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The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

439: Why You Should Spend Decades on a Problem with Gusto Co-founder Josh Reeves

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Josh Reeves and his fellow co-founders wanted to tackle a problem they could spend decades fixing. But they didn’t want to solve something for Silicon Valley–it had to affect the masses. In Reeves’ experience, the hassle of setting up payroll and benefits was the problem to tackle. So, in 2011, the three Ph.D. dropouts spent a year building a payroll system that eventually became Gusto, a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto has offices across the U.S and serves over 200,000 businesses. Nathan and Josh discuss: How his parents influenced his entrepreneurial mindset  Studying at Stanford and falling in love with problem-solving Why his first business didn’t have a purpose  Learning how to write code and building a payroll platform  The experience of the Y Combinator accelerator  How word of mouth and referrals drove Gusto’s initial sales Investing in content marketing and partnerships  The network effects of Gusto’s growth  Why fundraising is like hiring  And much more problem-solving advice… Who do you want to see next on the podcast? Comment and let us know! And don't forget to leave us a 5-star review if you loved this episode. Wait, there's more… If you enjoy the Foundr podcast, check out our free trainings. Get exclusive, actionable advice from some of the world's best entrepreneurs.  Speak with our friendly course experts to get clarity on the next steps for your idea, business or career. You will get tailored insights from results achieved by our proven practitioners as well as thousands of students. Book a call now...  For more Foundr content, follow us on your favorite platform:  Foundr.com Instagram YouTube Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Magazine

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey Founder, fan, before we dive into another incredible conversation, I want to share something

0:05.3

really special with you. Whether you're just joining us or you've been following us since the

0:09.6

beginning, you've been a critical part of our community working to change entrepreneurial

0:14.0

education. I started Founder almost a decade ago with the mission to provide entrepreneurs

0:19.8

access to the world's greatest business

0:22.2

leaders. Our goal was to break down barriers to entrepreneurial education and that's taking

0:27.4

us on a journey from Founder magazine to this podcast and beyond and today marks the next step

0:33.5

in that journey, Founder Plus. I'm proud to introduce you to Founder Plus, which is an all-access

0:39.7

pass to each of our online courses and programs and their proven frameworks for success.

0:45.9

It puts every strategy we've compiled from world-class instructors at your fingertips while connecting

0:51.9

you to a global network of like-minded entrepreneurs.

0:55.9

Founder Plus will take your business to the next level for today and tomorrow.

1:00.5

So whether you've just joined our family or you've watched us grow from humble beginnings,

1:05.3

we're really thrilled to have you join us in this exciting new phase of making the founder brand

1:10.8

and this company

1:11.6

the world's best entrepreneurial community to launch and grow your business.

1:16.1

So finally, before we get into today's episode, I'm inviting you to come back,

1:21.2

check out Founder Plus and go to founder.com forward slash membership.

1:26.8

I'm really excited, guys. This is an incredible new

1:29.8

evolution of entrepreneurial education and our mission is really to get as many of these founders

1:36.1

that we interview to teach and also give back on the founder plus platform and really go more

1:42.0

in depth with the knowledge and the experiences and the lessons

...

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