How We're Building for the Future: Talent, Technology, and a Clear Vision

At Laurel, we’ve always believed that the best products are built by the best people. As we enter the next chapter of our growth, we are doubling down on that belief — bringing in world-class talent and acquiring the technology to accelerate our mission of transforming how professional service firms understand the relationship between time, value, and revenue. 

Bringing Enterprise Engineering Excellence to Laurel

Jason Li, former CTO at Ironclad and engineering leader at RelateIQ, joins Laurel as Chief Technology Officer. Having started his career at RelateIQ, a CRM startup pioneering automated data capture and sales intelligence, Jason went on to serve as CTO at Ironclad, a contracting platform for in-house legal teams, where he scaled the engineering organization over six years. Jason brings a combination of scaling expertise, deep AI intuition, and a conviction that the most impactful products are built on data that drives clear, tangible ROI. 

At Laurel, he will scale the technical organization and lead the engineering vision that expands what Laurel can do for its customers, moving beyond automated timesheets to a platform that gives both individuals and firms unprecedented visibility into how work gets done.

Building the Intelligence Layer That Turns Work Data Into Business Value 

Laurel's acquisition of Braid's founding team brings powerful new capabilities to the platform. Developed by a team of former Facebook and TikTok engineers and backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Initialized Capital, the team's deep expertise in data aggregation and workflow intelligence was critical in building Signal. 

Braid's ability to unify revenue, engagement, and business activity data across platforms allows Signal to go beyond billing and operational analytics—giving professional services firms strategic guidance on pricing and workflow optimization, and transforming how they understand the relationship between time, value, and revenue.

The acquisition brings exceptional individuals to the Laurel team.

Andrew Banis, former product lead at TikTok and Chief Product Officer of Braid, joins Laurel as Head of Product, Signal. Having started his career in professional services, Andrew grew into executive roles within innovative marketing tech companies VigLink & Influence.co, before joining TikTok as the first business hire for the Creator Marketplace, eventually leading the Creator Solutions suite of products. He then joined Braid alongside veteran engineers and designers from Facebook, building data transparency tools for the creator industry. Andrew brings a rare combination of founder experience, deep product instincts, and a conviction that differentiated data is the ultimate competitive advantage. 

At Laurel, he will lead the evolution of Signal, building a new category of work intelligence that helps professional services firms understand how work actually gets done, and empowers them to make smarter decisions about efficiency, profitability, and AI adoption.  

Chris Piro, former software engineer at Facebook and co-founder of Braid, joins Laurel as Software Engineer, Signal. At Facebook, Chris was one of the co-designers of Facebook Chat, building the real-time infrastructure that became the backbone for notifications and messaging across the platform. He brings a builder's instinct for tackling hard technical problems from scratch, deep engineering expertise, and a conviction that mapping knowledge work is the key to understanding what drives efficiency across organizations.

At Laurel, he will apply that same technical foundation to Signal, helping build the intelligence layer that reveals how work gets done and where value is created.

What Comes Next

Professional services firms are at a turning point. The firms that will win are the ones that understand how work gets done and can act on that knowledge. That is exactly what we are building toward — and with the right team and technology now in place, we are more focused than ever on making that a reality.