I’m excited to announce that Mike Cieri has joined Gusto as Chief Product Officer and Head of People Platform.
Mike has a strong track record of building visionary product teams that have enabled innovative companies to scale the impact they deliver—particularly in service to small and midsize companies. He is joining us at an important time as we continue to build the capabilities and impact of Gusto’s people platform to an ever-increasing number of growing businesses.
Leveling the Playing Field for Entrepreneurs
Like many Gusties, Mike’s strong belief in, and commitment to, small and midsize businesses comes from a strong personal connection. It’s something we bonded over during the interview process. I grew up doing my homework in the back office of my parents’ medical practice in Southern California. And Mike spent most weekends of his childhood at his grandpa’s bowling alley, seeing firsthand how he interacted with customers and workers alike, creating a place for the entire community to gather.
That ethos and experience is what drives us here at Gusto. Small businesses aren’t just the backbone of the US economy. They’re the backbone of our neighborhoods and communities. And we need to have their backs. Choosing to start a small business is among one of the biggest decisions a person can make. Yet, as larger companies consolidate and scale, it’s easy for smaller businesses to become marginalized and left behind.
These businesses deserve to be a greater part of the national conversation about the economy. And they need technological solutions catered to their specific needs and the needs of their teams, so they can stay competitive in hiring and retaining talent. It’s not enough for them to have a set of tools to support basic business operations. They need a partner and platform that enhances the lives of their teams, offers sound guidance, and sets them up with the services they need to build great places to work.
Mike is joining Gusto at a critical time, as we hit a new milestone of serving more than 300,000 growing businesses nationwide (and their teams around the world). And this surge of entrepreneurship isn’t going anywhere. New Gusto data shows new business creation is continuing at record-levels, far surpassing new business creation rates pre-pandemic. We’re building Gusto for this new era of entrepreneurship, and we’re glad to have Mike aboard as we work towards bringing our people platform to millions of founders in need of support and guidance.
For more than a decade now, Mike has led and scaled product organizations at high-growth, high-impact companies. Most recently, Mike was the VP of Product Management at Opendoor, where his teams developed products and resources to help people realize their dreams of home ownership. Prior to that, he was the Head of Product at Square where led product development aimed at helping mom-and-pop shops and other growing businesses access technology to stay competitive and keep up with the evolving shopping habits of their customers. We’re so happy to add Mike’s expertise to Gusto as we continue to build a product roadmap that drives the entire industry forward.
Scaling Success for SMBs
Gusto is always working to address the urgent, important challenges that employers and HR teams are facing, including increasing access to new talent pools across state lines and around the world, streamlining hiring and onboarding processes, and creating more tools to build even more engaging work cultures. As the modern work era continues to evolve for SMBs, Gusto will evolve alongside them—swerving with every curve thrown at them, whether it’s helping them navigate tight labor markets and the shift to remote work, or building resilient, redundant processes to ensure payroll is paid on-time and in-full (even amidst unexpected banking issues).
Gusto exists to unlock opportunities and empower entrepreneurs to run successful and growing businesses. More than 300,000 businesses use Gusto’s people platform to hire, pay, insure, and support their teams—from modern payroll and benefits to remote work services and international contractor support to financial health benefits and expert HR advice. We’re more than a tool they use, we’re an advocate and advisor they trust. They need more than just a set of tools that support basic business processes. They require a partner and platform that simplifies business operations, enhances the lives of their teams, and provides them with the time and services that are needed to build great places to work.
I’m really happy to bring Mike aboard during this next stage of Gusto’s growth. And I’m very proud of our teams here at Gusto, what we’re building, and the impact we’ll continue to deliver.
