Today I walk with Edward Kim, co-founder and CTO of Gusto. Edward built Gusto with two Stanford classmates into a $9.5B payroll platform running 300,000 small businesses, made over $1M selling Android apps on the side, and after a decade managing engineers, he's writing code again to ship an AI co-founder for the back office his mom used to run when he was a kid. He gets into why his doctor dad handed him a Paul Graham essay in the car, and the unfairness technical co-founders feel while business co-founders raise the money.
We get into:
-Making $700K a year selling Android apps after his first startup shut down
-Why his doctor dad handing him a Paul Graham essay changed his career
-His mom running the entire back office of his dad's medical practice while raising three kids
-The unfairness technical co-founders feel while business co-founders get wined and dined by investors
-Going back to code after 10 years managing engineers to ship an AI co-founder for small businesses
so much more!
(00:00) Trailer
(00:51) Edward Kim, Co-Founder and CTO, Gusto
(00:57) The elaborate escape rooms he builds for his wife Yuna
(03:04) The San Francisco half marathon on a bet that reconnected him with Josh
(05:32) Making $700,000 a year selling Android apps
(10:25) Screenshot It, the $7 app for a feature Android didn't have
(18:31) His mom running the entire back office of his dad's medical practice
(26:22) The Paul Graham essay his doctor dad handed him in the car
(29:51) Getting into Y Combinator with Gary as a partner
(32:49) The unfairness technical co-founders feel while business co-founders raise money
(36:51) After 15 years of co-founding, why the workload evens out
(56:07) Building Gusto Co-Founder for the small business back office
(1:15:01) His life philosophy in one sentence
(1:15:08) Outro
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