Customer Obsession Meets Unit Economics with Gusto's CPO Tomer London

In this episode, Tomer London, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Gusto, shares insights into aligning product and finance teams for responsible growth. He dives deep into the frameworks and practices Gusto employed to make trade-offs between core products, expansion opportunities, and moonshot ideas - all while maintaining a relentless focus on customer needs and healthy unit economics.

Tomer discusses Gusto's thoughtful, iterative approach to product development, avoiding the pitfalls of pursuing growth at all costs. He provides a candid look into Gusto's fundraising philosophy and managing the product-finance relationship through the company's evolution from startup to industry leader.

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🔗 Link/s

Gusto: https://gusto.com/

⏲️ Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:25) Landing on Payroll

(03:46) Payroll as a Wedge

(05:20:)The Importance of Emotional Pain Points

(07:23) Dream Big, Make it Real

(13:06) The Three Horizons Framework

(15:07) The Importance of Product & Finance Alignment

(17:08) Sponsor: NetSuite | Attio

(21:00) Milestones and Accountability

(24:00) Killing Products

(28:30) Staying Focused Amidst Competition

(30:39) Sponsor: beehiiv | Babbel

(34:00) Fundraising Strategy

(36:46) Evolving Thinking on Profitability

(40:25) The Power of Customer Connection

(42:00) The Future of Gusto

(43:12) Wrap

Subscribe to this season of Turpentine Finance, where our guests speak candidly about big business inflections, market curveballs, and how they approach decision-making to tease out tactics and mental models you can use when the pressure is on.

You’ll hear stories from Instacart, Mercury, OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Netflix, Runway, and more. Topics frequently touched upon M&A, Market Downturn, Macro, PMF, Fundraising, Financial Forecasting, Headcount, Equity.

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Turpentine Finance is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more covering technology, business, and culture, all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors - if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected]