From the inception of Airbotics as a US-incorporated company, founders Robbie Fryers and Andrew Murtagh trust Boundless to take care of their local employment in Portugal and Ireland without any unnecessary admin.
A startup is, at any stage but especially in the very early days, a constant dance with the unknown and the uncertain. In those very early days, in April 2022, Robbie Fryers, co-founder of Airbotics, first started navigating the unknowns of cross-border employment, something he was completely unfamiliar with.
Robbie and his co-founder Andrew Murtagh had just found out that the DevOps for robotics idea they had been working on the side had caught the attention of US early-stage accelerator On Deck. To have a spot on the US accelerator would not only give them the vital cash injection to focus on Airbotics full time but also set them up for success in the American market. The only caveat, as far as Robbie and Andrew were concerned, was that the company would need to be incorporated in the US. Neither Andrew nor Robbie wanted to live in the US physically - Andrew wanted to stay in his home in Ireland, and Robbie was in the process of relocating to Portugal with his partner.
As far as they were concerned, in the new world of global-first companies, even newly-minted Airbotics could very well be multinational from the outset. To be able to do that legally and compliantly, though, the two co-founders would need to be employed locally where they lived. Figuring out how to do that themselves and establishing and maintaining entities in Ireland and Portugal just for employment purposes didn’t make sense, so Robbie decided to find an Employer of Record instead. One of the companies he spoke with was Boundless…
Beyond the initial call he had with Boundless, each following interaction showcased a level of care and attention to detail that he did not see in other companies. “Boundless moved swiftly through each of the stages of the process, explaining everything very clearly,” Robbie says. That process included getting clarity on all necessary documents, reviewing the commercial and employment agreements, and, eventually, the employee onboarding itself. Robbie could feel the confidence we exuded as we took him through the steps in each country, which gave him a sense of safety. “One less thing to worry about,” Robbie says. “Boundless’ knowledge of the legal, payroll, and HR side of things was unmatched, which was really attractive to us.”
What sealed the deal for Robbie was our flexible commercial expectation from Airbotics. While the limited runway that startups operate with simply requires it, it’s our inherent belief that customers of any size should not be locked into lengthy or punitive agreements. This comes from a place of knowing how quickly employment circumstances can change for companies of any size.
For a startup at any stage, speed is of the essence. Airbotics is no different; the two founders needed to be onboarded quickly. “Within about a week of sending the first email to Boundless, our onboarding had started,” Robbie says. Boundless was a match for their need for speed through our tried and tested onboarding process that comes with studied and prepared contracts and other documents in-house, coupled with deep knowledge about all the setup that was needed for Robbie and Andrew. “Boundless set very clear expectations on timelines and then fully met them, which we were really impressed with,” Robbie says and continues: “experiencing this for ourselves gives us the confidence that this will be the case for any future international employees we decide to hire.”
Once they were onboarded, approval of their payroll took less than five minutes.
The reality is that people like Robbie and Andrew simply do not want to think too much about payroll; they just want to work on their idea. So when that payroll was processed right on time, this was a massive win.
Once Robbie was settled in Portugal, a country he had to navigate from the start, many other questions began surfacing. Some of those would be related to employment and tax, but others fell outside of that domain. With the experience of employing other people in Portugal plus having some of the Boundless team there, we could quickly respond to any queries. Those varied from how to include expenses in payroll to helping find a Portuguese language teacher for Robbie. “Anytime we sent a message to someone on the team, they replied within a couple of hours. Knowing that a company you work with will reply to you so quickly is a truly incredible feeling and great customer service.”
Seamless. Friendly. Open.
Thanks Airbotics ❤️
