snake eyes

DRAMA ALERT!

You’re here because of the Rippling vs. Deel beef and I love you for that. Since it’s still hot & fresh, let’s cover what went down:

Apparently, Deel recently launched a competitor comparison page (I’m guessing it’s this one), which is – let’s face it – a normal thing pretty much every SaaS company does.

Seems like the folks at Rippling got a bee in their bonnet (or a snake in their boot?) about it, though. 

They fired back by building their own competitive page featuring a game of Snake (you know, that game we olds used to play on our brick Nokia phones) to find Deel’s so-called misleading claims.

Anyway, this Tuesday they shared a link to their page via LinkedIn with the copy “Don’t buy snake oil.” Cute.

The next day, Rippling’s CRO, Matt Plank, accused Deel’s Head of Sales, Chris Lee, of submitting this:

That’s pretty rude, right? Well, if it’s truly him.

Now tell me, dear reader, do you believe the accusation? 

The thing is, anyone can submit a form and enter whatever they want. Seems a little sus to me…

But whether it’s true or not, folks in the comments aren’t feeling this feud – including current Rippling customers. 

Others aren’t so bothered by the sparring because, in the scheme of things, is this really that bad?

What do y’all think — harmless competitive quarreling or embarrassing public display?

My take that no one asked for:

Clever competitive marketing is cool. Slam-dunk marketing stunts are cool. This did not fit the brief. 

FWIW, it looks like folks at Deel are laying low and not rising to the bait (yet.) 

Thank u, next!

Hey, I’m Amber! I’m a freelance content marketer/consultant and aspiring humorist. You can find me on LinkedIn, Medium, Bluesky, and my website. If you really like what I’m doing, you can buy me a coffee.