Overcoming SMB Roadblocks: Expert tips from Gusto's Josh Reeves | Episode 1988
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Todays show:
Josh Reeves joins Alex Wilhelm to discuss building a product people love (21:11), SMB challenges (23:56), growth strategies (36:47), and more!
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Josh Reeves joins Alex Wilhelm
(2:16) Josh's previous startups and the early days of web development
(6:26) Transition to digital solutions and security for small businesses
(10:31) Gusto's growth, success metrics, and market penetration
(13:38) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist
(14:30) Gusto's North Star, marketing strategies, and channel growth
(21:11) Building a product people love with good unit economics
(22:29) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist
(23:56) Challenges of selling to SMBs and Gusto's product expansion
(28:50) Maintaining simplicity in product development
(35:18) DevSquad - Visit https://www.devsquad.com/startups, book a call, and mention TWIST for 10% off!
(36:47) Ensuring product quality and the role of organic growth in marketing
(44:39) Competitive landscape in payroll and HR space
(48:54) Gusto's potential fintech ventures and communication styles among founders
(56:07) IT spending growth among SMBs and international expansion
(1:00:16) Navigating competition and partnerships
(1:01:41) Diversification of go-to-market strategies
(1:03:31) Financial strategies and thoughts on going public
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EP 111: How Josh Reeves (CEO, Gusto) Built a $10B Company Serving Small Businesses
Josh Reeves has built Gusto into a nearly $10B company with over $500M in ARR, serving small businesses. In our conversation, Josh delves into Gusto’s 13-year journey, sharing insights on how they achieved product-market fit by initially targeting a very narrow niche. He also highlights the tactics they’ve used to build an intentional culture of humility and helpfulness, along with lessons he’s learned in hiring executives. We also explore the future of Gusto and the opportunities that lie ahead for the business.
(00:00) Intro
(00:36) Early Days and Product Market Fit
(01:02) Building a Scalable Business
(01:41) Gusto's Core Offerings and Customer Focus
(02:51) Challenges and Strategies in Payroll
(05:40) Expanding Gusto's Reach
(10:11) Customer Feedback and Product Development
(23:03) Hiring and Company Culture
(29:23) Values and Leadership at Gusto
(37:14) Sustaining Passion and Long-Term Vision
(43:27) Balancing Growth and Sustainability
(46:29) Balancing Competition and Kindness in Startups
(46:38) The Importance of Team Collaboration
(47:47) Navigating Feedback: Kindness vs. Niceness
(48:25) Hiring for Ambition and Humility
(49:57) Aligning Company Values with Success
(53:11) Work-Life Integration at Gusto
(56:11) Building a Long-Term Oriented Business
(57:15) Mentorship and Learning from Other Founders
(01:00:09) Structuring and Scaling Product Teams
(01:06:16) Organizational Design and Leadership
(01:08:31) Hiring Executives and Internal Growth
(01:13:13) The Journey of Rebranding to Gusto
(01:21:05) The Role of a CEO in a Growing Company
(01:28:39) Fundraising and Investor Relations
(01:33:14) Future Goals and Impact of Gusto
(01:35:48) Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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SaaStr 606: Your Real Valuation: How Focusing on Delivering Customer Value Generates Business Value with Gusto Co-Founder Josh Reeves
The foremost topic on every founder's mind right now: how to weather the ups-and-downs of an unpredictable economy. Gusto, has swerved with every economic curve since its founding 10 years ago. But throughout it all, Gusto has defined valuation differently—in terms of the value it provides to customers vs the value it extracts.
In this talk, Gusto CEO and founder Josh Reeves can speak to how Gusto has weathered the ups-and-downs of the economy—and why aligned success models (what's good for the customer = what's good for society = what's good for your business) are so important, especially now. Josh can share the specific business decisions Gusto has had to make with this approach, particularly over the past few years and today.
Full video: https://youtu.be/TuJnbPG3Tmk
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SaaStr 565: Classic Episode: The Importance of Company Values, a Great Hiring Process, and Ownership Culture with Gusto Co-Founder & CEO Josh Reeves
To celebrate 10 years of SaaStr, we're revisiting some classic podcast episodes. Up today: a 2016 interview with Harry Stebbings and Gusto Co-Founder and CEO Josh Reeves. At the time of this interview, Gusto had 350 employees serving 40,000 customers. Today, it's grown to more than 2,000 employees serving over 200,000 businesses.
Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software.
Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform
Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976
Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/
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Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh
Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8