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 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 $0.00. And I started story arb 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

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