Skymoon Ventures Empowers Its Portfolio Companies with TriNet's Services

Based in Palo Alto, California, Skymoon Ventures is an unusual venture capital firm because it incubates its own ideas. One of the partners introduces the initial concept, and then the company hires engineers, marketing people, and other talent to turn the brainstorm into a business reality. In addition to transforming good ideas into great companies, the firm also generates business plans in-house and nurtures its portfolio companies as they grow.

The Problem
As a result of this quick turnaround process, Skymoon constantly faces the need to get their new portfolios up and running in a quick, efficient fashion.

Jackie Brown, Skymoon's CFO, points out: "Whenever we had a portfolio company ready to go, we had to run out and get competitive pricing for benefits and other HR services. At one point we were contracting all those services to different providers, and we'd end up with six contracts for every company—which, from an administrative and logistical standpoint, wasn't ideal at all."

The TriNet Difference
Ms. Brown and her in-house manager, Jennifer Fery, evaluated a number of options for handling human resources. TriNet distinguished itself from the competition in part because of its online services.

TriNet's online delivery made it easier for us because we were able to manage several portfolio companies from a single location," Ms. Fery explains. "In a sense, we can incubate the companies and then move them off-site without having to disrupt the delivery of their HR services. Even more importantly, TriNet's 'one-stop shop' allows us to avoid the administrative hassle of managing multiple vendors, giving us a cookie cutter approach to creating new companies."

The ease of this approach even extends to hiring: "New employees can be added almost entirely online, with the sole exception of a faxed I-9 form."

The Personal Touch
Ms. Brown believes that TriNet's technology is supplemented with a personal touch. Whenever she needs an answer to a question about TriNet's services, or has an issue to resolve, she finds that TriNet offers quick turnaround from both her Account Managers and her HR Managers.

"We've been pleased with both their responsiveness and the overall quality of their service," she says.

The strategic human resources guidance can also pay off in big ways. "In one situation we needed to do a Reduction in Force. It's never easy to do something like that, but thanks to the professionalism of TriNet's HR Managers, we were able to perform it quickly in complete compliance with the law."

An Ongoing Partnership
Ms. Brown points out, "A few of our portfolio companies have grown big enough that they're able to hire their own finance person, which means that Skymoon stops handling the HR details for that company. But in each case, those larger companies have chosen to remain with TriNet. They do so because they see the advantages of having HR experts at their disposal, as well as a single point of contact handling their HR administration. They really see the benefits."

Jackie Brown, CFO
Skymoon Ventures