Optimal is a Kirkland, Washington education-data company that uses independent research to help people make better decisions about college and careers. Founded in 2004 by former Microsoft manager Sung Rhee as SR Education Group, it rebranded to Optimal in 2020. Through its consumer sites - OnlineU, GradReports and SwitchUp - it publishes college rankings built on alumni salaries, manually researched tuition, and tens of thousands of verified student reviews, aiming to make the real return on an education visible before students take on debt.
Comprehensive is a San Francisco-based, AI-powered compensation management platform that lets companies plan, communicate, and benchmark employee pay without spreadsheets. Founded in 2021 by Roger Lee and Teddy Sherrill, it combines real-time salary benchmarking data from thousands of tech companies with configurable pay-range management, pay-equity analytics, and HRIS integrations so HR and finance teams can run compensation cycles and make data-driven pay decisions in one place.