Forge Global is a leading global private securities marketplace serving the liquidity needs of high-growth companies and their employees. The company connects investors to private market investment opportunities to fuel a thriving innovation economy.

In March 2020, Forge Global acquired what today is known as Forge Trust, which provides administrative and custody services to individuals, financial advisers, and investment issuers for IRA-funded investments. The company serves over 1.3 million accounts representing $13.5B in assets under custody.

During the transaction, the Forge Global team quickly realized its payroll vendors with antiquated and unreliable customer service models could not meet its needs to support their next growth phase. As a result, the team leveraged the transition time as the opportunity to engage a new organization that provided powerful administration tools and trusted payroll expertise to create a more sustainable operation.

At the time of the transaction, Forge Global was using a payroll vendor that was primarily managed by one team member. It wasn’t scalable or sustainable for the fast-growing organization.

“We never had a payroll person. When we were smaller, I was doing it. But at that point, we were growing and needed more help. That is why we built the relationship with Paid,” said Anne Mueller, Senior Vice President, People at Forge Global.

Why move vendors during an already stressful time? Simple. The vendor’s services weren’t up to par in meeting the organization’s needs.

“There were inaccuracies. We didn’t have a dedicated point person. One person would say something, and then another person would say something different. It was like you were dealing with a call center mentality, and it just wasn’t trustworthy enough to help us through this transaction,” continued Mueller.

On the other side of the transaction’s aisle, the acquired company was using a professional employer organization (PEO) that also had significant flaws.

“Although we had a dedicated payroll person and a dedicated HR person, they were very untimely with their responses or feedback. They just did not have that high-level customer service that Paid has with more personalized service,” stated MonaLisa Oaks, Director, People Business Partner at Forge Trust.

Collectively, the two organizations experienced the pitfalls that come with engaging large payroll processing organizations, such as:

Given the acquisition, the Forge Global and Forge Trust teams took the opportunity to engage with a trusted partner that could provide the comprehensive and intelligent service offering they needed – Paid.

Anne at Forge Global previously worked with Paid’s President and CEO, Matt Edman, and was just as impressed with the team’s expertise then as she is now.

“We started talking with Matt as I knew him from a previous engagement. I enjoyed working with the team, and I believed they had excellent payroll knowledge,” said Mueller.

That past work experience gave the Forge Global team confidence in making the switch to Paid. In early 2020, Forge Global engaged the Paid team for outsourced payroll services, which ultimately serves as the company’s payroll department.

“The Paid team has been able to meet and exceed all our requirements. They have gone above and beyond to make our lives easier in accounting. Paid is the first payroll service that I’ve worked with that creates journal entries for us. I don’t know any other service that does that. No matter the transaction, the Paid team has your back,” said Jocelyn Refo, Controller at Forge Global.

By partnering with Paid, Forge Global and Forge Trust transformed their payroll processing operations. And, Paid’s flexible platform and expert consulting services better equipped the two companies to manage complex changes – including growing from single to double-digit states.

“Paid has always kept us on track with making sure we are doing everything we need to, no matter if it was meeting the payroll deadline or getting onto a timesheet program for non-exempt employees. The timesheet program was a very new process for us, and the team was accommodating with providing training sessions and helping to get those non-exempt employees ready to punch in and punch out,” shared Oaks.

The Paid team’s diverse skillsets not only helped Forge Global and Forge Trust navigate through this transaction, but they also helped create a more organized and flexible payroll operation built for long-term growth. Which was quickly put to work in the fall of 2020 when Forge Global acquired two additional companies. Through the partnership with Paid, the teams were able to seamlessly add the new companies to the existing technology without requiring an entirely new implementation.

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Nulla consectetur maximus turpis a egestas. Mauris efficitur, ante non bibendum eleifend, diam massa varius ex, non vestibulum risus metus in eros. Proin eu urna vitae ex feugiat interdum. Nunc vel auctor nisi.

Nulla consectetur maximus turpis a egestas. Mauris efficitur, ante non bibendum eleifend, diam massa varius ex, non vestibulum risus metus in eros. Proin eu urna vitae ex feugiat interdum. Nunc vel auctor nisi.

Nulla consectetur maximus turpis a egestas. Mauris efficitur, ante non bibendum eleifend, diam massa varius ex, non vestibulum risus metus in eros. Proin eu urna vitae ex feugiat interdum. Nunc vel auctor nisi. Pellentesque a bibendum tortor. Sed scelerisque auctor odio, id scelerisque diam fermentum sit amet.

Nulla consectetur maximus turpis a egestas. Mauris efficitur, ante non bibendum eleifend, diam massa varius ex, non vestibulum risus metus in eros. Proin eu urna vitae ex feugiat interdum. Nunc vel auctor nisi.