E20: Headcount Planning in Hypergrowth: Gusto’s Head of Corporate Finance Rohit Divate

On the 20th episode of Run The Numbers, CJ sits down with Rohit Divate, Head of Corporate Finance at Gusto. Rohit Divate has seen Gusto 10x in terms of revenue and headcount in his six years at the company. He and CJ discuss headcount planning, countermetrics, how to set up scalable decisionmaking in hyperscaling startups, and more. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line, head to www.tropicapp.io/metrics. --- ! Run The Numbers has a new Spotify and Apple show link. Follow the links to subscribe and ensure you'll never miss an episode  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-the-numbers/id1723787140  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zQCkklNnVgMD364kCW5SV --- SPONSORS: Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how. --- X / TWITTER: @rohitdv8 (Rohit) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:17) Mailbag questions - How does ARR, or Revenue Per Employee, scale over time as a company grows? (04:42) Introducing Rohit (05:40) How big was Gusto when Rohit started out and how big is it now? (08:00) How to get things done when a company grows big (11:10) How has Gusto's finance department change over time? (14:03) Tour of duty: handling change or roles and responsibilities in a finance team (15:21) Sponsor - Planful (16:20) A day in the life of Rohit: How much is spent on spreadsheets vs dealing with people (17:41) Risks and opportunities - knowing your financials (19:09) What are metrics that gets tracked daily and monthly? (21:50) What's the north star metric? (22:58) The metric that kept Rohit up at night (24:25) On using a non-standard calendar year for financials (25:25) Handling headcount forecasting for Gusto (27:46) Dollar base plans and having autonomy to build your team (29:46) Budgeting for contractors (30:56) The new headcount methodology and dollar-based planning (32:39) Rules of thumb for staffing ratio (34:32) What separates the great finance leaders from the good ones? (36:36) Qualities a CEO should test for in interviews (38:37) What's something Rohit has screwed up before on the job? (40:33) What's something you know now that you'd like to tell your younger self? (41:39) Sponsor - Tropic (42:15) Rohit's finance software stack (43:33) What's the craziest thing you've seen someone try to expense? This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].