Live data from Hacker News

Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

businessinsider.com

11–20 of 25 posts

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#11

I'll save you a click. This is an obvious advertisement for Gusto with lots of pictures and few words. If you upvoted this, why?

I didn't upvote it, but I appreciated hearing about the article and reading it. Startup types are routinely told to speak with their customers, and here was a novel, fun and attention-getting way of doing exactly that.

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#12
There's also an investor (Paul Singh, ex-500Startups) driving across America in an RV to meet startups. For those who don't know about his excursions head over here:

https://www.resultsjunkies.com

Jovial mood: I wonder what's the probability of an investor on road meeting a startup on road. I mean on physical roads. And is that measure of probability meaningfully any different from the reality of fundraising? Think not :-)

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#13
post #11

I'll save you a click. This is an obvious advertisement for Gusto with lots of pictures and few words. If you upvoted this, why?

I didn't upvote it, but I appreciated hearing about the article and reading it. Startup types are routinely told to speak with their customers, and here was a novel, fun and attention-getting way of doing exactly that.

Thanks. That puts this into context.

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#14
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article seems to state they got a vehicle wrap for it. Probably not part of the 4000$ rental, but can't imagine it being more than maybe 1000$ to "print"? Random large-ish dollar amount I came up with on the fly.

Thinking that's low. A car is $2500+ to wrap. Lots more area on that RV. And it's not a DIY job for sure.

An RV is mostly flat. That will save a lot of time ($$).

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#15
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't upvote it, but I appreciated hearing about the article and reading it. Startup types are routinely told to speak with their customers, and here was a novel, fun and attention-getting way of doing exactly that.

Thanks. That puts this into context.

[deleted]

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#16
post #11

I'll save you a click. This is an obvious advertisement for Gusto with lots of pictures and few words. If you upvoted this, why?

I didn't upvote it, but I appreciated hearing about the article and reading it. Startup types are routinely told to speak with their customers, and here was a novel, fun and attention-getting way of doing exactly that.

Exactly. And I'll add for me: it was cool hearing about a unique marketing angle, compared to reading the 231st copy of "Improving Your Conversions using A/B Testing". Like the marketing kid who got into a company pretending to be the donut delivery man[0].

[0] http://www.adweek.com/creativity/guy-posed-donut-delivery-ma...

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#18
FreshBooks did this almost 10 years ago [1], and I'm sure many companies have done it both before and since. Perhaps the most impressive part is coordinating such a flattering article with Business Insider.

[1] http://www.prweek.com/article/1253860/freshbooks-hits-road-d...

Re: Gusto founder drove across America in an RV to meet customers

#20

FreshBooks did this almost 10 years ago [1], and I'm sure many companies have done it both before and since. Perhaps the most impressive part is coordinating such a flattering article with Business Insider. [1] http://www.prweek.com/article/1253860/freshbooks-hits-road-d...

Josh here from Gusto. The more tech founders/CEOs doing this type of trip, the better in my opinion. I was born and raised in Silicon Valley and I love living there, but it can often be an echo chamber. We didn't start Gusto to focus on Silicon Valley. We started it to help companies across the country (and eventually around the world), and our customers are all across the US today. The road trip was one way for me to go out and meet some of them. I slept in the RV, saw many cities that I had never been to before, and met some amazing companies.

We want spotlight these small businesses as much as possible, since they often don't get as much attention. You can read about some of them at www.gusto.com/extramile

Post reply on HN