Main Responsibilities of a HR Consultant for Startups at TriNet Inc
Anthony's main responsibility involves consulting with startups, typically around the series A funding stage, to implement HR technology infrastructure for compliant and safe employee management; they sell TriNet's "tech stack" to streamline HR processes, addressing pain points like inefficient workflows and outdated systems, as Anthony explained, “my job is to help people navigate through something that they have to do, but they have no specialty in it as it relates to human resources.”
HR Technology Solutions, Start-up Business Operations, Compliance and Legal Regulations, Payroll and Benefits Administration, Workflow Optimization
Advizer Information
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Anthony M. Gonzales
HR - Start-ups
TriNet Inc.
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey, MBA - Supply Chain
Entrepreneurship
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Insurance
Sales and Client Management
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Works with startups, typically around series A funding, to build out the technology infrastructure for compliant and safe employee management.
2. Sells a technology stack (TriNet software) to small businesses to manage HR functions like payroll, PTO, performance improvement plans, and employee handbooks.
3. Identifies pain points in a company's current HR configuration and demonstrates how TriNet can reduce the number of vendors and optimize workflows, especially in companies with outdated processes.
Transcript
What are the main responsibilities within your role?
My main responsibilities in my current role involve meeting with small business owners, typically those with between three and 300 employees. That's how we define "small" here. Startups, especially those raising their Series A, are also within our scope.
My job is to help them build out the technology infrastructure necessary to manage their employees in a compliant and safe manner. When you hire your first employee, you trigger numerous legal requirements regarding employer-employee relationships. California, in particular, has more rules than any other state, making it quite complicated.
I help navigate this complexity by assisting with payroll services, which includes setting up direct deposit for employees. We also broker, underwrite, and administer health insurance. This is a significant area because offering health insurance is often a requirement, and there are many providers with different plans and pricing.
Employees have diverse needs and preferences for policies and packages, making it very complicated to manage. The technology we offer addresses these challenges. I'm selling a technology stack, or "tech stack," a software solution from TriNet to manage HR functions.
For a small business, TriNet can handle everything from payroll and PTO to performance improvement plans and updating employee handbooks. My role as a technology salesperson is to work with business owners, understand their current setup, identify pain points, and demonstrate how we can add value.
We help reduce the number of vendors they work with and optimize their workflows. Historically, processes accumulate because "that's how we've always done it." This leads to inefficiencies, especially in companies that are 25 to 30 years old and haven't updated their systems.
There's new technology available, and in 2025, we have AI. I've encountered businesses still using physical time clocks, where employees stamp in. Then, someone manually transcribes these times, and another person types them into a computer.
It's astounding how much money is wasted on such manual tasks. Expensive employees are performing basic data entry that could be automated. It's easy to be inefficient if HR isn't your specialty. My job is to help people manage essential HR functions they may not have expertise in.