Parker Conrad
Background
Parker Conrad grew up in New York and studied chemistry and government at Harvard University. A brilliant, fiercely determined software entrepreneur, Conrad co-founded health insurance and payroll pioneer Zenefits in 2013, scaling it to a $4.5 billion valuation before being pushed out by his board in 2016 amid regulatory compliance controversies.
Role at Rippling (People Center, Inc.)
Parker Conrad is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rippling. Enduring intense public humiliation after leaving Zenefits, Conrad resolved to build an enterprise software company so structurally superior that no competitor could touch it. In 2016, alongside engineering prodigy Prasanna Sankar, Conrad founded Rippling based on 'The Compound Startup' philosophy: building HR, IT, and Finance on a single employee database. Under Conrad's relentless, unshakeable leadership, Rippling achieved the ultimate Silicon Valley redemption: scaling past $350 million in ARR at a $13.5 billion valuation, proving that unified compound software permanently outperforms fragmented point solutions. Conrad's unyielding determination, intellectual fearlessness, and relentless work ethic made him one of the most formidable corporate leaders in modern technology. Channelling the public trauma of his departure from Zenefits into the architectural invention of 'The Compound Startup', Conrad proved that ambitious founders can build multiple complex software products simultaneously, building Rippling from a stealth startup into a $13.5 billion software titan past $350M ARR ahead of an initial public offering.