Modern CTO The Cost Crisis Facing CTOs and How to Solve It with Albert Strasheim, CTO at Rippling
Jan 15, 2026
Albert Strasheim, CTO at Rippling and former leader at Segment and Cloudflare, dives into the pressing cost crisis facing tech leaders today. He reveals how he slashed infrastructure costs by 30% while flawlessly managing a 25% traffic spike. Albert discusses the significance of clear feedback for leadership growth, along with innovative strategies to optimize cloud services and manage AI expenses. He also shares insights on integrating payroll systems, fostering engineering discipline, and the importance of teaching teams about cost impacts.
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AI Expanded The Cost Landscape
- The AI era has massively increased where money flows in engineering and product.
- CTOs now must track AI, cloud, and SaaS spend to decide what to cut or invest in.
Joining Rippling Because Integrations Sucked
- Albert joined Rippling after struggling with fragmented HR and access systems at Segment.
- That painful 18-month integration motivated him to join a company solving unified HR, payroll, and access.
Gate Access To Control License Waste
- Require requests and approvals before granting expensive AI or SaaS access.
- Automate approvals, expire access periodically, and monitor usage to cut unused license spend.
