Full disclosure, I worked with Nick and Omar at Gusto. I saw firsthand how much software can help an ops team. Since we didn't have Flowdash at Gusto, we often scrambled for resources to empower our operations team. We also probably could've done a better job responding to user feedback since we were so resource constrained.
Having a tool that the Ops team can truly own is a game-changer for that iterative feedback loop and frees up the eng team. Really looking forward to seeing this product grow.
The watermelon interview was no joke and not a rubber stamp. I wasn't on the watermelon crew but it was a real badge of honor at Gusto to "represent" Gusto's values.
When we hired 200+ people from 2015-2016 across two offices, the watermelon interview was critical to make sure we were hiring the right culture fit Gusties.
I used to be a PM at Gusto so I can add to Eddie's answer. As Eddie mentioned, it's non-trivial to keep the existing applications running as well as they do. That being said, a non-trivial amount of time/resources is spent making an already amazing product that much better. For example, my friends just launched a new product that lets you pick your payday (https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/gusto-flexible-pay/). To get this to work, there's a lot of data science involved to make sure you're not exposing Gusto to financial risk (it's effectively lending money). Since taxes are withheld with every paycheck, the payment flows associated with flexible pay become incredibly challenging. They're an amazing team. Go Eddie!
I think there's also some anchoring bias that happens with easy mental math calculations like 20 on 80, or 40 on 360, since the financial fundamentals don't matter at the earliest stage companies.
Full disclosure, I worked with Nick and Omar at Gusto. I saw firsthand how much software can help an ops team. Since we didn't have Flowdash at Gusto, we often scrambled for resources to empower our operations team. We also probably could've done a better job responding to user feedback since we were so resource constrained.
Having a tool that the Ops team can truly own is a game-changer for that iterative feedback loop and frees up the eng team. Really looking forward to seeing this product grow.