How Tandem focused on raising $4.9 million, while Every took care of back-office worries

For founders, starting a company means venturing into unknown territory, but some 'unknowns' like navigating HR and finance can be strategically outsourced — freeing up time for founders to focus on what matters. That's what Co-Founders Arjun Jain, Kunal Jain, and Lokesh Kamanboina realized when they started Tandem to build an AI-native solution for hardware engineers.

"When you're starting your company, you don't know what you don't know," said Arjun Jain, Co-CEO of Tandem. "At first, we were frugal and tried to figure out HR payroll, compliance, and taxes ourselves. But it was pretty complex, and we had this nagging feeling that we might be doing it incorrectly."

"We quickly realized we needed to find the right back-office partner to help manage these unknowns, so we could focus on fundraising and building our product."

So Tandem decided to partner with Every — an agentic all-in-one back-office solution built specifically for startup companies. The result? Outsourcing all their back-office operations to Every helped Tandem's founders focus on the big picture — like raising $4.9 million in capital.

Here's Tandem's advice to other founders on why Every was the right move for them.

1. Take the unknowns out of hiring and payroll

The hiring, payroll, and HR compliance process is one of the biggest 'unknowns' for founders. Most founders are uncertain about employee payroll, the required taxes, and labor regulations, but it doesn't have to be that way.

"As a founder, I had no idea how to process payroll for our employees. Instead of us figuring it all out ourselves, we put our faith in Every," said Arjun. "When I hire someone, I just input their information into a form, and Every takes care of paying their salary and withholding the appropriate amount of taxes. It's that simple."

"In fact, when we hired an intern recently from Canada, Every helped us with the J1 visa process as well as the types of taxes we would need to pay. Every's experts helped us navigate compliance minefields and avoid unexpected penalties," said Arjun.

And while founders naturally like to bootstrap, Tandem advises them to avoid the DIY route for compliance and back-office operations, as it could lead to hefty taxes and penalties down the road. For example, Every guided Tandem's founders with easy step-by-step instructions on how to correctly fill out and submit their 83(b) election form to the IRS regarding restricted stock shares — a complicated process that must be done the right way or it could cost founders hefty taxes in the future.

2. Rely on an all-in-one back-office solution

Because founders already have to context-switch across many domains on any given day, Tandem encourages fellow founders to lean on an all-in-one back-office solution that takes HR, finance, and everything in between off their plate.

"We chose Every because it has a true all-encompassing platform. Other platforms just do incorporation and banking, or offer only HR, payroll, and compliance, but Every is the one solution that covers it all. As a first-time founder that doesn't want to worry about back-office problems, Every was the only solution that fit all our needs," explained Kunal Jain, Co-CEO of Tandem along with his twin brother Arjun.

3. Stressful lows are a little less stressful with Every

The startup journey can be a rollercoaster ride for founders, but Every has helped guide Tandem through stressful back-office situations and evened out some of those lows.

"Our relationship with the Every team is absolutely amazing. They answer all our questions right away. I messaged the Every team on Slack at around ten o'clock at night about an urgent financial matter. Rajeev, the CEO, messaged me back and walked me through a super stressful situation. He really saved the day. It goes to show how committed everyone at Every is to its founders — from the Account Exec to the CEO." KUNAL JAIN — CO-CEO, TANDEM

With a dedicated Slack channel for every customer, the Every team is only one message away from helping founders solve their back-office problems.

4. Even as your startup scales, founders can keep back-office worries at zero

With Every's all-in-one solution managing payroll, benefits, accounting, banking, and taxes behind the scenes while ensuring Tandem is compliant with federal and state regulations, Tandem's founders can keep back-office worries to a minimum. And as their startup scales, Every does all the extra worrying for them.

"The best part about Every is that I don't have to think about back-office operations at all. Every is in the background taking care of everything. I don't have to do much on my side. The less I have to think or do, the better," concluded Arjun.

The result? More time for Tandem to build their product & secure $4.9 million in capital

That has meant more time and headspace for Tandem's founders to build an agentic solution that automates manual processes throughout the mechanical engineering development cycle for aerospace, medical device, and consumer technology enterprises. Fast forward, Tandem has secured $4.9 million in funding and piqued the interest of several enterprise customers.

To learn more about how you can simplify your back office and scale securely with Every, you can get started here.