Unveiling the New TriNet

Annie Clements: Hello. Hello, everyone.
We are so honored to be with you tonight. We're so looking forward to hearing all of your stories as being presented by one of my personally very dear friends. And he brought us all the way from Big Sky, Montana, to be with you guys tonight. It was so well worth the journey for us.
And if you know him, you love him. The only thing bigger than his heart is his wardrobe. Ladies and gentlemen, your senior vice president, chief marketing officer and chief communications officer, Mr. Michael Mendenhall.
Michael Mendenhall: Now I have to before... First off, welcome for being here. One, we have all of our senior executives here. We have our customers here. We have some of our board members here. And we have some financial analysts here. We sort of have everybody here on a wonderful evening. So thank you very much.
But what I want to do is talk about the band. They're from Nashville originally and moved to Big Sky. I got to know them personally. And for two years, I've been trying to build the band. This band does not tour together, so I'm going to talk about them sort of individually, so you know who these people are.
So you first have Amanda Stewart. Amanda Stewart will be the best new female country artist with the CMAs. She's headed to Nashville and I got her. She's going to release a single in about a week, I think. And I got her to put it on the playlist tonight. So you're going to hear her perform it for the first time here. So that's very good.
And over here you have Annie Clements. Annie Clements is amazing. Annie and Thad Beaty toured with Sugarland. They met and got married and have two kids from the tour. Interesting. Yeah. But I want you to know that they've played with Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce. They've toured with Sugarland, with Jennifer Nettles. They've toured well, currently are touring with Maren Morris.
We are very fortunate to get them here because she goes on tour in a week with Maren. But they've played on The Tonight Show on CBS. And they've played the Hollywood Bowl. So you have amazing artists here.
And I'm so happy that we call it, “We Built the Band.” We built the band. And then we have Lee Falco. And Lee is the drummer and he played with the Nightflyers and with Steely Dan. So we're happy to have him.
This band doesn't always play together, so we call… Everyone's like, “Well, where's their album or their single?” There isn't one because they're touring with major artists on other playlists. But we built the band for tonight and they're awesome. They're going to be back and they're going to play an hour-long set after this for all of you, which is going to be pretty awesome. It's a good playlist. Thank you guys, so very much for coming out and doing that.
And now I want to bring up… You saw behind us was a sizzle reel for the company. Burton Goldfield, our CEO said, “I want a sizzle reel.” And so we went and produced one that really talks about who we are because we're a very different company than we were. And so if Garson could come up. Garson is an Emmy Award winning motion graphic designer.
Garson Yu: Hello, hello.
Michael: And he has worked with Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee and many others. And he did this amazing work that you saw behind us. And it was interesting because it was Kelly Clarkson's song. Way to get approval for this band to do a cover and perform the song live to a click track, which I think you did an amazing job. And you also did an amazing job. So thank you.
Garson: Thank you. I'm also a customer of TriNet. I am so happy to be here. To be part of the big family. And I've been with TriNet for the past five years.
Michael: Five years?
Garson: Yes. Ever since. You know, from Michael, I've been following Michael for the past almost a decade. Michael is… I'm Michael's collaborator, you know, in many, many projects in the past. Yes. Thank you.
Michael: Thank you so much.
And so now it is my great pleasure to introduce to you… And we're going to go back and forth and bounce. So we're going to turn around. We're going to go over to this stage.
It's a pleasure to introduce our president and CEO of TriNet, Burton Goldfield.
Burton Goldfield: We're going to have dueling stages tonight. Michael will be on that stage. I'll be on this stage.
Welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining us. We're here tonight to honor our amazing customers, many who have not only survived through the last three years of this craziness, but also thrived during this incredible period. And Garson is one of them, just a talent, an amazing team. And what he does is second to none.
You'll hear from many of our customers tonight. I hope their stories inspire you like they inspire me. They inspire me to get up every morning and do an even better job. And then you look around the room at the photography and what Annie has done in capturing the people and the companies that we serve is just phenomenal.
A friend of mine was a world-renowned climber. His name is Todd Skinner. Many of you may have heard of him. And he used to talk to me about building teams and climbing unclimbable mountains. And he had this concept where you were never prepared to climb the mountain when you started. It was only the challenge of each step to get to the summit, where you learned as a team how to grow and get to that summit.
I feel like that's the story of TriNet. TriNet has grown by addressing the needs of our customers, by being with them with the challenges and the celebrations that they have. And every day we see wins and we see challenges. I've watched companies get R&D tax credits for a half a million dollars that allow them to continue in a very difficult environment. We have seen companies get almost $2 billion in PPP loans and have those loans forgiven over time. We've given clients access to benefits at a time when they really need them and additional benefits through our Enrich product.
We celebrate when they get funding rounds, when they get exits. We've also seen a very significant use of the employee assistance program. Through these challenging times, we're able to help people navigate their lives and their business constructs. We know that we're contributing to their resiliency and we celebrate that and the proud association.
So, one of the things I wanted to announce tonight is that the word is in: our customers grew in March. Yes. They not only grew in March in a tough environment, but our customers grew in absolute terms more than they have in the last eight months.
We are seeing a generation of entrepreneurs. We are seeing a generation of folks that have passion and vision around what they are doing. Now, one month doesn't make a trend, but I am optimistic and I believe there’s an opportunity even in these difficult economic times, to grow and prosper.
We have unique customers doing unique things. And I'm going to call out one of them because yesterday, I had the opportunity to go into the studio with folks from the McCarton Foundation. And I think Whitney Loy and Caroline Kelly, you're here. Where's Whitney? There he is. He inspired me. I think I'm good for the next month.
So McCarton Foundation addresses autism and gets kids early. They're right here in New York and the need is great. So they go to the underserved communities and they've grown from three employees to over 200 over the last couple of years. Now, that is a big vision and the need is there. And the passion that Whitney had just was phenomenal. So that video will be coming out soon. But Whitney, you have no idea. You impacted me so much yesterday. So thank you for that.
I think it's really interesting and this came out yesterday with Whitney. He understands, as every great CEO does, that the people in the company fulfill the mission. So we need to help the people deliver on that promise. TriNet invests in listening and understanding and developing products. And what we are hearing is clients want simplicity. They want flexibility. And they want value. TriNet is proud of our heritage, revolutionizing the PEO market. TriNet was the first PEO to go to the cloud and the first to go mobile. TriNet was the first to recognize that one size does not fit all. And that what a nonprofit needs is different from what a great financial service company needs.
Today we are going to celebrate the new TriNet. It's been a busy few years. We acquired Zenefits and we promised to integrate them into our organization. Well, TriNet and Zenefits are now one—a series of products under TriNet, an HRIS solution, a PEO solution and a set of products and services for both Claris R+D and the Enrich product line.
It's a new TriNet with an expanded offering. And we have been working with entrepreneurs for over 30 years and I've never seen more of a need for innovation, flexibility and growth. The new TriNet is bigger. The new TriNet is bolder. Our aspirations are greater because our customers’ aspirations are better. We will always put our customers at the center of everything we do because we know that people matter.
And with that, I am pleased to unveil our brand new logo tonight. TriNet.
Michael, will you come back to the stage? What do you have to say, Michael? Good job.
Michael: So, a different company.
Burton: A different company. Yes.
Michael: So let's talk about that. You know, most people see us as a PEO and I think we're more of a platform. We've become more of a platform.
Burton: Right.
Michael: And we continue to add capabilities. And some of these capabilities we add over a weekend. When our customers say, “We have an issue,” we're going to address it and you will see, you know, our executive team work through the weekend. You saw that during, you know, women's health. You've seen that just recently with the banking crisis.
Talk about what our mission is relative to that and why are we different?
Burton: So the the journey of a customer is complex and one size doesn't fit all. In some cases, the PEO model is phenomenal. The liability, the ability to access medical benefits, the all-in-one solution. In other cases, just having the platform, may be enough—bringing your own medical benefits and using TriNet who understands small and medium businesses gives you choices.
So the future of TriNet is choice. The future of TriNet is to add services, to add different capabilities on to a single platform and not have to move from one platform to another because our customers deserve that simplicity.
Michael: And you tend to talk about, which I thought was interesting to some of our customers, when you say choice, let's talk about the health care piece and choice.
Burton: Today under the PEO model, we offer 550 medical plans in all 50 states. But there's cases, as customers grow bigger, where they want to sponsor their own health care. They want to take on their own risk associated with it. Having a seamless platform for them to bring their medical care and still use the platform is an important part of TriNet and the future.
Again, it's choice with flexibility. So you need the rich deep experience, you need the capabilities to get the expertise, but you also need the flexibility in the construct. And that's the future TriNet.
Michael: But I think also we understood service becomes incredibly important. And so we verticalized it. Talk about the verticalized strategy and go-to-market.
Burton: As I said, Whitney was amazing yesterday and the needs around a nonprofit in the Bronx growing from three to 200 is very different than a financial services company in Manhattan with 10 people. You need to be able to access the service and the expertise when and where you need it. You need somebody on the phone who understands nonprofit and understands what a partnership looks like in a financial services organization. And they're not the same.
Michael: And so as we do that go-to-market, there's a complete understanding of those specific verticals.
Burton: Absolutely.
Michael: Which does play out in what we're going to talk about tonight in the customers that were in the campaign and what they're doing. And they really represent multiple verticals.
Burton: They're going to tell their own stories with Annie's incredible help on the photography. I don't need to tell their stories. But my question to you is we spent hours deciding whether the “T” would have an angle with the top or be flat on the top. Can you tell me why you chose the flat top and not the angled top?
Michael: I figured you put me on the spot. That was about a 30 minute conversation and that was about…
Burton: And I just want to say that the care that Michael and his team put into the brand and which encapsulates the excitement and the vision that we have for small and medium businesses is phenomenal. I've been doing this for a lot of years.
Michael: Well, I think it's nice that you bring that up because we have an independent Harris poll that is done every year to benchmark our brand and we just got the one back from People Matter, the last campaign, and we went up to where we are one of the top two most recognized brands and we have the highest level of customer intent in the history of the company.
Does someone want to who has the bigger mic want do this? Who has the voice of God?
Burton: So I'm going to tell a quick story and then I want you to move on. And the reason it's important to tell this story is because you understand the excellence. Everybody in this room is exceptional and what they do. And yesterday, Michael called me and our ads, our new TV ads were released yesterday. And Michael called me and said, “I don't like the voiceover.” And I said, “But the ads are running. My wife saw it on TV yesterday.” He goes, “I don't care. I'm calling and redoing them today and they will be changed by tomorrow morning.” And he kept calling me and saying, “Listen to this guy. What do you think? This guy sounds really strong.” I said, “Yep, sounds strong. It's worth it.” You know, at least a few extra points in our brand advertising.
So by midnight, Michael, last I think you produced, directed and hired the voiceover talent and the ad was rereleased. In fact, I think we're going to play it.
Michael: We're going to see it today.
Burton: And that was you, which it's perfection. It's perfection in every part of what we do and why we do it and why we're driven. And really, you represent the best. So thank you.
Michael: Well, I have to say my team, I probably dragged my team along with me. Like, “What? What?” Yeah, we're going to do that and they get right on board.
It is about excellence. I think we do it across the company. It's one of the reasons why I do enjoy working here, because you allow for excellence.
Burton: I love the word “allow.” So it's not demanding.
Michael: But it does raise the bar in the company and how service our customers. It raises the bar and that cuts across the entire company. And I think we see that in our results. You're going to hear some wonderful things I think tonight.
Burton: Yeah.
Michael: From some of our customers. They're going to be interesting, some very moving. But I'm so proud of our customers. And you're just going to see the little tip of the iceberg of the 22,000 customers we have. And I wish I could showcase all of them for you because it is remarkable what they're doing and the impact they have in society. We're going to talk a little bit about that as well.
Burton: Fantastic. Thank you.
Michael: Thank you.