Moments of impact from Mike Gutner's career
Toast, Inc. · VP Restaurant SuccessWhen 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.
Google · AdSense Manager, Australia & New ZealandWhen I arrived in Australia and New Zealand, Google had AdSense publishers in the region but no localized support—growth was entirely organic, and the business lacked the infrastructure to unlock its true potential. I saw an opportunity to change that by building a dedicated local team and establishing a formal go-to-market motion tailored to the region's unique needs. I started by hiring four technical account managers who could serve as a hybrid of sales rep and account manager, giving us the flexibility to both acquire and nurture publisher relationships. Together, we built a publisher outreach program from scratch, created localized pitch decks that resonated with regional clients, and established weekly syncs with the California-based product team to surface and address regional product gaps. This wasn't just about scaling headcount—it was about creating a sustainable model for how Google could support publishers in satellite markets far from headquarters. The results were transformative. In the first year, we grew regional revenue by 150%. One of the most impactful breakthroughs came when a major retail client wanted to use AdSense on transactional eCommerce pages, but the product wasn't built for that use case. I partnered closely with the CA product team to customize ad units and bidding logic specifically for this client's needs. That solution worked so well it became a template that was rolled out globally, proving that insights from a regional team could drive product innovation at scale. This experience built my confidence in leading teams from the ground up, taught me what it truly means to operate as a global organization in a satellite office, and earned me credibility across the broader business for my ability to deliver results and build cross-functional relationships. It was a foundational chapter that shaped how I approached leadership in every role that followed.
Toast, Inc. · SVP People & Organizational SuccessI 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.