What's up, everyone? This is Alex, the host of Founders Journal. As you may know, I built Morning

Brew from my senior year of college until we sold the business in 2020. And now I'm building a

variety of businesses in different spaces and different stages. I'm basically averaging one to two

new businesses per year, and because of that, I have had the opportunity to test a ton

of different products and services, ultimately landing on a core software stack that serves as

my business operating system whenever I start a new company. I have my go-to banking service,

I have my go-to formation service, I have my go-to service. I have my go to domain hosting service.

But probably the most important of them all is my HR service, Gusto. If you're a longtime

Founders Journal listener, you know how much I think about people in the context of business.

A business is nothing without its people, which means a platform that helps me manage and

take care of my people is invaluable.

And that means I've tried every HR platform under the sun always with the same exact goals

in mind.

First, I want a product that's intuitive and delightful to use.

As a non-HR person, I find the intricacies of payroll,

benefits, taxes, compliance, and expenses to be painful. So I just want something that makes

my life easier. Second, I want it to be affordable. I'm a bootstrapper at heart. I started

morning brew with $0, and I started Storyarb with $0 as well, which means I don't have infinite dollars to drop on SaaS products.

And third, I want a platform that acts as my one-stop shop for all things people.

I want it to handle payroll, benefits, hiring, onboarding, and taxes, all while integrating with all of

the other tools in my business stack, whether it be QuickBooks, Slack, or Google workspace.

Well, Gusto hit the trifecta, which is why I am a customer and use it for every single one of my

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