In Depth

Inside Guideline's mission to modernize 401(k)s | Building from first principles, finding strategic edges, and rewiring retirement | Kevin Busque (Co-founder and CEO)

In Depth

Show Notes

Kevin Busque is the co-founder and CEO of Guideline, a 401(k) management company revolutionizing the retirement space for small and medium-sized businesses. Prior to Guideline, Kevin co-founded Taskrabbit, where he encountered firsthand the complexity and low participation rates of traditional 401(k) plans—largely due to confusing fee structures. After launching Guideline to address those problems head-on, the company has seen remarkable growth, hitting $120 million in ARR by June 2024. In this conversation, Kevin shares pivotal moments that shaped Guideline’s trajectory, including a strategic partnership with Gusto. He also explains how his “Do the hard thing first” mindset helped the team build an industry-leading platform and disrupt an entrenched market. – Referenced:

ADP: https://www.adp.com/

Aydin Senkut: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aydins/

CalSavers: https://www.calsavers.com/

DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/

Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.com/

Guideline: https://www.guideline.com/

Gusto: https://gusto.com/

Intuit: https://www.intuit.com/

Jeremy Caballero: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremycaballero/

John Zimmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/

Josh Reeves: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuareeves/

Mike Nelson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mnelsonio/

Leah Solivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahsolivan/

Paychex: https://www.paychex.com/

Plaid: https://plaid.com/

Taskrabbit: https://www.taskrabbit.com/

Tomer London: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomerlondon/

– Where to find Kevin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbusque/

– Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

– Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/

First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital

This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

– Timestamps: (00:00) Teaser: “I don’t believe in stealth mode” (02:51) Inspiration behind Guideline (07:56) Lessons from a year’s research before Guideline (10:44) Identifying market pull for Guideline (14:28) What Kevin learnt before shipping their first product (19:10) How Guideline set their fees up (27:51) The surprising range of Guideline’s early customers (31:48) Kevin’s insights from the Gusto integration (39:48) Guideline’s first year (44:44) Working with Plaid as Guideline’s first customer (53:28) Guideline’s auto-enrollment feature (57:53) Lucky 8: Kevin’s unexpected pricing strategy (62:04) Franchise opportunities (64:49) Kevin’s reflections on Taskrabbit (71:36) Will Guideline ever go multi-product? (72:37) Kevin’s take on product-market fit (73:30) Guideline’s compounding advantage (78:51) The challenges faced by introverted leaders

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