Cofounder is Gusto's AI partner for small business owners. You can chat with it, automate recurring work, and connect it to the tools you already use — all within your Gusto account.
Early access: Cofounder is available to a select group of Gusto customers right now, with broader access coming soon. If you received an invitation, this article will help you get started.
Cofounder works directly with your live Gusto data, so there's nothing to copy in or set up manually. There are three main ways to work with Cofounder.
Chat to get things done. Ask Cofounder to run payroll, pay contractors, pull a report, or update a team member — all in plain language.
Automate recurring work. Turn any task into a scheduled automation. For example, have Cofounder prepare your payroll every other Monday and send you a Slack or SMS message to review before anything is submitted.
Connect your other tools. Cofounder works with Google Sheets, Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, and Notion. You can also chat with Cofounder by text or Slack, outside of Gusto.
Here's a sampling of what Cofounder can help with today:
Your company and team — look up info, update team member details, compensation, or payment method, and check pay history and paystubs
Payroll — prepare, edit, preview, submit, or cancel payrolls, including off-cycle runs
Contractor payments — create, update, and submit contractor pay runs
Expenses — submit, approve, deny, or edit expenses
Time off and leave — check balances and policies, submit or approve requests
Scheduling — create and manage schedules and shifts
Time tracking — review and approve timesheets
Documents and compliance — look up forms, tax documents, and compliance actions
Reports — run payroll journals, cash requirements, year-to-date totals, and more
Right now, Cofounder doesn’t support benefits questions or workflows. Switch to Classic and chat with Gus if you need help with benefits.
To use Cofounder during early access, you need all of the following:
An active Gusto Core subscription
Full admin role on your company's Gusto account
2-day payroll on your account
An invitation to early access
Cofounder is free for early access customers. We'll share pricing details before broader availability.
If you received an invitation, check your email for a link to get started. We’re expanding access over time and will be in touch when it's available to you.
Interested but don’t have an invitation yet? Click here to join the waitlist or see a demo.
If you’ve been invited to Cofounder, when you first log in to Gusto, you’ll see the option to Switch to Cofounder.
When you open Cofounder, you’ll see:
A greeting at the top
The Ask me anything box — type a question or task and press send
Quick action buttons: Run payroll, Pay a contractor, and Review timesheets
While you were away — a summary of anything Cofounder did or tried to do since your last visit
The left sidebar, where you’ll find Automations, Artifacts, Ideas, and Customize
To go back to the classic Gusto experience, select Switch to Classic at the bottom right.
Type what you need in plain language. A few examples:
"Show me my next pay period."
"Run payroll for the week of May 11."
"How much PTO does Maya have left?"
"List my active team members."
Whenever Cofounder is about to change something in your account, it shows you a preview and asks you to confirm before taking action. Nothing happens without your approval.
Pro tip: Start with something read-only, like pulling a report or checking a team member’s details. It’s a good way to get a feel for how Cofounder works before asking it to run payroll or pay contractors.
Once you're comfortable with chat, you can set up automations so Cofounder handles recurring work on a schedule — daily, weekly, or before each pay period.
Open Cofounder and walk through the task you want to automate.
Give Cofounder the context it needs — which spreadsheet to read, which team members to include, what to send you when it's done.
Once Cofounder completes the task correctly, tell it to repeat on a schedule. For example: "Run this every other Monday at 8 am Pacific and send me a Slack summary."
Review the summary Cofounder shows you and confirm.
Even inside an automation, Cofounder will pause and ask for your approval before submitting payroll or making contractor payments.
Pro tip: Walk through the task manually with Cofounder before automating it. This helps you catch anything before it runs on a schedule.
Select Automations in the left sidebar. From there you can view, edit, pause, or delete any automation, and see the history of past runs.
Select Ideas in the left sidebar to browse pre-built automation suggestions, organized by category. Popular ones include:
Automatic payroll — approves timesheets, creates and submits payroll, then sends you a summary every pay period
Time-off auto-approval — checks PTO balance and team coverage, then approves or denies requests automatically
Expense auto-approval — approves expenses under your threshold, flags larger ones for review
Select Customize → Settings → Connectors, find the app, and select Connect.
Available connectors: Google Sheets, Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, Notion, and Custom server (for advanced users who want to connect any MCP-compatible service).
Select Customize → Settings → Channels, choose Text message or Slack, and follow the prompts.
Once connected, you can ask Cofounder questions, start tasks, or approve actions right from your phone or Slack.
Customize is where you set permissions for each part of your Gusto account. By default, Cofounder asks for your approval every time before viewing or changing your data.
Select Customize in the left sidebar.
Under Gusto apps, choose the area: Company, People, Pay, Time & attendance, or Taxes & compliance.
For each capability, choose one of three options:
No access — Cofounder can't view or change this data
Ask each time — Cofounder asks for approval every time (default)
Always allow — Cofounder can act without asking
You can set permissions separately for viewing data and changing data.
Note: For sensitive actions like submitting payroll or paying contractors, Cofounder always asks for your approval — even if you've set Always allow. For the most sensitive actions, you'll also be asked to verify your identity with a 2-step verification code.
If you need help, switch to Gusto Classic and select the help icon in the top navigation bar to chat with Gus. Gus can answer questions about Gusto and help you get to the right place if you need more support.
To switch to Classic, select Switch to Classic at the bottom right of Cofounder.