Meet the Ripplers: Alex’s journey building the Product Overlay team

Name: Alex Bristol
Role: Manager, Sales Development
Location: Phoenix
Rippler since: 2022

Role + responsibilities 

I’m currently a Sales Development Manager. My team works cross-functionally to bring product awareness to our customer base, showcasing how to further their HRIS/Payroll automation within Rippling. Whether through our ATS solution, IT tech stack, Spend Management, or Global products, Rippling has everything a company needs to run its workforce. My typical day-to-day includes individual rep coaching, fine-tuning sales processes, testing new sales tactics, developing my reps for their next step at Rippling, and ensuring we all succeed together.

This Rippler’s Journey 

Prior to Rippling, I worked with my family to scale our business in Northern California for over 10 years. As many business owners know, you wear tons of different hats—HR, people management, marketing, operations, etc.

My introduction to Rippling actually came while reading LinkedIn’s top 50 startups list. Although my background wasn’t directly related to SaaS sales, I knew Rippling would be a great choice to consider. I immediately resonated with Rippling’s value prop and saw how their solutions could have benefited my own business. With a leap of faith, I applied—three interviews and an offer letter later, here I am!

When I joined, my role was an entry-level SDR position. I quickly maneuvered within Rippling to carve out a new role as a “special projects SDR.” In this role, I worked on various angles, such as re-engagement campaigns, cross-selling current products to customers, and continually testing new messaging to see what was most effective. This role gave me the tools to work cross-functionally within Rippling and identify the areas that needed the most attention. 

Fast forward six months later, and I was promoted to SDR Manager. After exceeding the first month’s quota in that position, I received a calendar invite from our VP of Sales, Ashley Kelly, and our Director of Inbound Sales, Nicole Darnall. Of course, my mind was going a million miles a minute. What could this mean?!

I took the call and was tasked with building an entirely new SDR team at Rippling. Nicole and Ashley echoed a growth project I pitched six months prior, where I envisioned a new team within the organization called Product Overlay. My inspiration for the team came from my time as a Special Projects SDR, where I quickly realized that our customer base didn’t know all our products. As Rippling constantly launches new products month after month, it was imperative to have a dedicated team to reach out to current customers to promote applicable product SKUs. My growth project outlined a team separated by their function—including estimated headcount, quota numbers, overall goals, and expected business outcomes. When initially pitching this idea, it was to show my commitment to growing at Rippling. I never once thought it would be taken seriously and that I’d get the opportunity to make it real. 

Memorable Rippling Moments 

• San Diego Padres Rippling meetup
• Building a team from the ground up
• Living a few blocks away from other Ripplers: Abbey Johnson, Victoria Cronin, and Melanie Appler, who are now some of my closest friends (in San Diego and now in Phoenix)

Work + Life 

I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment for building a team that has exceeded expectations each month. Not often are you given a chance to make such a big impact at a larger organization, but Rippling is a place where anyone can truly shine and make a splash. Rippling has some of the brightest minds around, and I’m excited to continue my growth here.

Rippling has enabled me to maintain a healthy work-life balance, allowing me to spend time with my family and work remotely. I have five siblings and four nieces/nephews, and being around them is very important to me. I’ve been able to visit my family and friends in Arizona, the Bay Area, and even San Diego. This company moves fast, often ahead of the game, so you’ll have to put in the work. However, the culture & leadership foster a healthy balance day in and day out. It’s rare to wake up every day enjoying the work you do and the people you build with, but I can certainly say this is how I feel working at Rippling.

When I’m not building Rippling… 

I’m a huge concertgoer! I’ve easily attended well over 150 concerts. Whether it be an intimate venue or a stadium show, I can’t live without music. Music plays on the speaker all day when I’m home. Silence is something that I’m not too familiar with, nor prefer!

Tips for future Ripplers 

Rippling is a place that welcomes people from any background. Showing enough grit and critical thinking is enough to grow here, just like I have. That makes Rippling unique; you don’t need a flashy background or resume—we hire the person, not what’s on paper.

Rippling is growing! We need passionate people eager to build the next generation of our Workforce Management Platform. Join us.