Growing as a CPO as your product grows from 0 to $10B valuation | Tomer London, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Gusto | E235

In this episode, of The Product Podcast, we chat with Tomer London,Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Gusto, the leading HR platform for small and medium-sized businesses in the US.

Tomer shares his journey from coding his first inventory management system for his dad’s clothing store as a teenager to building Gusto into a comprehensive payroll and HR platform serving over 300,000 small businesses. He opens up about the challenges of evolving his role as CPO, transitioning from hands-on coding to building product teams, and scaling the company while staying deeply customer-focused.

In this episode, Tomer dives into the importance of embedding compliance into the core of Gusto’s product, why he believes product management should be data-aware but not data-dependent, and how he fosters a culture of intuition-driven decision-making. He also shares how Gusto integrates AI to streamline processes, from payroll automation to enhancing customer support, all while maintaining the human touch that defines their success.

CONTENT
(00:19) 🌱 Early Beginnings: Building Software for a Small Business
(03:33) 💪🏽 From Engineer to Product Leader
(04:45) 👨🏽‍⚖️ The Importance of Compliance in Small Business Solutions
(11:00) ⚖️ Balancing Data and Intuition in Product Management
(20:26) 💥 Gusto's Product Expansion Strategy
(35:51) 🤖 AI and Human Touch in Customer Experience

KEY TAKEAWAYS👇:
Customer-Centric Product Development: Tomer emphasizes that listening to customers and addressing their pain points is the foundation for building successful products. Gusto's focus on helping small businesses manage compliance and payroll seamlessly has driven its product-market fit.

Data-Aware, Not Data-Dependent: Tomer believes that while data is important, product managers should balance it with intuition built from direct customer interactions. This approach ensures that products are not just functional but deeply aligned with user needs.

Scaling with AI & Human Touch: Gusto’s innovative use of AI enhances internal efficiency and customer service. Tomer shares how AI-driven features like automated data entry make life easier for users, while maintaining personal connections through exceptional customer support.

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CREDITS:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Tomer London