Generate compliant payroll stubs for your first employee in under 5 minutes – no HR degree required.
Solo founders can't find affordable HR tools for payroll and compliance that aren't overkill when hiring their first employee.
FirstPayStub automates payroll stub generation with built-in federal and state tax calculations tailored for US solo founders hiring one employee. It handles W-2 prep, direct deposit setup reminders, and basic compliance checklists without bloated features. Pay only when you run your first payroll.
Solo founders of early-stage startups hiring their first employee
Ultra-minimal payroll stub generator focused solely on first hires, with one-click state-specific tax withholding – 90% cheaper and faster than Gusto for solos.
friendly
Input hours/salary, auto-calculates taxes and generates printable PDF stubs.
State/federal withholding based on employee W4 data.
Store basic employee info like address, SSN (masked), bank details.
Track and list past payroll runs with export to CSV.
Simple yes/no checklist for payroll compliance basics.
Generate ACH instructions and reminders.
Year-end W2 form preview and export.
Send stubs directly to employee email.
Handle employees in different states.
Connect to payment processors.
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| text | No | |
| business_name | text | No |
| ein | text | No |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| name | text | No |
| ssn_masked | text | Yes |
| state | text | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| employee_id | uuid | No |
| pay_date | timestamp | No |
| gross_pay | int | No |
| net_pay | int | No |
| stub_pdf_url | text | Yes |
Relationships:
/api/employeesCreate employee profile
/api/payrollsGenerate payroll stub
/api/payrollsList payroll history
/api/states/taxesFetch tax rates by state
/api/users/meGet user business info
No history export
1 employee
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 150 | 3% | $110 | $1,320 |
| Month 6 | 1,200 | 8% | $2,400 | $28,800 |
Ditch spreadsheets. Auto-generate tax-perfect stubs in minutes for solo founders.
Post in Indie Hackers 'first hire payroll' thread offering free lifetime Pro access for feedback. DM 10 solo founders from Twitter searches for 'hiring first employee startup'. Run $50 Reddit ads on r/Entrepreneur targeting 'payroll solo founder'.
Full HR suite
Overkill for 1 employee
First-hire only, instant stubs, 60% cheaper
Accounting integration
Manual tax setup
Auto-taxes for states, stub focus
Proprietary simplified tax tables updated quarterly + user data for better defaults.
Record solo founders (3M+ US startups) hiring amid labor shortage, but avoiding big HR due to cost.
Tax law changes
Annual review + disclaimers
Low awareness of need
Targeted SEO/content
PDF accuracy
Test with real forms
Success: 50+ responses, 70% pain
Success: 80% retention week 2
Success: 500 visits, 50 signups
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