# John Kramer

> John Kramer is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Salsa, an embedded payroll infrastructure company founded in 2021 with Juan Barroso. A former HoneyBook COO and founder of the Performance COO community, he writes about scaling teams, recruiting and company culture. Salsa announced a $20 million Series A in April 2025, bringing its total funding to $30 million.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Salsa
- **Organizations:** Salsa, HoneyBook, Performance COO
- **Education:** Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Built early operating processes and a sales function at HoneyBook., Founded Performance COO, a community of startup operations leaders., Co-founded Salsa, whose embedded payroll infrastructure serves the United States and Canada.

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Joined HoneyBook as COO; his June 2018 essay describes four years in the role.
- **2018** — Published essays on COO responsibilities and building HoneyBook’s sales team; described founding Performance COO and tracking responsibilities across 30-plus operators.
- **2021** — Co-founded Salsa with Juan Barroso.
- **2023** — Salsa publicly announced $10 million in funding.
- **2025** — Salsa announced a $20 million Series A led by Altos Ventures, bringing total funding to $30 million.

## Achievements

- Built early operating processes and a sales function at HoneyBook.
- Founded Performance COO, a community of startup operations leaders.
- Co-founded Salsa, whose embedded payroll infrastructure serves the United States and Canada.
- Led Salsa through its announced $20 million Series A in April 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Salsa added raw payroll journal exports/API access and payment memos in its February product update.
- **2026-01** — Salsa introduced contractor-only onboarding, embedded verification for sensitive actions and partner help links.
- **2025-04** — Salsa announced a $20 million Series A led by Altos Ventures.

## Links

- Website: https://www.salsa.dev/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kramer

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/john-kramer
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25