PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYER ORGANIZATION BUSINESS PLAN

I. Executive Summary

Company Description

The company name is Meridian HR — named for a geographic line that denotes balance and alignment, reflecting our aim to align people operations with business goals. We operate in the U.S. human resources and payroll sector as a hybrid professional employer organization (PEO). We deliver a user-friendly technology platform plus on-demand support from certified HR professionals to manage payroll, benefits administration, compliance, and employee relations. Our core offering is a tightly integrated tech-plus-expert service that replaces fragmented vendors with one scalable partner for businesses that have 10–250 employees.

We run a lean operations model: a hybrid office hub in the U.S., small specialist teams by function, and cloud platform operations for client self-service and automation. What sets us apart is the certified-HR-expert layer on top of intuitive software, faster onboarding, and standardized compliance playbooks. In the short term we will pilot with 50 clients after launch in 2026 and prove retention and unit economics; long-term we plan to scale to national coverage and serve roughly 1,200 clients within five years. Our mission is to simplify people operations so growing businesses can focus on revenue and growth.

Problem

Small and medium-sized U.S. businesses (10–100 employees) face overwhelming administrative burdens managing payroll and benefits and must comply with complex federal and state labor laws they typically lack time or expertise to handle. The result: legal penalties, operational inefficiency, and diverted management time from revenue activities.

Existing offerings leave a gap for firms too large to operate people functions manually but without budget for a full HR team. We will launch in 2026 as a hybrid HR partner—combining a user-friendly platform with certified HR professionals, a lean expert team, and a hybrid office hub—to simplify payroll, benefits, and compliance for this underserved segment.

Solution

Small and medium-sized businesses (10–100 employees) face heavy payroll, benefits, and compliance burdens that distract founders and create legal risk. We offer an outsourced HR platform that functions as a flexible extension of the client’s team, combining seamless payroll processing, strategic HR support, and benefits administration with certified HR professionals, automation for routine tasks, exception routing to specialists, and secure recordkeeping. For example, a 25-employee startup moving payroll and benefits to the service cut HR admin hours by 60% and eliminated late-tax penalties.

One clear result: reliable people operations without hiring full-time HR staff.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to empower entrepreneurs and growing businesses by simplifying people operations and mitigating regulatory risk through a unique blend of innovative technology and personalized, certified expertise. We are committed to helping clients build confident teams and successful companies via a scalable, flexible service model that makes high-level HR support accessible to every growing firm; we aim to be the most trusted HR partner in the U.S. for SMBs.

Key Success Factors

Success depends on our hybrid delivery, advisory adoption, certified HR team, efficient acquisition, and rapid breakeven.

• Leverage hybrid model combining software and human advisory.
• Achieve 75% HR advisory adoption by 2030.
• Staff certified HR professionals to build trust-based relationships.
• Reduce CAC to $950 to protect long-term margins.
• Reach breakeven within six months of launch.

Financial Summary

Brief financial snapshot: first-year revenue of $1,335,000, breakeven in June 2026, and payback within 12 months.

Financial requirements: minimum cash of $721,000 to June 2026; initial marketing budget $120,000 in 2026 rising to $250,000 in 2028; platform fees reduce to 3.5% and commissions to 4.0% by 2030. Expected five-year returns: IRR 13.78% and ROE 13.89%.

Overall outlook: healthy margin expansion and positive cash payback within 12 months.

Funding Requirements

We require $721,000 in liquid capital to launch in 2026 and operate through breakeven (Jun-26).