Toast, Inc.

pos.toasttab.com · Software Development · Founded 2011

Toast is the operating system behind the hardest-working people out there — the restaurateurs and retailers running busy businesses. We build tools to match their effort, rigorously designed to perform under pressure, with 1,000 little features for every make-or-break moment. Our POS platform brings hardware, software, AI, and financial technology together to help operators get busy, stay busy, and run busy. We’re Toasters, proud to innovate alongside our customers. Want to join us? https://careers.toasttab.com/

Mike GutnerVP Restaurant Success

Transformed Toast's Account Management Function from Reactive Firefighting to Strategic Revenue Growth

When I stepped into the Account Management function at Toast, I inherited a team of approximately 25 account managers struggling to support over 3,000 customers. The function was fundamentally broken: segmentation was virtually non-existent, many team members lacked either the technical aptitude or strategic account management skills needed for the role, and processes were entirely ad hoc. There was no performance management system, no competency framework, minimal enablement or training, and zero accountability. The team spent every day firefighting with no capacity for proactive customer work or revenue expansion opportunities. I prioritized ruthlessly, starting with the foundational building blocks in my first 90 days. I implemented performance management and competency frameworks to establish clarity around expectations and capabilities, then moved quickly to segmentation and territory redesign to ensure customers were matched with appropriately skilled account managers. This required some difficult decisions: we moved underperformers out who couldn't level up, and simultaneously recruited high-caliber talent to raise the bar. I also designed a new compensation model that rewarded high performance through bonuses and included an effective commission structure on upsells, creating clear incentives aligned with business outcomes. Territory design became sophisticated, taking into account account manager level, tenure, compensation, and the strategic importance of each customer. The transformation was dramatic. Upsells improved by double-digit percentages quarter-over-quarter throughout the first 12 months, while customer churn remained remarkably low despite the organizational upheaval. Beyond the revenue impact, we achieved a massive cultural overhaul—several of the rockstar hires I brought in have leveled up tremendously and moved into increasingly senior management roles across Toast. Perhaps most gratifying was that many of the people processes we incubated on my team—including competency maps, the performance management system, and upward manager surveys—were borrowed and scaled across the entire company, creating lasting organizational impact far beyond my immediate function.

Validated by 1

Mike GutnerSVP People & Organizational Success

Led much of Toast's People practice through COVID, IPO, and 100% Headcount Scale

I led Toast's People organization through three simultaneous high-stakes transformations: navigating COVID-19 disruption, preparing for and executing our IPO, and scaling the company aggressively in a hyper-competitive talent market. The challenge was to build systems and infrastructure that could support explosive growth while maintaining the quality and culture that made Toast successful. I took a systemic approach across several critical pillars, with a few to note. First, I redesigned our performance management system and culture to shift the organization from activity-based metrics to impact-driven accountability, creating clarity around what great performance looked like at scale with calibration and an aligned system across the entire company, including promotion process, hiring and termination rigor, and more. Second, I led our globalization strategy by establishing local HR infrastructure and cultural integration programs as we expanded into new international markets, ensuring we could compete for talent globally while preserving our core identity. The results were transformative. We scaled headcount globally across the business by more than 100% while maintaining if not improving quality of hire while keeping cost per hire below peer benchmarks industry. Employee engagement scores increased, signaling that our people felt supported and energized despite the pace of change.

Validated by 1