$9.5B Gusto Founder Went Back to Being an Engineer to Build an AI CoFounder - Edward Kim

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 businessesso 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) OutroFollow EdwardLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edawerd/X: https://x.com/edawerdFollow LubaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yudasinal/X: https://x.com/LubaYudasina