How to define your initial features
Define essential features for your payroll MVP to engage customers and streamline development.
Background
When planning your payroll product scope, avoid initially targeting 100% of your potential market. Payroll involves numerous edge cases, such as:
- Child support garnishments
- Special tax considerations (e.g., 501(c)(3) organizations, employees with an F-1 visa)
- Custom earning codes
These complexities can significantly extend your development timeline (typically 6-12 months), even when building with Check, if your goal is a fully-featured solution immediately.
Summary
Check recommends launching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) quickly, focusing on a meaningful portion of your target market. This approach offers two major advantages:
- Early customer engagement provides valuable insights to refine your product.
- Quick onboarding of employees generates immediate payroll revenue.
Through ongoing customer interactions, you’ll identify specific payroll complexities worth prioritizing for future product iterations. For example:
- Restaurants may prioritize tip credits.
- Agriculture may emphasize piece rate earnings.
It's acceptable to include complex cases in your MVP if they are critical to your target audience.
Recommended MVP feature matrix
The MVP Feature Matrix below outlines Check’s recommended payroll product features by development stage. The applicability of these recommendations will vary based on your specific industry and customer interactions.
Cohort guidance
- The MVP Considerations column includes essential product specifications for a payroll MVP.
- Unless marked by the Legend codes, Check fully supports these features.
- Columns B-E indicate future iterations and Check's recommendations at each stage.
- As you progress, you'll eventually reach General Availability (GA).
- Implement in-product screeners at the GA stage to streamline development around key verticals and use cases.
MVP Considerations | Product v.1 / Cohort 1 | Product v.2 / Cohort 2 | … | Cohort 10 / Product v.10 |
Company size | ||||
1-15 | Y | Y | Y | Y |
16-50 | Y | Y | Y | |
51-100 | Y | Y | ||
100+ | Y | Y | ||
Company type | ||||
Multiple work locations | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Reciprocity | Y | Y | Y | |
Multiple pay schedules | Y | Y | Y | |
Multiple states | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Employee type | ||||
W-2 | Y | Y | Y | Y |
1099 Contractor | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Special visa types (F-1, H-2A) | Y | Y | ||
Pay type | ||||
Salaried wage | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Hourly wage | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Overtime (hourly) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Double overtime (hourly) | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Bonus | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Commission | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Cash tips | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Paycheck tips | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Group term life | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Reimbursements | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Severance | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Tip credit | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Piece rate | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Pay configuration | ||||
Configure hourly rate | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Configure salary rate | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Multiple pay rates per employee per payroll | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Multiple work locations per employee per payroll | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Custom earning codes | Y | Y | Y | |
Industry | ||||
Agriculture | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Nonprofit | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Government | ||||
Payroll adjacencies | ||||
QBO accounting integration | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Health benefits | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Post-tax deductions | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Child support garnishments | Y | Y | Y | Y |
SimplyInsured health insurance integration | Y | Y | ||
Retirement/401k benefits | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Earned wage access |
Last updated on April 30, 2024