Another gripping allegation of corporate espionage has emerged from the world of employee onboarding platforms and 401(k) administration. All year, we have been following the ongoing legal battle between HR software titans Rippling and Deel, which are locked in litigation featuring accusations of planted moles and systematic data theft. Now comes a new case, as first spotted by Axios, involving the 401(k) management unicorns Human Interest and Guideline. They are squaring off in federal court with allegations so brazen that they are embarrassing.
Here is a taste, from Human Interest’s lawsuit against Guideline, filed this month in Utah federal court. A text message from Brandon Sterri to his brothers on January 29 states, “We are going to tear apart HI. It’s going to be the easiest thing to do.” According to the complaint, Brandon and his brother Brian were, at that moment, still employees of Human Interest, still logging into their company-issued laptops every morning beneath reminders that access was limited to authorized personnel and that they had agreed to protect confidential data. Their third brother, Eirik, worked for the competition, Guideline.
Per the lawsuit, filed by a law firm in Salt Lake City, the Sterri brothers did not just talk big. They allegedly called their operation the “Sterri Takeover,” a name revealing either remarkable hubris or a serious misunderstanding of corporate espionage, which is supposed to work very quietly. The complaint alleges a months-long scheme in which Brian and Brandon, working as junior inside sales representatives at Human Interest, systematically funneled their employer’s most sensitive intelligence, including partnership leads, customer data, and internal strategy documents, directly to Guideline. Human Interest claims the brothers were personally sharing it with the company’s chief executive, Kevin Busque, and its chief financial officer, Steven Wu.
Reached for comment earlier, a Guideline spokesperson sent a statement saying, “Guideline believes allegations in this lawsuit are false and without merit. We are vigorously defending ourselves and we look forward to presenting the facts and showing that these claims are unfounded.” Human Interest did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Human Interest’s complaint, two days after Brian Sterri resigned from Human Interest on February 24, he made a request that allegedly exposed the entire operation. He allegedly texted a former colleague named Castro, who was still employed at Human Interest, saying, “Got a big favor to ask.” Then came the request for a screenshot of total lead flow for the inside sales representative team that month. According to the complaint, Castro replied, “Am i allowed to ask why.” Brian responded with a grinning emoji.
The screenshot Brian wanted was not just sensitive; it was, according to Human Interest, the crown jewels. Total lead flow represents the fundamental pool of potential clients, the critical determinant of growth trajectory and market penetration. It is information Human Interest has spent years and millions of dollars cultivating through proprietary business processes and partnerships with payroll providers. The kind of information that, in the wrong hands, creates what the lawsuit calls a significant informational imbalance and provides considerable strategic advantage.
Reading the complaint, it appears that Castro grasped the gravity of what Brian was asking and the transactional nature of the betrayal. She allegedly texted, “I’m down to play dirty for sure but you need to get me a job lol.” Brian, the lawsuit alleges, brazenly promised her employment at Guideline in exchange for the data. When Castro did not immediately deliver, Brian tried again the next morning, writing, “I still need that favor.” Castro allegedly replied, “Brian you know I can’t do that.”
According to the complaint, Brian did not stop there. He allegedly called and texted repeatedly, and when Castro stopped responding, his wife McKenna reached out on his behalf. During conversations with other Human Interest employees, the complaint claims Brian admitted his purpose outright. He wanted the information because Guideline wanted to know Human Interest’s total lead flow.
The complaint paints a picture of systematic infiltration. Before their resignations, the brothers allegedly downloaded documents with titles like “Leads Data” and emailed files from their work accounts to personal Gmail addresses, including Brian’s and his wife’s. By logging into personal email on company laptops, they could bypass Human Interest’s detection systems entirely.
On February 27, allegedly the same day Castro shut him down, Brian reached out to another Human Interest employee, Chloe Garza, with whom the Sterris had a close personal or familial relationship, per the complaint. He requested internal metrics from a Slack channel. Garza also refused, saying, “Yea so I cannot send you anything HI related.” Brian’s response is telling as characterized in the complaint. Allegedly, in the same conversation, he wrote that another Human Interest sales rep would be the only person that could really give him the information Guideline would want. The complaint argues that the admission is right there, preserved in text.
After Human Interest’s leadership held emergency meetings to remind employees of their confidentiality obligations, the complaint alleges, Brian mocked the effort. He texted Castro, “lol Horne using fear tactics lmao. Heard today scared a lot of people.”
What elevates this from garden-variety corporate misbehavior to alleged racketeering is the claimed involvement at the top. Human Interest claims this was not rogue employees gone wild but instead a coordinated operation with executive blessing. After Human Interest sent cease-and-desist letters in early March, it says Eirik Sterri texted his brothers with an update. He had spoken with Andrew Conley, Guideline’s Senior Vice President of Sales. The message was that Andrew is great and everyone has your backs for real. Everyone has expressed how fired up they are about the situation. It will blow over and all of us will be so fired up.
Then came what Human Interest characterizes as extortion. Guideline had agreed to be acquired by Gusto, the payroll giant, for what was reported to be a six hundred million dollar deal. As part of the transaction, Guideline planned to divest certain assets and accounts associated with rival payroll companies. When Human Interest inquired about purchasing some of those assets, Guideline’s CFO allegedly delivered an ultimatum: drop the lawsuit, or the deal is off.
It was reported that Gusto was looking to sell off Guideline’s accounts associated with rival payroll companies, per several sources, but Gusto declined to comment on those divestment plans at the time. TechCrunch reached out to Gusto again earlier today. The biggest question is whether it plans to go through with its Guideline acquisition. The company has not yet commented.
Naturally, much is being made in the startup ecosystem about the HR software space becoming a theater of corporate warfare, with Rippling and Deel battling over allegations that include planted spies and RICO violations. Absurd as it sounds, this is serious business for Rippling and Deel, and the stakes are high for Human Interest, for the three Sterri brothers, and for Guideline and its executive team. Human Interest has raised over seven hundred million dollars at a one point four billion dollar valuation from investors including SoftBank, Baillie Gifford, and TPG. Guideline raised three hundred forty million dollars, hitting a one point two billion dollar valuation in 2021 with backing from General Atlantic and Felicis.