd.in/evYH-DAc
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Do not miss your chance to work with and learn from the best!! 👏
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Michelle Ko liked thisMichelle Ko liked thisSoftware has taken a brutal beating in recent weeks, with many names down ~20%+ year-to-date. The question for investors is whether the current software sell-off signals a structural shift or a market overreaction. The investor consensus is that software has become a commodity, but I think the reality is more nuanced While some software companies risk being disrupted, others might actually benefit from AI. The key distinction is between companies that have “artificial limiters” — non-code moats like network effects, regulation, and physical infrastructure that restrict competitive entry and sustain pricing power — and those who don’t. The current indiscriminate sell-off is creating compelling public-market opportunities for both value and growth investors. Paradoxically, the more fragile arena is in the private markets. In this post, I cover: - What’s driving the SaaS crash - Why mission-critical SaaS isn’t going away and the opportunity for value investors - The “artificial limiters” framework and how to screen for multi-baggers - Why venture math looks harder in an era of lower public multiples Check it out here! https://lnkd.in/gwBpGMeB Huge thanks to William Lee, John Wu, Homan Y., Yash Tulsani, Maged Korga Ahmed, Wai Wu, and Andrew Tan for the feedback on this piece!The SaaS Bloodbath: Opportunities and Perils for InvestorsThe SaaS Bloodbath: Opportunities and Perils for Investors
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Michelle Ko reacted on thisMichelle Ko reacted on this🍓 We spent a wonderful afternoon at Three Babes Bakeshop, a women-owned small business in SF, learning how to make berry crumble pie. 🥧 Our conversations spanned everything from favorite (and least favorite) AI applications, to how AI is reshaping travel habits, to creative recruiting strategies. 💛 A huge thank-you to Lindsey Li at Bessemer Venture Partners for hosting, and to all the amazing women building and working at AI startups who joined us! Lucy L. Nancy Hung Brooke Hartley Moy Lauren Wong Deborah Lim Michelle Ko Sarah Zeng Billie Solomon Anushree Agrawal Grace Hua Joanne Shang
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Michelle Ko reacted on thisMichelle Ko reacted on thisSharing a few thoughts on working hours, then and now... The debate around the 9-9-6 work schedule strikes me as oddly shallow. Startups in China have been doing this for years, and I remember back in the mid-2010s it was practically an article of faith among people watching the industry that this was why Chinese startups would beat their American counterparts. But here’s the truth: no one has to force you to work long hours if you really want to. The founders and early employees who push hardest aren’t usually doing it because someone set the office lights to stay on until midnight. They’re doing it because they care. It’s not obedience—it’s compulsion. The Role of Urgency In industries where being first really matters—ridesharing a decade ago, or AI today—the only advantage you can really compound is speed. If you and your competitors are equally talented, and you both see the same opportunity, the one who simply spends more hours in the problem space has the edge. Time becomes the rawest form of capital. This doesn’t mean it’s sustainable forever. It rarely is. But there’s a reason why some companies choose it anyway: because the window for success may only open once. The Shift That Happens With Age When I was younger, I worked longer hours, and not because someone told me to. At 22, few other time-intensive priorities, my work was my best use of time. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that companies aren’t just paying for hours anymore. They’re paying for judgment. For the ability to make good calls quickly. For the ability to know which doors are worth opening. They’re paying for experience, for the network that makes introductions possible, and for the intuition that keeps you from wasting months chasing the wrong idea. So yes, I work fewer hours now. But I don’t feel guilty about it. If anything, the work I do now counts for more than the hours I used to put in. Time as Leverage There’s a progression here that mirrors how startups themselves evolve. In the earliest stage, what you need is sheer effort. Later on, effort compounds into something more valuable: leverage. A founder who is good at hiring can accomplish more in a 50-hour week than they used to in a 90-hour one, because they’ve figured out how to multiply their time. Individuals work the same way. What you do in your early 20s is different from what you do in your 30s or 40s, because what you’re bringing to the table is different. If you still think output is proportional to hours worked, you’re probably underrating the compound returns of experience. And that’s why I don’t worry about not grinding quite as hard as I used to. The form of work has changed, but not the commitment to it.
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Michelle Ko reacted on thisMichelle Ko reacted on thisThis weekend, we partnered with Greylock Partners to host a fun, relaxing event in SF featuring puppies and yoga, bringing together exceptional individuals at some of the top AI startups. 🐶 Between stretches and time with the puppies, the morning was about more than relaxation. It was a chance to pause, breathe, connect, and recharge with the community in the fast-moving world. 🧘♀️ Big thank you to Sophia Luo at Greylock for helping us make this happen, and to everyone who joined us in creating such a joyful space. 💜 Joanne Shang Jacqueline Wibowo Angela Dong Sarah Chieng Amy Jin Michelle Lim Lauren Zhu Lily (Qian) Zhao Shubha Jagannatha Naomi Chetrit Band Jessica Zhu Camilla Guo Claire Nord Billie Solomon Annie Ma Ingrid Xu Lauren Oh Sarah Zeng Braintrust Cartesia Cerebras Systems Clay Decagon Harvey HeyGen Luma AI Netic Numeral Surge AI Wiz
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Michelle Ko reacted on thisMichelle Ko reacted on this🌟 Big life update (and first LinkedIn post!) TL;DR: My incoming offer as the first-ever Associate Product Manager (APM) at Scale AI on the GenAI team this fall was rescinded last week due to company-wide layoffs. 😓 After graduating from Stanford with my B.S. in CS, I’m now looking for my next opportunity in product, engineering, or AI research (or a hybrid of these) — especially in SF! 👩💻 Professionally, I’ve worked across all these areas: At Salesforce, I defined and shipped the first genAI features for Nonprofit Cloud, leading dev blitzes and accelerating roadmap delivery; At Cresta, I built a new AI-powered agent performance analyst to cut call center times; At Tarjimly, I developed an RL-based translator-refugee matching algorithm deployed to 100K+ users; At Standard Metrics (via the 8VC Fellowship), I led a product feature from ideation to launch that boosted trust and ACV; At Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), I conducted research in model training, benchmarking, and unlearning. After signing with Scale last November, I was excited to dive into PM work on their GenAI team — so this sudden change has been tough. But in the past week, I’ve come to value a few things: 📈 Growth thrives in discomfort. I’ve been exploring agentic AI frameworks, building my personal site, and learning new creative tools for content creation. 👩💻 You are not your job title. Fulfillment comes from curiosity, not just prestige. 💌 People are kind — you just have to ask. Thank you to everyone who's reached out so far! 👉 So here’s my ask: if you know of fast-moving, mission-driven AI companies hiring in product/eng (especially in SF), I’d love to connect. I want to work on an impactful product with passionate folks who index toward action! 🌱 In the meantime, I’m in SF (crashing at a hacker 🏠) staying curious, creating, and excited for what’s next. Reach out if you have book/course recs, project ideas, or want to grab coffee :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Outside of work, some of my favorite moments came from building and growing at Stanford University: 🌹 Senior Scramble — I launched Stanford’s first weekly matchmaking service with Henry Weng and Jason Lin. It reached over half the senior class, created long-term couples (and a few chaotic date stories), and became a viral campus moment. 🔍 I submitted my first research paper with the Stanford NLP Group under Yang Diyi. Advit Deepak and I developed the first benchmark for detecting whether individual data points have been unlearned from LLMs — with important implications for AI safety and privacy. 🌟 I built community as a TA for CS+Social Good, a Notion Campus Leader, and a mentor in Alpha Kappa Psi. I got my start in student leadership on Frosh Council and never stopped there. 🎥 I also started posting reels (check out @megan.mou on IG!) to document my learnings and entertaining moments — and I plan to keep going post-grad :)
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Michelle Ko reacted on thisMichelle Ko reacted on this🎉 Some personal news 🎉: I’m joining Marc Benioff and Adam Evans to build Agentforce at Salesforce! We live in a pivotal moment for AI agents, and through conversations over the last couple months, it has become clear to me how uniquely well-positioned Salesforce (and in particular Agentforce) is to deliver at scale on the promise of agents for enterprises. In this next chapter — I’ll be helping to lead agent development for Agentforce. We have dozens of incredible PMs and 100s of talented engineers on the team who are already delivering impactful products for customers. We have a tremendous opportunity to transform the agentic experience for customers. I couldn’t be more excited for our future. Come join us (DM me)! :) I was surprised by how much Agentforce operates like a startup within Salesforce, and we are hiring across the board. 🚀
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Michelle Ko liked thisMichelle Ko liked thisDuring the early days of scaling Rippling we learned something the hard way: You can’t outsource judgment and sometimes you have to put in the cycles to develop good judgement, fast. This is especially true when it comes to hiring. Tara Viswanathan (CEO of Rupa Health) built one of the fastest exec talent pipelines I’ve ever seen—but it started with a surprising commitment: before interviewing a single candidate, she spoke to 30+ experts who had already done the job. That research didn’t just shape a job description—it rewired her instincts. So when she finally met the right candidate, she knew it. We worked with Tara to turn that approach into a system: a structured way for first-time founders to build hiring intuition—fast. Sharing a 7-slide breakdown below.
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