What is the core problem Hourly is solving?

Hourly addresses the inefficiency and inaccuracy of the traditional workers' compensation insurance market. Typically, premiums are estimated and then adjusted through painful year-end audits. Hourly uses real-time payroll and time-tracking data to calculate premiums exactly as labor costs are incurred, providing better cash flow management for small businesses and more accurate risk assessment for insurers.

How does Hourly acquire customers?

Hourly utilizes a channel-partner strategy. Instead of selling directly to every small business, they appoint a network of insurance agents. These agents, who already have relationships with businesses needing workers' comp, refer qualified prospects to Hourly to complete their payroll onboarding. This B2B2B approach allows for faster scaling than a pure direct-to-consumer model.

What makes Hourly's technology different from standard payroll software?

Unlike generic payroll platforms, Hourly is built specifically to drive insurance decisions. It includes geo-tracking to verify where work is happening and links that data directly to workers' comp codes. This vertical integration allows the platform to provide claims and safety services to both employees and managers, creating a tighter feedback loop between labor and insurance risk.

Is Hourly an insurance company or a software company?

Hourly is a hybrid. It identifies as a 'Licensed Insurer leveraging agency distribution (through an MGA)' on Slide 22. While it provides a full-service payroll and time-tracking software suite, its primary revenue and value proposition are tied to the underwriting and servicing of workers' compensation policies.

What metrics does the deck use to show success?

The primary metric highlighted is Gross Written Premiums (GWP) Sold. Slide 19 shows a quarter-over-quarter growth chart for 2021 and 2022. While the specific dollar amounts are blurred in the public version, the trend line indicates accelerating momentum in new business production and agent submissions.

Hourly Pitch Deck: All 23 Slides + Teardown

See all 23 slides of the Hourly pitch deck — a 2023 Series A deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Hourly’s 23-slide Series A deck focuses on the convergence of HR tech and Insurtech to solve the inefficiencies of the $50B U.S. workers' compensation market. By combining time-tracking, geo-fencing, and payroll into a single mobile-first platform, Hourly enables real-time premium calculations, moving away from the industry-standard annual audit model. The deck emphasizes a B2B2B go-to-market strategy, leveraging a network of insurance agents to reach small and medium-sized businesses. While the presentation provides a clear overview of the product's functional mechanics and shows significant…

Key takeaways

Hourly identifies a $50B U.S. workers' compensation market as its primary target for disruption on Slide 4.
The platform integrates time-tracking, geo-fencing, and payroll to automate insurance premium calculations in real-time as shown on Slide 10.
The go-to-market strategy relies on a four-step partnership model involving insurers and a network of insurance agents according to Slide 13.
Hourly operates as a licensed insurer leveraging agency distribution through a Managing General Agent (MGA) model noted on Slide 22.
The company demonstrated significant growth in Gross Written Premiums sold across 2021 and 2022 as visualized on Slide 19.
The product is positioned as 100% mobile and cloud-based, targeting the specific needs of businesses with hourly workers on Slide 10.
The deck omits a dedicated team slide, only referencing 'best in class management' in the summary on Slide 22.
There is no explicit 'Ask' slide detailing how the $27M Series A funds will be spent across specific departments.

The Convergence of Payroll and Insurtech

Hourly's Series A deck is a masterclass in vertical SaaS positioning. By the time they raised $27M in 2023 (as reported by Business Insider), the company had clearly moved past the 'idea' phase and into the 'scaling' phase. The deck focuses heavily on how their technology stack—comprising time tracking, payroll, and insurance—creates a moat that traditional insurers cannot easily replicate. The following teardown examines the 23-slide presentation, focusing on the strategic narrative and the data presented.

Slide 1-3: Introduction and Branding

The deck opens with a clean, professional aesthetic. Slide 1 establishes the context: a Series A presentation from Q1 2022. Slides 2 and 3 are minimalist branding slides featuring the 'H' logo. While these don't provide data, they set a tone of modern, tech-forward simplicity, which is a deliberate contrast to the often archaic and paperwork-heavy world of workers' compensation insurance.

Slide 4: The Market Opportunity

"The U.S. $50B workers’ compensation insurance market is ripe for disruption." This slide establishes the TAM (Total Addressable Market) immediately. By citing a $50B figure, Hourly signals to investors that even a small percentage of market capture represents a massive business. The slide also introduces the core thesis: that Hourly’s technology has the power to 'revolutionize' this specific niche. It’s a classic 'Big Problem' slide that justifies the need for a venture-scale solution.

Slide 7: The Differentiated Model

Slide 7 serves as a section header for 'Hourly’s Disruptive and Differentiated Model.' The use of high-quality lifestyle photography featuring a blue-collar worker (a carpenter or contractor) is a strategic choice. It grounds the abstract concept of 'fintech' in the reality of the people who actually use the product—small business owners and their hourly employees.

Slide 10: Product Mechanics and Value Proposition

This is arguably the most important slide in the deck. Titled "A complete workers’ comp and payroll platform," it breaks down the 'How it works' into four distinct steps: data gathering, employee clock-in via mobile app, real-time premium calculation, and the provision of claims/safety services. The slide features a mockup of the mobile interface, showing a map for geo-tracking and a clear dashboard. The inclusion of a US Bank/Visa co-branded card image suggests a fintech layer involving direct payments or disbursements, further integrating the company into the customer's financial workflow.

Slide 13: Go-To-Market Strategy

Hourly outlines a clear four-step distribution model on Slide 13. 1) Hourly forms partnerships with insurers to underwrite policies. 2) Hourly appoints a network of insurance agents. 3) Agents sell the workers' comp to their customers and refer them to Hourly for payroll. 4) Both Hourly and the agent win a loyal customer. This 'agent-first' strategy is a sophisticated way to bypass the high cost of direct customer acquisition in the insurance space, leveraging existing trust networks instead.

Slide 16: Insurance Strategy

Slide 16 acts as a transition into the deeper insurance mechanics. The imagery of a mobile phone inside a tool bag reinforces the 'mobile-first' and 'on-the-job' nature of the product. This section likely contained more detailed information about underwriting, risk pools, and the MGA (Managing General Agent) structure, though the summary slide later provides the high-level takeaway.

Slide 19: Growth and Traction

Slide 19 displays a chart for "Gross Written Premiums Sold - Quarter over Quarter Growth." The chart tracks 'New Business Produced by Effective Quarter' through 2021 and 2022. Although the specific Y-axis values are obscured in the public deck, the visual trend is one of exponential growth. The chart includes bars for 'Submissions' and 'New policies sold,' with a line representing 'New premiums written.' This slide is the 'proof of work' that justifies a Series A valuation, showing that the agent-based distribution model is functioning and accelerating.

Slide 22: The Summary

The deck concludes with a summary slide that hits five key pillars: the $50B opportunity, the unique end-to-end digital platform, the MGA-based go-to-market strategy, the 'best in class' team, and the financial momentum. This slide acts as a final pitch, consolidating the narrative into a single view for the investor to digest before the Q&A begins.

What Hourly's Deck Does Well

The primary strength of this deck is its clarity of purpose. Hourly does not try to be a general HR platform or a generic payroll provider. It focuses entirely on the synergy between payroll data and workers' compensation. By narrowing the focus, they make a compelling case for why they can win this specific $50B market.

The distribution strategy outlined on Slide 13 is also a highlight. Many startups fail because they underestimate the cost of customer acquisition (CAC). By positioning themselves as a tool for insurance agents rather than a competitor to them, Hourly creates a scalable engine for growth that aligns with existing industry incentives.

What is Missing from the Deck

The most glaring omission in the provided slides is a dedicated Team Slide . While Slide 22 mentions 'best in class management,' investors at the Series A stage typically want to see the specific pedigree of the founders—especially in a highly regulated industry like insurance. Experience at major carriers or successful fintech exits would be critical context here.

Additionally, there is no Unit Economics slide. While the GWP growth is impressive, investors would want to see the LTV (Lifetime Value) of a customer compared to the CAC, especially since they are sharing revenue with insurance agents. Finally, the Ask is missing. A standard pitch deck should explicitly state how much capital is being raised and how it will be allocated (e.g., 40% engineering, 30% sales, 30% operations).

Founder Takeaways: The Power of Vertical Integration

Founders should study how Hourly uses 'Step 2' of their product to solve 'Step 1' of their business model. By providing a free or low-cost time-tracking and payroll tool, they capture the data necessary to sell a high-margin insurance product. This is a classic 'Trojan Horse' strategy. If you are building in a crowded market like payroll, look for the adjacent, high-friction industry (like insurance or lending) where your data can provide an unfair advantage.

Another takeaway is the use of channel partners. If your product requires high trust to sell, don't try to build that trust from scratch. Find the people who already have it—in this case, insurance agents—and build a product that makes them look like heroes to their clients while increasing their own efficiency.

Frequently asked questions

What is the core problem Hourly is solving?: Hourly addresses the inefficiency and inaccuracy of the traditional workers' compensation insurance market. Typically, premiums are estimated and then adjusted through painful year-end audits. Hourly uses real-time payroll and time-tracking data to calculate premiums exactly as labor costs are incurred, providing better cash flow management for small businesses and more accurate risk assessment for insurers.
How does Hourly acquire customers?: Hourly utilizes a channel-partner strategy. Instead of selling directly to every small business, they appoint a network of insurance agents. These agents, who already have relationships with businesses needing workers' comp, refer qualified prospects to Hourly to complete their payroll onboarding. This B2B2B approach allows for faster scaling than a pure direct-to-consumer model.
What makes Hourly's technology different from standard payroll software?: Unlike generic payroll platforms, Hourly is built specifically to drive insurance decisions. It includes geo-tracking to verify where work is happening and links that data directly to workers' comp codes. This vertical integration allows the platform to provide claims and safety services to both employees and managers, creating a tighter feedback loop between labor and insurance risk.
Is Hourly an insurance company or a software company?: Hourly is a hybrid. It identifies as a 'Licensed Insurer leveraging agency distribution (through an MGA)' on Slide 22. While it provides a full-service payroll and time-tracking software suite, its primary revenue and value proposition are tied to the underwriting and servicing of workers' compensation policies.
What metrics does the deck use to show success?: The primary metric highlighted is Gross Written Premiums (GWP) Sold. Slide 19 shows a quarter-over-quarter growth chart for 2021 and 2022. While the specific dollar amounts are blurred in the public version, the trend line indicates accelerating momentum in new business production and agent submissions.

Cover slide of the Hourly pitch deck — Series A 2023 — Hourly pitch deck, slide 1 (2023)

Hourly pitch deck: the facts

Company: Hourly
Year: 2023
Stage: Series A
Slides: 23
Sector: Fintech, HR, Insurance
Deck type: Series A Presentation
Outcome: $27M Raised
Headquarters: N. America

Hourly pitch deck PDF

The full Hourly deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Hourly.io pitch deck was used for

This deck is Hourly.io’s Series A fundraising presentation for its insurtech and payroll platform serving hourly workers, associated with the $27M Series A financing announced in June 2022.[3][4][6][9] The round was led by Glilot Capital Partners through its Glilot+ early growth fund, with participation from S Capital, MS&AD Ventures, J-Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, Upshot Ventures, and other angels.[2][3][4][5][6][9] The capital was raised to expand Hourly’s vertically integrated workers’ comp and payroll platform beyond California and toward broader U.S. coverage, leveraging real-time payroll and time-tracking data to improve workers’ comp pricing.[1][3][4][6][9][13] Business Insider’s feature on the deck frames Hourly as aiming to disrupt the roughly $50B workers’ compensation market via this real-time, vertically integrated model.[1]

Business model: Insurtech platform offering full-service payroll and workers’ compensation insurance for small and medium businesses with hourly workers, integrating time tracking, payroll, and workers’ comp in real time to price premiums accurately.[3][4][9][13]

Lead investor: Glilot Capital Partners (Glilot+).,[2][3][4][6][9][10][12]
Investors: Glilot Capital Partners (via Glilot+ early growth fund), S Capital, MS&AD Ventures, J-Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, Upshot Ventures, Various angel investors, Sienna Venture Capital (as part of the extended Series A to $32M)
Founders: Tom Sagi
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California, USA.[4][9][10][13]
Industry: Insurtech, Payroll/HR Tech, Workers’ Compensation Insurance.[3][4][6][9][13]

Round: Series A (with later reporting describing the stage as Series A - II following expansion).[3][4][6][12][14]

Year: 2022 (initial Series A announcement and deck exposure), with expansion of the round later in 2022.[3][4][6][10][12]

Raising: Series A growth capital to fund expansion beyond California and scale Hourly’s integrated workers’ comp and payroll platform across additional U.S. states.[3][4][6]

Raised: $27M initial Series A announced June 2022, later expanded to $32M by October 2022.[3][4][6][9][10][12]

Founded: 2018–2019 (established in 2018 per Origami Risk; founded in 2019 per Business Insider). Treat as late-2010s founding with conflicting specific year.[1][13]

Total funding: Approximately $39.15M total funding as of 2024, including extensions of the Series A.[12][14]

Use of funds as presented: To expand Hourly’s insurtech and payroll platform beyond California into additional U.S. states (e.g., Texas, Arizona, Nevada) and ultimately reach roughly one-third of the U.S. population by the end of 2023, while continuing to enhance the product and underwriting models.[3][4][6][13]

What happened after the Hourly.io deck

Following its mid-2021 platform launch, Hourly.io raised a $27M Series A in June 2022 to grow its integrated workers’ comp and payroll solution beyond California and toward broader U.S. coverage, later expanding that round to $32M and continuing to add strategic partners and technology integrations, with data as of 2024 indicating the company remains active at a Series A - II stage and has raised

Launch of Hourly’s integrated workers’ comp, time tracking, and payroll platform for mobile and hourly workers in mid-20
Announcement of a $27M Series A funding round in June 2022 led by Glilot Capital Partners’ Glilot+ fund, with participat
Expansion of the Series A to $32M by October 2022, including additional funding involving Sienna Venture Capital.[10][12
Strategic collaboration with Great American Insurance for MGA-related activities in 2022, supporting Hourly’s workers’ c
Implementation of Origami Risk’s core rating solution and APIs to automate instant quotes and integrate NCCI and other b

What the Hourly.io deck got right

Strong, integrated product vision for hourly-worker employers. Hourly’s core value proposition—integrating workers’ comp insurance, payroll, and time-tracking in real time for hourly workers—is clearly differentiated from traditional standalone payroll or insurance offerings and aligns tightly with a specific customer pain point in small and medium businesses.[1][3][6][9][13]
Compelling data-driven pricing narrative for workers’ comp. Multiple credible sources highlight Hourly’s aim to use real-time payroll data to calculate workers’ comp premiums with high accuracy, framing a compelling efficiency and cost-savings story (saving businesses thousands of dollars and pricing premiums down to the penny).[1][3][6][13]
High-quality investor syndicate with continuity from seed. The Series A round attracted a strong syndicate led by Glilot Capital Partners’ Glilot+ fund, with repeat participation from seed investors (S Capital, MS&AD Ventures, J-Ventures) and new institutional backers (Vintage Investment Partners, Upshot Ventures), signaling investor confidence and providing a solid capital base.[2][3][4][5][6][9]
Operational product in market prior to Series A. The company had already launched its platform for hourly workers and mobile organizations by mid-2021 and was using Series A proceeds to expand beyond California, indicating that the deck could showcase a live product and early operational track record rather than just a concept.[7][3][4][6][13]
Post-round partnerships and technology integrations validate the thesis. Subsequent developments—such as the expansion of the Series A to $32M, collaboration with Great American Insurance, and integration of Origami Risk’s rating solution—demonstrate continued execution along the deck’s insurtech expansion thesis and likely strengthen investors’ perception that the original plan was being implemented.[10][12][13]

What could have been stronger

Limited publicly visible traction metrics in the Series A narrative. External coverage of the Series A and of Hourly’s product strongly emphasizes the vision (precise, real-time workers’ comp premiums and integrated payroll) but provides limited quantified traction at the time of the raise—there are few public metrics such as customer count, premium volume, revenue, or retention explicitly tied to the deck or announcement, which suggests the deck may lean more on narrative and product differentiation than on detailed performance data.[1][3][4][6][9][13]
Execution risk around multi-state regulatory expansion. While the Series A was clearly intended to fund expansion beyond California and into multiple other states by 2023, external sources also show that workers’ comp insurance expansion requires complex regulatory approvals and bureau integrations (NCCI and others), which can be time-consuming; the deck’s expansion ambitions may therefore have under-described regulatory and operational hurdles.[3][4][6][12][13]
Complex insurance value-chain positioning that may need clearer explanation. Reports highlight Hourly’s position as both a payroll provider and workers’ comp MGA/carrier partner, implying multiple roles in the value chain, but publicly available materials do not always clearly explain where Hourly holds risk versus where partner carriers (such as Great American) do, which suggests the deck might have left some investor questions around risk-bearing structure and capital intensity.[3][4][6][12][13]

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Evidence that the platform’s integration of time tracking, payroll, and workers’ comp leads to materially lower loss ratios or more accurate pricing than traditional carriers, including any early portfolio performance data or underwriting results.[3][6][12][13]
Regulatory and compliance status in target expansion states beyond California, including licenses, carrier/MGA partnerships, and timeline to nationwide coverage.[3][4][6][12][13]
Customer acquisition channels and economics for small and mid-sized businesses with hourly workers, and how Hourly competes against incumbent payroll providers and traditional carriers.[3][6][9][13]
Data and technology moat: proprietary underwriting models, integrations (such as the use of Origami’s rating engine and NCCI data), and how defensible these are against replication.[12][13]

Risks that stand out

Regulatory and compliance risk in workers’ compensation insurance, including the need to maintain bureau alignments and carrier partnerships while expanding to new states, which could slow or constrain growth.[3][4][6][12][13]
Dependence on successfully integrating real-time data flows (time tracking, payroll, underwriting models, rating engines like Origami) at scale; technical or data-quality issues could undermine the promised pricing precision.[6][12][13]
Competitive pressure from established payroll providers and incumbent insurers that may launch similar offerings or bundle workers’ comp with payroll, eroding differentiation.[3][6][9][13]
Potential sensitivity to economic cycles that affect hiring and hours worked among hourly employees, which could impact premium volume and payroll-based revenue.[3][6][13]

Questions this deck invites

What are Hourly’s key operating and financial metrics (policies in force, written premium, revenue, gross margin, loss ratio, and retention) as of the Series A and today, and how have they trended since launch in mid-2021?[3][6][7][13]
How does Hourly share economics and risk with carrier partners like Great American, and what are the contractual terms (commission, profit sharing, minimum volumes, and exclusivity)?[12][13]
What regulatory licenses and approvals does Hourly hold in each state where it operates, and what is the roadmap and budget for achieving nationwide coverage?[3][4][6][12][13]
How does Hourly’s pricing compare to traditional workers’ comp policies for similar businesses, and what empirical evidence supports the claim of saving businesses thousands of dollars in insurance costs?[1][3][6][13]
What is the competitive landscape relative to insurtech and payroll peers, and what sustainable moat (data, technology, distribution partnerships) keeps Hourly differentiated over the long term?[3][6][9][13]

What founders can take from the Hourly.io deck

Clearly articulating a **vertical integration thesis**—connecting workers’ comp, payroll, and time tracking in one platform—can help a startup stand out in a crowded insurtech and HR tech space when raising growth capital.[1][3][6][13]
Quantifying the **size of the target market** (such as the roughly $50B workers’ compensation market) in deck narratives provides important context for investors about the scale of opportunity.[1]
Linking fundraising use-of-funds directly to **geographic expansion milestones** (e.g., moving beyond a single state and targeting specific states or a fraction of the U.S. population by a given date) can make growth plans more concrete and testable.[3][4][6]
Highlighting strong **investor syndicate quality and continuity**—with existing seed investors re-upping and credible new funds joining—can signal validation and reduce perceived financing risk for new investors.[2][3][4][5][6][9]
Demonstrating an ability to **extend and expand a round over time** (e.g., growing a $27M Series A to $32M with additional strategic capital) shows that maintaining momentum in investor relations can increase available resources without immediately moving to a new round label.[10][12][14]
Positioning the product as solving a **specific operational pain** for a defined customer segment (small and medium businesses with hourly workers) can help focus the deck’s story and avoid the impression of a generic fintech/HR solution.[3][4][6][9][13]

Hourly.io pitch deck: common questions

What does Hourly.io do?

Hourly.io is an insurtech startup that provides full-service payroll and workers’ compensation insurance to small and medium-sized businesses with hourly workers, connecting workers’ comp, time tracking, and payroll in real time so premiums can be calculated with high precision.[3][4][6][9][13]

How much did Hourly.io raise in its Series A, and who invested?

Hourly.io announced a $27M Series A round in June 2022.[3][4][6][9] The round was led by Glilot Capital Partners (via its Glilot+ early growth fund) with participation from S Capital, MS&AD Ventures, J-Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, Upshot Ventures, and numerous angel investors.[2][3][4][5][6][9] Later reporting indicates the Series A was expanded to $32M with additional capital including Sienna Venture Capital.[10][12][14]

What was Hourly.io raising its Series A for?

The Series A financing was primarily intended to support Hourly’s expansion beyond California and to scale its insurance and payroll platform across the United States, targeting additional states such as Texas, Arizona, and Nevada by 2023 and aiming to reach roughly one-third of the U.S. population by the end of 2023.[3][4][6]

When was Hourly.io founded and where is it based?

Business Insider reported that Hourly was founded in 2019, while Origami Risk notes that the company was established in 2018.[1][13] Both agree that Hourly is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.[4][9][10][13] Given the discrepancy, the deck is best understood as coming from a late-2010s-founded company in Palo Alto that had launched its platform for hourly workers in mid-2021.[1][7][13]

What is unique about Hourly.io’s approach to workers’ compensation and payroll?

Public sources describe Hourly’s strategy as combining workers’ compensation insurance, payroll, and time-logging in one vertically integrated platform, using real-time payroll and time-tracking data to calculate workers’ comp premiums very precisely, which is positioned as a way to save businesses thousands of dollars in insurance costs and disrupt an approximately $50B workers’ comp market.[1][3][6][13]