Rippling's Escalation Team Traces Root Causes

Situation

Rippling, a rapidly growing business software platform valued at over $16 billion with 5,000+ employees, needed a systematic approach to handle customer-reported issues
The company was experiencing the typical challenges of scaling quickly while maintaining product quality
Traditional support approaches were resolving surface-level problems but not addressing deeper systemic issues
Matt McGinnis, as CPO (formerly COO), recognized that simply fixing individual bugs wasn't enough to maintain product excellence at scale

Formed a specialized team specifically focused on handling escalated customer issues
Selected team members who were "particularly skilled at pistol whipping other people in the company to get to real root causes"
Positioned the team to have authority to drive cross-functional investigations

Rejected superficial fixes that merely addressed symptoms ("we fixed the data error and shut the ticket down")
Required tracing issues through multiple layers: from customer-facing problems to underlying software issues
Mandated identifying the "system that created the software that created the data error"
Ensured complete resolution by addressing all levels of the problem chain

McGinnis personally championed the value of escalations, calling them "a gift"
Encouraged customers (including founders of companies they'd invested in) to escalate issues directly
Maintained a personal queue of reported issues to take directly to product teams
Created public feedback channels where executives openly discussed product issues

Created a system that not only fixed individual issues but improved the underlying processes
Established a mechanism to "iterate on the processes so that the system that builds the system can get better"
Developed institutional knowledge about failure patterns that could be addressed systematically
Maintained product quality while scaling rapidly in a complex business software environment
Contributed to Rippling's ability to expand beyond its initial HR/payroll focus into a comprehensive business platform

Treat escalations as gifts: "There's no greater gift to me as a product executive than receiving an escalation from a customer."
Pursue true root causes: Don't stop at fixing the immediate issue; trace problems back to their systemic origins.
Create specialized expertise: Some people excel specifically at driving deep problem-solving across organizational boundaries.
Solve at multiple levels: Address both the immediate customer issue and the underlying systems that created it.
Make escalation frictionless: When leaders treat feedback as valuable rather than burdensome, they receive more actionable intelligence.
Use public channels: Sharing issues openly creates learning opportunities for the entire organization.
Maintain a personal connection: Even as CPO, McGinnis maintained a personal queue of customer issues to ensure executive visibility.