Payroll for one W‑2 founder — compliant hourly-pay workflow

Payroll for one W‑2 founder — compliant hourly-pay workflow targets a $2.4B = 5,000,000 micro-employer firms (<5 employees) x $480 ARPU/year (basic payroll + tax filing) total addressable market with medium saturation and a year-over-year growth rate of 8-12% (digitization of small-business payroll and outsourcing trends).

Key trends driving demand: Micro-business formation -- rising number of one-person startups and side hustles creating demand for micro-payroll solutions; Regulatory scrutiny -- increased enforcement around worker classification and payroll taxes drives need for compliant tooling; Embedded payroll & banking APIs -- modern fintech rails (ACH, tax filing APIs) lower costs and time-to-market for payroll products; Shift from contractor to W-2 -- startups formalizing founder compensation rather than informal transfers.