Cofounder is one of the first agent interfaces for small businesses that lets you understand your company’s team, payroll, compliance tasks, and more before you start.
san francisco, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Gusto, a leading partner for small businesses, today announced the launch of Gusto Cofounder, an AI teammate built specifically for small business owners. Unlike general-purpose AI tools that start with a blank slate, Cofounder launches with context from Gusto and customer-approved connected tools, such as a company’s team, payroll schedules, benefits, and Gusto compliance calendars, and can immediately begin taking action on behalf of small businesses.
The launch comes as America’s entrepreneurial boom accelerates. More than 500,000 new business applications are running per month, which is near an all-time high. According to Gusto’s 2026 New Business Formation Report, 60% of new business owners will leverage AI to launch their businesses in 2025, double the rate from just two years ago. Half said AI has made processes significantly faster or cheaper.
“Small business owners are some of the most resourceful people in the world, but they’re always pushing the limits,” says Eddie Kim, co-founder and head of technology at Gusto. “For most people, running payroll isn’t the hard part; it’s all about the things you need to do before running payroll. Getting data from other systems, working with spreadsheets, and tracking missing inputs are all ‘before work.’ This is one of the most hidden burdens of running a business, and Gusto Cofounder was founded to eliminate it once and for all. ”
Cofounder is designed to handle small business owners’ time-consuming operational tasks, such as running payroll, helping flag compliance risks, tracking missing timesheets, and surfacing staffing conflicts before they become problems. Owners can direct co-founders through a natural conversation via SMS, Slack, or the web with prompts like:
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“Please run this Friday’s payroll and flag any that require my approval before submission.”
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“Please prepare weekly labor cost reports for each department and send them to me every Monday morning.”
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“For team expenses over $25, please submit an approval request before they are processed.”
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“Flag any leave requests that overlap payroll deadlines or are understaffed on your team.”
The co-founders also proactively monitor their business with over 20 pre-built automations covering onboarding, payroll, expense approval, and compliance tasks. This is a pattern we’ve learned from over 500,000 small businesses using the Gusto platform.
