100 Assemblers and counting: A Q&A series with some of Assembled’s early hires

In 2018, three former Stripe employees — Ryan Wang, John Wang, and Brian Sze — set out to revolutionize customer support when they co-founded Assembled. Each had been hired when Stripe had fewer than 100 employees and fell into building tools for the company’s customer support team. Now, six years later, the company they started has reached a significant milestone of its own: a team of 100 strong.

To celebrate Assembled’s journey from three Stripe alums to triple digits in headcount, I spoke with some of Assembled’s early hires to better understand the company’s journey and how it has shaped their careers. A few things stood out:

• Assembled is truly full of some of the kindest, most helpful people you’ll ever meet. One of our cultural values is to "act like a support agent," and the folks I interviewed embody this value completely. Their kindness goes beyond the surface and is rooted in genuine empathy and vulnerability.
• At Assembled, feedback flows freely in both directions. It’s a place where receiving and giving feedback — especially to leadership — is highly encouraged. Another core value here is that "feedback is a gift." The Assemblers I spoke with highlighted how this culture of feedback has empowered them to grow and take on roles they never imagined before joining the company.
• Assembled and its employees are living proof that you don’t need prior experience to excel in a new role. Everyone I interviewed has stepped outside their comfort zones, whether by taking on entirely new job functions or by finding innovative ways to approach their existing roles. And for what it’s worth, they’ve all totally rocked at it.

Assemblers and their stories

Ready to meet the Assemblers who’ve helped shape the company and carry the torch of its cultural values?

• Taylor Milliman is an Engineering Manager who led the team that built Assembled Vendor Management. In this interview, he shares what it was like working at Assembled when it was still in its seed stage, how the company has managed to maintain its scrappiness as it’s matured, and why a little bit of paranoia is actually a good thing when building a new product.
• Jessica Bolber, who goes by JB, has built many of the process that have helped Assembled scale from a team of less than 10 to a team of almost 100. In this interview, she shares how Covid layoffs opened the door for her to join Assembled, what she does to overcome imposter syndrome, and why working at Assembled is type-two fun.
• Neel Kapse is an Engineering Manager who joined the company in 2020 as its 11th employee. In this interview, he shares how his initial call with Assembled’s CEO was just for interview practice, what’s changed and stayed the same as headcount has grown by 10×, and why you have to address your insecurities to become an effective leader.
• Talal Naboulsi is a Sales Engineer who’s worn a lot of different hats since joining Assembled as one of its first 10 employees. In this interview, he shares how he went from an Assembled user to an Assembled employee, what learning curves he’s had to overcome when stepping into the many roles he’s taken on, and why you don’t need to have done a job in the past to be good at it.
• Sam Dehart is Assembled’s Product Community Manager — a dream job she advocated for and created herself. In this interview, Sam shares how she ended up getting hired to be the company’s first SDR (but never actually booked a meeting), what it took to define her ideal role, and why she’s so optimistic about Assembled’s future.
• David Patou is a Product Manager who originally joined the company as a Customer Success Manager. He isn’t as tenured as other employees featured in this series, but his story is a testament to the opportunities anyone can create for themselves at Assembled — even as the company continues to mature. In this interview, David shares why he was initially hesitant to join Assembled, what got him to change his mind, and how he forged an unconventional path into product management.