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Databox is an easy-to-use Analytics Platform for growing businesses. We make it easy to centralize and view your entire company's marketing, sales, revenue, and product data in one place, so you always know how you're performing. Learn More About DataboxSubscribe to our newsletter for episode summaries, benchmark data, and moreHow will AI change the way SaaS companies grow?But according to Adam Robinson, founder and CEO of Retention.com, AI is not the answer most founders think it is.Adam has built multiple SaaS companies and scaled Retention.com from $0 to $22M ARR in four years without funding. In this episode of Move the Needle, he explains why the companies that scale – and the ones that stall – are separated by one thing:Product-market fit.Listen to the episode to learn why AI won't fix your SaaS company, but product-market fit might.
Si estás lanzando un producto y todavía no tienes claro cómo salir al mercado, este es un buen momento para ordenarlo. Aplica a la próxima edición de nuestro curso Go To Market aquí: https://www.growthrockstar.com/go-to-...—En este episodio converso con Lluís Cañadell, cofundador y CEO de Treinta.Treinta es una startup que busca digitalizar a millones de micronegocios en Latinoamérica. Tiendas de barrio, peluquerías, ferreterías y todo tipo de pequeños comercios que hoy todavía operan con papel y lápiz.Pero la historia de Treinta no es solo una historia de crecimiento. Es también una historia de decisiones difíciles.Lluís cuenta cómo levantaron 63 millones de dólares en capital, llegaron a tener 350 empleados, lanzaron nuevos negocios como un marketplace que facturaba millones… y aun así tomaron la decisión de cerrarlo todo para reenfocarse en software.Una conversación muy honesta sobre venture capital, Product Market Fit, decisiones difíciles y lo que realmente significa construir una startup en Latinoamérica.—Glosario del episodio:• Marketplace: Plataforma donde distintos vendedores ofrecen productos y los usuarios compran dentro del mismo sistema.• SaaS (Software as a Service): Software que se paga mediante una suscripción mensual o anual.• Revenue: Los ingresos que genera una empresa.• Venture Capital: Fondos de inversión que financian startups con alto potencial de crecimiento.• Y Combinator: Una de las aceleradoras de startups más importantes del mundo. De ahí salieron empresas como Airbnb, Stripe o Dropbox.• Gross Margin: El margen que queda después de restar el costo directo de ofrecer el producto o servicio.• Break Even: El punto donde una empresa deja de perder dinero y cubre todos sus costos.• Product Market Fit (PMF): Cuando tu producto realmente encaja con el mercado y la gente lo usa, vuelve y paga.• ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue): Ingresos recurrentes anuales generados por suscripciones.• Pivot: Cambio estratégico en el modelo de negocio o producto de una startup.—Dónde encontrar a Lluís:• LinkedIn: / lluiscanadell Dónde encontrar a Dylan:• LinkedIn: / dylanrosemberg • Sitio web: https://www.growthrockstar.com/• Blog: https://blog.growthrockstar.com/—Capítulos:00:00 - Intro01:45 - Qué es Treinta y contexto de la empresa05:57 - Por qué emprender en Latam09:59 - Cómo empezó a emprender15:01 - Modelo de negocio inicial de Treinta19:11 - Tracción inicial22:42 - Cómo entraron a Y Combinator24:46 - La expansión del equipo27:36 - Etapa inicial de Treinta41:15 - Reverse Pivot46:44 - Cómo cambiaron el producto y lo monetizaron51:02 - Aprendizajes de construir una startup58:54 - Equipo high performance1:01:44 - El futuro de Treinta1:04:18 - En qué se enfoca el fundador1:07:53 - Por qué eliminó las reuniones 1 a 11:10:07 - Cultura de trabajo en Treinta1:13:52 - Mentalidad de fundador1:18:15 - El futuro del software en Latinoamérica1:22:13 - Cierre—Dylan puede ser inversor de las empresas mencionadas en los episodios.
Je te parle de Boost'Avis, un outil très malin pour bosser ton e-réputation.Il t'aide à collecter plus d'avis clients, à les centraliser et à y répondre intelligemment grâce à l'IA.
Michel raised $185M and achieved a unicorn valuation before he fully cracked monetization. How? By building a community so strong it broke his engineering team.In this episode, Michel breaks down the chaotic journey from a failed YC marketing idea to becoming the standard for open-source data movement. He reveals why he killed a high-growth fintech product, how he used the "Magic Wand" question to find his true direction, and the specific insight that allowed Airbyte to hit $1M ARR in just 4 months after launching their enterprise product.Why You Should ListenHow to hit $1M ARR in 4 months with a bare-bones product.The "Magic Wand" framework for validating startup ideas.Why you should sometimes optimize for Vanity Metrics.How to raise $150M+ by solving the "build vs buy" dilemma.The critical difference between Project Market Fit and Product Market Fit.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, open source business model, data infrastructure, product market fit, Y Combinator, pivoting, fundraising, developer tools, Airbyte00:00:00 Intro00:09:37 The Failed Marketing Product & COVID Pivot00:16:13 The "Magic Wand" Framework for Ideas00:20:52 Launching Open Source to Solve "Build vs Buy"00:24:39 Bootstrapping a Community on Reddit & Hacker News00:30:17 Why Too Many Users Broke the Team00:34:32 Project Market Fit vs. Product Market Fit00:36:16 Hitting $1M ARR in 4 Months00:37:53 Managing a Unicorn Valuation Without Revenue00:41:20 Advice for Early Stage FoundersSend me a message to let me know what you think!
你花大量時間與資金做出來的「完美產品」，市場卻不買單嗎？許多創業者常陷入「閉門造車」的盲點，誤以為功能齊全就是完美，卻忽略使用者真正的需求。 本集我們將解析產品開發的致命陷阱 ⚠️ 談如何精準找出客戶真實痛點，達成產品與市場的完美契合 (Product-Market Fit)。 如果你正在創業，搞不懂為什麼客戶不買你的產品，歡迎來參加3月份的「#創業必修課」與「#創業工作坊」課程，顧問將帶你實際規劃創業策略，找出你的獨特商機
Ahmad Sadeddin is the founder and CEO of Corgea. Corgea provides the security tools to find, triage, and fix insecure code. Ahmad shares:- Why you don't need to raise much to find PMF - stay lean: you should surprise people with how few people you are.- What is a small amount to raise? And what team size do you need? - Pivoting during YC and how Corgea found their first customers and the signs of Product Market Fit- The journey to Product Market Fit never stops- How Corgea worked towards Product Market FitThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.Links:Ahmad Sadeddin https://www.linkedin.com/in/asadeddin/Corgea https://corgea.com/The Fatal Pinch by Paul Graham https://paulgraham.com/pinch.html
I recorded this episode live in Hong Kong with Wish Wu, Co-Founder and CEO of Pharos Network.We dive deep into what it really takes to build next-generation blockchain infrastructure.Pharos is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 hitting 20,000 TPS on testnet. But speed is not the real story. The real story is their focus on connecting Web2 and Web3. Not just users. But capital. Assets. Institutions.Wish shares his journey from building AntChain at Ant Group to launching Pharos. We talk about tokenizing real-world assets, institutional adoption, product-market fit, and why new Layer 1s must stop copying Ethereum.If you're a founder building in Web3, this episode is essential listening.Key LearningsWhy Hong Kong is regaining momentum as a crypto hub.What Pharos Network is building and why 20K TPS matters.Wish's background at Ant Group and building AntChain at scale.Tokenizing new energy assets and institutional funds.Why most new Layer 1s fail without product-market fit.The rise of purpose-built chains and niche-focused infrastructure.Why speculative crypto alone cannot sustain adoption.The vision for Pharos over the next five years.Launching a VC fund and incubator to grow the ecosystem.Fundraising advice: Stop copying. Find real product-market fit.Connecthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/wishlonger/https://www.pharos.xyz/https://www.linkedin.com/company/pharosnetwork/https://x.com/pharos_network DisclaimerNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research.It would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/
Send a textMost founders don't fail because they lack talent...they fail because they built the wrong thing. In this episode, Bradley Hawkins gives you a reality check for spotting “smart ideas” vs real problems people will pay to solve.
What T20 Cricket Teaches Every Sport About The Race For The Global Fan.Mike Jakeman joins Richard for Inside Edge, the business of cricket series. Guests: Finn Bradshaw, Head of Digital, ICCEdward Fitzgibbon, Managing Director, NYZ Consulting.Twenty20 cricket is one of the great product innovations in modern sport. Compact, volatile, accessible to anyone with three hours and a phone signal, it has done something fifty-over cricket never managed: it compressed the development timeline for nations outside the traditional power base. But here is the lesson other sports should be studying carefully: a brilliant product and a functional structure are not the same thing. Cricket has the former. It is still negotiating its way toward the latter.The current ICC T20 World Cup is a further proof of concept, if any were needed. The shorter form has lowered the barrier between the established test nations and the rest. But the structure of the game, its calendar, and the allocation of central resources remains wedded to the previous world. So what are the lessons of this event for other sports as the race for the global fan intensifies? Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner' on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you're interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.
Qualytics is redefining enterprise data quality by positioning it as a collaborative business function rather than an isolated data engineering problem. Founded at the start of the pandemic by Gorkem Sevinc - a former CTO and CDO who spent years managing reactive data quality firefights - Qualytics emerged from a clear practitioner pain point: writing endless custom rules to catch data issues after they'd already broken dashboards and KPIs. The company raised pre-seed and seed rounds while building with beta customers, then closed a Series A as repeatability patterns emerged in their POC process. Now, as enterprises scramble to operationalize AI initiatives, Qualytics is experiencing explosive inbound demand from organizations realizing their data foundations aren't ready for democratized data access. Topics Discussed The practitioner insight that sparked Qualytics: reactive rule-writing doesn't scale Leveraging existing CTO/CDO networks and PE portfolio connections for beta customers The evolution from free POCs to paid POCs as a mutual commitment mechanism Identifying repeatability through week-by-week POC conversion patterns Building practitioner credibility into the sales motion while hiring for enterprise sales grit The decision to hire sales and marketing leadership simultaneously post-Series A Tracking in-product engagement metrics (DQ operations frequency, anomaly detection, rule editing) as churn prevention Positioning data quality as vertical-specific business problems (premium leakage, regulatory compliance) The timing advantage: AI adoption forcing enterprises to treat data governance as mandatory infrastructure GTM Lessons For B2B Founders Talk to 100 prospects before writing code—even with deep domain expertise: After burning 18 months building a radiology second opinion product that patients didn't want (they didn't even know radiologists were doctors), Gorkem adopted a hard rule: validate with 100 conversations before building. His advantage as a former CTO who lived the data quality problem created false confidence. Practitioners often assume their pain is universal, but buyer awareness and willingness to pay are separate questions. Start with NSF I-Corps-style problem validation: show rough sketches, probe what happened when they hit the pain point, understand how it hurt them financially or operationally. Repeatability appears in micro-conversions during trials, not just closed-won rates: Gorkem didn't declare product-market fit when deals closed—he declared it when he could predict POC behavior by week. "Week two, I'm expecting this. Week three, I'm expecting this." That predictability enabled ROI calculators and internal champion enablement materials. For technical founders, this means instrumenting your trial or POC to track leading indicators: specific features activated, data volumes processed, number of team members engaged, frequency of logins. When those patterns stabilize across prospects, you have a repeatable motion. Use paid POCs as a procurement front-loading mechanism, not a revenue play: Qualytics charges nominal amounts for some POCs—not for the revenue, but to get the MSA signed and force both parties through legal/security review upfront. This eliminates the pattern where free POCs succeed technically but die in procurement. Large enterprises often refuse to pay for POCs, which Gorkem accepts—but only if they commit equivalent effort (executive time, cross-functional teams). The paid POC is a qualification tool: if they won't commit anything, they're not a real opportunity. Hire sales and marketing leadership in parallel and hold them to unified GTM metrics: Gorkem regrets hiring early sales reps before leadership and delaying marketing investment. Post-Series A, he hired both leaders simultaneously and holds them jointly accountable to pipeline generation and velocity—not siloed MQL counts or quota attainment. This structural decision forces collaboration on messaging, ICP definition, and campaign strategy from day one. For technical founders who "figured out" founder-led sales, resist the urge to replicate your motion with more SDRs. Bring in strategic leadership that can build a scalable system. Instrument product engagement as your earliest churn signal—then intervene immediately: Beyond quarterly NPS and executive QBRs, Gorkem tracks granular product usage: how many data quality operations users run, how many anomalies they discover, how actively they're editing rules. When engagement drops, he doesn't wait—he jumps into the customer's existing weekly meetings to diagnose and course-correct. For B2B founders building complex products with long time-to-value, passive health scores aren't enough. You need active usage telemetry and a low-latency intervention process. Translate technical capabilities into vertical-specific business outcomes: Gorkem doesn't pitch "data quality for data engineers." He talks about premium leakage with insurance companies and OCC/SEC data controls with banks. This reframing works because buyers recognize their problem, not a vendor category. The shift requires research: understand each vertical's regulatory environment, operational pain points, and the business metrics executives care about. When you walk in speaking their language about their P&L impact, you're not another vendor—you're someone who gets it. Time your market entry to when "nice-to-have" becomes "must-have": When Qualytics launched, some enterprises called data quality a "nice-to-have." AI adoption changed that calculus overnight. Organizations planning to let 20,000 employees interrogate data through AI interfaces suddenly realized they need robust data governance, quality controls, and cataloging first. Gorkem's timing wasn't luck—he built during the "nice-to-have" phase so he'd be ready when AI budgets made it mandatory. Technical founders should identify the external forcing function (regulation, technology shift, economic change) that will transform their solution from vitamin to painkiller. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM
Kevin was building a successful startup in the NFT space. They'd hit $1M ARR. But he looked at the market and realized it wasn't big enough. So he made the terrifying choice to pivot the entire company into cybersecurity.In this episode, Kevin breaks down how he navigated that transition without killing the business. He reveals how he sold his first $5k/month contract with no product, why he raised a massive seed round he didn't need, and how he convinced Andreessen Horowitz to lead his Series A in the middle of a strategic shift.Why You Should ListenHow to pivot from a bad market to a unicorn opportunity.Why he sold a $5k/month contract with zero product.How to raise a Series A from a16z during a pivot.Why you never truly "find" Product Market Fit.The danger of building for a niche market (and how to escape).Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, pivot, cybersecurity, crypto startup, a16z, raising series a, Kevin Tian00:00:00 Intro00:02:17 Meeting at Uber and the "Glass Eating" Phase00:07:21 The First Idea00:11:52 Selling the First $5k/Month Contract with No Product00:16:52 The Decision to Pivot at $1M ARR00:29:43 Network Selling to Enterprise Cybersecurity00:32:03 Raising Series A from a16z During a Pivot00:33:36 Why Product Market Fit is Not a One-Time Event00:35:10 Action Produces InsightsSend me a message to let me know what you think!
Joey Zwillinger, the founder of Allbirds and Biologica, sat down with Jason to talk about the challenges of finding your ideal customer. Joey's done it both ways. Starting with a product and searching for the right people to buy it, and starting with a problem and building the solution. In this conversation, he breaks down what actually works when you're hunting for product-market fit, and what to do when your customers surprise you (because they will). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dominique und Tim sprechen in dieser Folge darüber, was das 3-Horizonte-Modell für die Arbeit als Product Owner bedeutet und warum es weit mehr ist als ein strategisches Denkmodell aus der Managementliteratur. Das 3-Horizonte-Modell hilft dabei, Produkte nicht nur im Hier und Jetzt zu betrachten, sondern im Spannungsfeld von heute, morgen und übermorgen. Viele Product Owner:innen stecken gedanklich tief im Tagesgeschäft: Backlog pflegen, sich mit Stakeholder abstimmen und Releases vorbereiten. Das ist wichtig. Doch genau hier setzt das 3-Horizonte-Modell an und öffnet ein wenig die Perspektive. Doch was sind die drei Horizonte? Der erste Horizont steht für das aktuelle Kerngeschäft. Hier wird die Wertschöpfung gesichert, Bestehendes optimiert, auf Marktanforderungen reagiert und das Produkt stabil gehalten. Die Unsicherheit ist vergleichsweise gering. Wir kennen Markt, Nutzer und Geschäftsmodell gut. Prognosen fallen leichter. Es geht darum, den Lebenszyklus unseres Produktes bewusst zu verlängern und wirtschaftlich tragfähig zu halten. Doch wer ausschließlich im ersten Horizont denkt, riskiert Stillstand. Im zweiten Horizont bewegen wir uns in aufkommenden Geschäftsfeldern. Produkte oder Features zeigen erste Marktsignale. Hier geht es darum, echten Product Market Fit zu erreichen. Wir prüfen, ob aus einer guten Idee ein tragfähiges Geschäft wird. Kundennähe, schnelles Feedback und konsequentes Lernen prägen diese Phase. Der Fokus verschiebt sich von Stabilität hin zu Wachstum und Skalierung. Der dritte Horizont fordert uns noch stärker heraus. Hier arbeiten wir mit Hypothesen, nicht mit gesicherten Umsätzen. Es geht um Optionen für die Zukunft. Um Problemstellungen, die wir erst verstehen müssen. Um Experimente, die scheitern dürfen. Das 3-Horizonte-Modell macht deutlich, dass Innovation Raum braucht. Raum zum Lernen. Raum zum Ausprobieren. Raum für Unsicherheit. Für Product Owner bedeutet das eine bewusste Haltung. Je nach Horizont verändert sich der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit. In ersten Horizont dominieren Effizienz und Priorisierung innerhalb eines klaren Rahmens. In Horizont zwei stehen Validierung, Marktnähe und schnelles Anpassen im Mittelpunkt. In Horizont drei braucht es Mut, Neugier und die Bereitschaft, mit unklaren Ergebnissen zu arbeiten. Das 3-Horizonte-Modell schafft dabei Orientierung im Portfolio. Es hilft Organisationen zu erkennen, woran Teams eigentlich arbeiten. Es verhindert, dass Innovationsinitiativen vorschnell an klassischen Erfolgskriterien gemessen werden. Und es schützt gleichzeitig das Kerngeschäft vor blinder Experimentierfreude. Und gerade in der Rolle als Product Owner ist diese Transparenz entscheidend. Wir müssen verstehen, in welchem Horizont unser Produkt gerade unterwegs ist. Davon hängen Entscheidungen, Metriken und Erwartungen ab. Ein Experiment aus Horizont drei braucht andere Bewertungsmaßstäbe als ein etabliertes Produkt in Horizont eins. Das 3-Horizonte-Modell ist damit kein theoretisches Konstrukt, sondern ein praktisches Werkzeug für strategische Klarheit. Es verbindet Produktstrategie mit konkreter Produktarbeit. Und es erinnert uns daran, dass nachhaltiger Produkterfolg immer auf mehreren Zeitebenen gedacht wird.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Carles Reina is VP of Sales at ElevenLabs, where he was the first investor and fourth employee. Carles has scaled the revenue org from Day 1 to over $330M in just 3 years. Carles is also an active investor with investments in ElevenLabs, Revolut, Happy Robot and more. AGENDA: 0:00 How I Turned $20K into $16M with Revolut Angel Investment 10:45 Why I Don't Believe in Product-Market Fit 15:40 How to do Land and Expand: Turning $12K Deals into Millions 19:40 The 20X Rule: A "Ruthless" Comp Plan for Elite Reps 24:35 Public Shaming? Why Honest Pipeline Reviews Save Companies 28:50 Why Your Sales Reps Should Never Be in the Office 35:45 The Outbound King: How to Pivot from 90% Inbound 45:45 "Vibe Coding" & The Death of Technical Ceilings 55:35 Why I'd Fire Myself: The Secret Psychology of High-Performers
Social media is changing faster than ever.Algorithms are replacing followers. AI is reshaping content creation. And product-market fit now lasts months — not years.In this episode of The Unified Brand Podcast, Chris sits down with Emeric Ernoult, Co-Founder & CEO of Agorapulse, to unpack:Why most brands fail before they ever achieve product-market fitThe #1 mistake founders make when building a businessHow Agorapulse grew to $10M ARR through differentiationWhy “entertainment” is a trap for most brandsThe power of hyper-niching your content in 2026How AI will eliminate content gatekeepersWhy quality + quantity will define the next era of social mediaWhat's next for AI-driven content creationIf you're a founder, marketer, or business leader trying to build brand authority in a noisy digital world — this episode is essential listening.
Chaz has founded 3 companies. The first sold for over $40M. The second sold to GoPuff for even more. Now, he's on his third act with Model ML, having just raised $75M Series A
Today, we're talking about startup identity—why you need one, and how it makes every decision you face way easier. We'll talk swimming and nervous systems, walk through the Decision Equation, and help our good friend Carl figure out which customer to start with for his AI tool that helps adults learn Spanish. Then we'll wrap with a simple framework to help you clearly define your startup's identity. It's practical, a little weird, and really important. On to it.TackleboxHeroTimestamps00:30 Your Startup Identity01:30 How to Swim04:17 How to Learn Something New06:34 Re-learning How to Make Decisions08:45 Tacklebox 09:15 Carl's Idea - AI for Learning Spanish13:13 The Decision Equation14:15 Picking a Customer19:30 Identity: Your Decision Filter21:30 Four Identity Exercises24:13 The End: What Do You Want?
In this latest episode, hosts Wolfgang Vitale and Marco Mariani sit down with Arnaud Schenk, co-founder of Aztec. The conversation centers on a bold claim: Ethereum hasn't yet achieved product-market fit, primarily due to the lack of privacy in transactions. Arnaud introduces Aztec as a groundbreaking solution that brings privacy and programmability to Ethereum through advanced cryptographic methods like Zero-Knowledge proofs and multiparty computation. The discussion traces Aztec's journey since 2017, exploring the technical hurdles they've overcome and the strategic thinking behind their recent $60 million token sale, which featured innovative identity verification via ZK Passport. Arnaud shares his vision for blockchain's future role in global finance, emphasizing that decentralized governance and privacy are essential for meaningful adoption, ultimately aiming for blockchain to power 30-40% of global economic activity.
The Tropical MBA Podcast - Entrepreneurship, Travel, and Lifestyle
Dan and Ian respond to a listener's email about strategies for going from a 9-5 to full-blown entrepreneurship, and why mindset is far more important long-term than ideas if you want to start a business. LINKS Bento will beat your current email bill — up to 70% off or $300 in credits Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan Dynamite Jobs Meet lifestyle founders inside Dynamite Circle Hang out exclusively with 7+ figure founders in DC BLACK CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Intro and Listener Email (00:05:58) Path 1: “Hold Your Nose and Jump” (00:11:43) Path 2: The Coast Side Hustle (00:14:16) Path 3: Intrapreneurship/Apprenticeship (00:18:14) Path 4: Job Hopping (00:30:05) Product-Market Fit, Passion, and More (00:38:58) Overrated and Underrated Entrepreneurship Tips CONNECT: Dan@tropicalmba.com Ian@tropicalmba.com Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Lucy Bella. PLAYLIST: Bad Hiring Advice That Can Actually Work: 9 Tactics for Lifestyle Founders What We Learned From Running a 7-Figure Remote Business in 2025 The 9-5 is Dead, This is the Socially Acceptable Lottery Ticket
In this episode, Lex speaks with John Caplan — CEO of Payoneer, a public fintech company driving over $85 billion in annual cross-border payment volume. With roots as a prepaid card provider, Payoneer has evolved into a global financial operating platform serving 2 million entrepreneurs across 190 countries.Caplan shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey—from building OpenSky and scaling it to $50 million in revenue before its acquisition by Alibaba, to now leading Payoneer's transformation into a full-service banking alternative for global SMBs.We explore how Payoneer is addressing the complex financial needs of international businesses, competing in a dynamic payments landscape, and preparing for a future that includes stablecoins, workforce management, and potentially $1 trillion in annual volume.NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:Payoneer's Strategic Evolution from Payout Processor to Global SMB Bank AlternativeUnder John Caplan's leadership, Payoneer expanded beyond marketplace payouts to become a comprehensive cross-border financial platform, offering AR/AP, intra-network transfers, cards, and global workforce management. This shift has significantly increased customer retention, take rate, and profitability—highlighting how product expansion and upmarket focus can unlock durable growth in fintech.Execution Over Hype in Global Fintech InfrastructurePayoneer operates in 190 countries with 100+ banking partners and 7,000 payment routes—demonstrating the importance of deep regulatory compliance, local licensing, and multi-entity support in building resilient cross-border infrastructure. Unlike crypto-native entrants, Payoneer emphasizes last-mile utility and customer trust as core differentiators for scaling in complex markets.Profitable Scale and Global Demand for SMB Financial ServicesWith $1B+ revenue, $200M+ EBITDA, and $7.5B in customer funds held, Payoneer is proving that serving cross-border SMBs is not just a mission, but a highly profitable business. Their customer base spans from Bangladeshi freelancers to European firms doing $1M+ in volume, signaling massive, underserved global demand for modern financial tools outside the traditional banking system.TOPICSPayoneer, Alibaba, OpenSky, Stripe, Wise, Airwallex, Mercury, NuBank, digital banking, embedded finance, stablecoins, blockchain, regtech, B2B payments, SPAC, supple chain, ecommerce ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT
Systemisch Denken - Systemtheorie trifft Wirtschaft, Theorie und Praxis für Ihren Beruf
Viele denken bei „Marktwirtschaft“ sofort an Preise, Produkte und Umsatz. Fritz B. Simon denkt radikaler: Jede Organisation handelt – immer. Und jedes Verhalten wird im Markt bewertet. In dieser Episode nehme ich die Gedanken aus dem Buch Radikale Marktwirtschaft - Grundlagen des systemischen Managements - und übertrage sie konsequent auf Organisationen: Unternehmen als Systeme mit Innen- und Außenperspektive, die nicht nur Waren liefern, sondern an jedem Touchpoint Wirkung erzeugen – oder verspielen. Du hörst, warum ein freundlicher Satz, ein erreichbarer Service oder eine kleine Geste manchmal mehr „Preis“ erzeugt als das Produkt selbst. Wir schauen auf die subjektive Buchhaltung zwischen Kunde und Anbieter, auf Kulanz, Erwartungen und die Frage, warum Organisationen aus ihrer Sicht immer rational handeln – auch wenn das von außen völlig anders wirkt. Zum Abschluss bekommst du praktische Rezepte gegen Selbsttäuschung: weniger Worthülsen, mehr beobachtbares Verhalten, bewusster Fokus auf echte Kundenrückmeldung – und die klare Konsequenz, wenn niemand kauft: Produktpalette verändern oder den Markt wechseln. Wenn du mehr zu mir oder zu meinem Business erfahren möchtest, dann schaue hier: https://www.servicearchitekt.com
This episode breaks down Marc Andreessen's 2007 article on why market matters most in startups, plus some great wisdom from Michael Seibel on spotting real PMF through explosive growth and customer pull.Links: • Marc Andreessen's article • Michael Seibel's post • Product Market Fit collapseThis episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs.
Simon Schmincke, General Partner bei Creandum, spricht über die radikalen Veränderungen im Venture Capital der letzten Jahre. Er erklärt, warum Wachstum und Wettbewerb auf einem neuen Level angekommen sind, wie sich Gründerprofile und Teamstrukturen verändern und was das für Startups, Investoren und den europäischen Tech-Standort bedeutet. Außerdem gibt er Einblicke in die aktuelle IPO-Landschaft, den Secondary-Markt und die Herausforderungen, die mit immer größeren Fonds und globalem Wettbewerb einhergehen. Was du lernst: - Wie sich die VC- und Startup-Welt in Rekordzeit verändert - Warum Geschwindigkeit, technisches Know-how und globale Perspektive entscheidend sind - Wie du als Gründer heute Product-Market-Fit und Defensibility wirklich aufbaust - Welche Rolle IPOs, Secondaries und Fondsgröße für den Erfolg spielen - Warum jetzt die spannendste Zeit für Tech und Innovation ist ALLES ZU UNICORN BAKERY: https://stan.store/fabiantausch Mehr zu Simon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonschmincke/ CREANDUM: https://www.creandum.com/ Join our Founder Tactics Newsletter: 2x die Woche bekommst du die Taktiken der besten Gründer der Welt direkt ins Postfach: https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/ Kapitel: (00:00:00) Einstieg & Status Quo im VC (00:03:09) Ständiger Wandel & Lernkurve im VC (00:06:38) Neue Gründerprofile & Teamstrukturen (00:12:50) Go-to-Market & Sales-Strategien (00:16:05) Sourcing, Auswahl & Investment-Entscheidungen (00:19:46) Wettbewerbsfähigkeit & Marktpositionierung (00:21:58) Product-Market-Fit heute (00:29:38) Defensibility & Burggraben (00:32:36) Teamgrößen, Effizienz & neue Organisationsmodelle (00:37:14) Flight to Quality & Fonds-Konzentration (00:47:37) IPOs, Secondaries & Exits (00:55:17) Europa vs. USA & Kapitalmärkte (00:56:44) Portfolio-Highlights & Fund-Returner
Bob is a serial entrepreneur who founded MobileIron, grew it to $150M in revenue, and took it public. Now, he's back with his fourth startup, BlueRock, tackling the next massive wave: agentic AI security.In this episode, Bob breaks down the distinct difference between finding Product-Market Fit and finding Go-To-Market Fit—and why confusing the two can kill your company. He shares the exact questions he asked early customers to pivot from a generic mobile idea to a billion-dollar enterprise solution, the painful transition from founder-led sales to a repeatable playbook, and why he believes agentic AI is the "mobile wave" all over again.Why You Should ListenWhy asking "what else is bothering you?" can uncover real pain points.Why finding Product-Market Fit might actually increase your burn rate.Why founder-led sales often fail to scale and what to do about it.How to use a "Deal Grind" session to turn anecdotal sales wins into a scientific Go-To-Market machine.Why identifying the right tech wave matters more than your initial idea.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, go to market fit, enterprise sales, founder led sales, mobileiron, agentic AI, cybersecurity startup, bob tinker00:00:00 Intro00:03:17 Talk to Customers Before Writing Code00:15:28 Why Finding PMF Can Increase Burn Without Growth00:17:51 The Founder "Magic Pixie Dust" Trap00:25:34 The Deal Grind Exercise00:31:43 From 1M to 80M ARR in 4 Years00:32:54 Why Agentic AI is the Next Mobile Wave00:38:30 The Famous Sequoia Tombstone Meeting00:40:17 The Magic Question: What Else is Bothering You?Send me a message to let me know what you think!
In less than 12 months, Shahar went from an idea to a $30M Series A and a team of 40. He didn't sell another AI tool—he built an AI-first service that replaced expensive human consultants in the massive pen-testing market.In this episode, Shahar breaks down the "Service-as-Software" playbook that allowed him to hit $1M ARR in just three months. He reveals how to convert design partners into paying customers before the product is finished, why he refuses to sell to service providers, and how to achieve a 40% SQL-to-Close rate in the enterprise.Why You Should ListenHow to hit $1M ARR in a single quarter with zero marketing spend.Why asking "Would you use this?" is useless and the one question that actually validates demand.Why "Service-as-Software" is the single best business model for AI startupsHow to maintain a 100% win rate against competitors in live bake-offs.The ultimate litmus test for knowing if you have true Product-Market Fit.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, agentic AI, cybersecurity startup, B2B sales strategy, service as software, rapid scaling, Felicis00:00:00 Intro00:04:06 Why Manual Pen Testing is Broken00:15:42 Ideation and The Wallet Test00:22:38 How to Convert Design Partners to Paid00:28:05 40 Percent SQL to Close Rate00:33:14 The Service as Software Business Model00:46:06 Hitting 1M ARR in One Quarter00:48:50 Raising a 30M Series A from Felicis00:50:01 The Turn It Off PMF TestSend me a message to let me know what you think!
Dana Roberts spent years watching fifth-grade girls panic through their first periods with ill-fitting products and no preparation. The period care aisle hadn't changed in decades. Same brands. Same sizing that was never designed for a 10-year-old's body. When she pitched the idea to her god-sister, Dr. Monica Williams, she got a polite brush-off. Years later, Monica's own daughter started showing signs of puberty, and suddenly the problem wasn't theoretical anymore.What followed was a brutal education in bootstrapping: churning through agencies, surviving iOS 14.5, and funding an entire company through pitch competitions because traditional VCs wouldn't write checks. Last year, a three-minute pitch won them $1 million from Pharrell Williams. Then Ulta told them to change their name if they wanted shelf space. They did it in 90 days.Now Scarlet by RedDrop is in almost 400 stores trying to fix something the industry ignored for generations. We talked about all of it, including the part where Monica says she wishes she'd never bootstrapped at all.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSScarlet by RedDrop: tryreddrop.comUlta product page: ulta.com/brand/scarlet-by-reddropBlack Ambition Prize: blackambitionprize.comKlaviyo: klaviyo.comSmart Marketer: smartmarketer.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
Scout Brisson reveals how De Soi converts skeptics into subscribers through sampling, why it's their largest marketing expense, and her ROI framework. Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
מה עושים כשה-ARR מעורער? פרק שני בסדרה שבה אנחנו עוקבים אחרי מה קרה באקוסיסטם של הסטארטאפים בישראל מאז כניסת ה-AI. במשך שנים ארוכות ה-ARR היה ״קודש הקודשים״ של עולם ה-SaaS. הגעת מיליון דולר? כנראה שיש לך Product Market Fit. אבל בשלוש השנים האחרונות משהו השתנה. כניסת ה-AI והשינוי בהתנהגות הצרכנית יצרו מציאות שבה המטריקות הוותיקות כבר לא מספרות את הסיפור המלא. בפרק השבוע אנחנו ננסה להבין איך השינויים שקרו בטכנולוגיה ובשוק השפיעו על היכולת של פאונדרים ופאונדריות למדוד את הסטארטאפים שלהם, מה השתנה במודל ה-SaaS, ובמטריקות כמו ARR ו-NDR. בפרק יוני אושרוב, General Partner בקרן Entre’e Capital ויואב ענב, קו-פאונדר ו-CEO של חברת Guidde, מספרים לדריה ורטהיים ורוני הרניב על הקשר בין AI לשינויים שקורים בעולמות המדידה, איך אפשר להבדיל היום בין רווניו איכותי לרווניו לא איכותי, איך גורמים ללקוחות להישאר בשוק שבו אנשים נכנסים להשתמש במוצר ואחרי זמן קצר נוטשים ואיך משתמשים ב-AI בשביל להבדיל את החברה שלנו מחברות אחרות. האזינו גם לפרק הקודם בסדרה: דור המהפכה: שני סטארטאפים בסערה המושלמת של עידן ה-AI כתבו לנו מה חשבתם על הפרק בתגובות או בלינקדאין של Startup for Startup. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Jason Kong, General Partner at Base10 Ventures, to unpack the firm's focus on “automation for the real economy” — software built for industries most tech investors overlook, but the world depends on. Jason breaks down what makes Series B investing uniquely hard, how he evaluates back-office and vertical SaaS opportunities, and where markets tip from niche to overcrowded. They also discuss Base10's decision to donate 50% of profits to fund scholarships, plus a lightning round spanning fantasy football, shorting SaaS in 2022, and a venture take that might spark debate.—SPONSORS:Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics—LINKS:Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonykong/Base10 Partners: https://base10.vc/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Scaling to $1B+ Revenue: From ServiceNow to Samsara | Dominic Phillipshttps://youtu.be/vBY6WZBMljw—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:20 Sponsors — Metronome, RightRev, Rillet00:06:02 Base10 Background00:06:41 Automation for the Real Economy00:09:27 Vertical vs. Horizontal Software00:10:38 Cash Flow and Durability00:11:19 Product-Market Fit and ROI00:12:56 Growth Limits Selling to Tech00:13:19 The Size of the Real Economy00:14:16 Sponsors — Tabs, Abacum, Brex00:18:50 Base10's Giving Model00:20:30 Access, Education, and Tech00:21:53 Purpose and Founder Alignment00:22:51 Radical Transparency00:23:56 Portfolio Focus and Strategy00:24:05 Investing Ahead of Consensus00:26:29 ERP Adjacency as Alpha00:28:58 Lessons From Hedge Funds00:32:29 Public Markets Reality00:34:05 Public vs. Private Investing00:34:48 The Series B Sweet Spot00:36:49 A Bifurcated Series B Market00:38:56 Fast Series Bs and 2021 Vibes00:42:16 What Series B Looks Like Now00:44:36 Back Office Automation00:46:02 ERP-Centric Workflows00:48:33 Long-Ass Lightning Round00:49:36 Shorting SaaS in 202200:50:16 Fantasy Football and Investing00:52:57 Career Advice That Surprises00:55:03 A Contrarian Venture Take00:56:22 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #SeriesB #RealEconomy #VerticalSaaS #BackOfficeAutomation This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com
Watch This NEXT: https://youtu.be/FA8kGL3JXx8 Apply to Work with Voics: https://www.voics.co/schedule-youtube Join Aura: https://www.aura-app.ai/ Guest: Alfie RobertsonYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@Alfiegetshard Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alfiegetshard00:00 – Preview & Intro02:25 – From Creator to Entrepreneur05:03 – The Real Buying Journey08:13 – Brand Consistency and Relatability12:54 – Expanding a Personal Brand Without Losing Trust15:47 – Content, Storytelling, and Leverage18:39 – Perception, Authority, and Audience Maturity24:36 – MVPs, Product-Market Fit, and Shipping Fast29:11 – Why Creators Struggle With Consistency33:30 – Systems, Habits, and Accountability39:16 – Offers, Proximity, and Scaling Coaching50:26 – Scaling Revenue and Playing the Long GameSupport the show
In this conversation, Denise shares her journey from corporate burnout to entrepreneurship, emphasizing the chaos of scaling businesses and the importance of preparation for pitch meetings. She introduces her consulting firm, Data-Driven Intuition, which focuses on helping founders navigate product pivots and market fit. Denise also discusses her writing process and the therapeutic benefits of writing, while expressing her admiration for historical figures like Benjamin Franklin.As You Listen:00:00 The Journey to Entrepreneurship03:01 Navigating the Chaos of Scaling6:06 Mastering Pitch Meetings9:12 Data-Driven Intuition: A New Approach12:01 The Writing Process and Its Benefits14:57 Inspiration from Historical Figures"It's not about me.""Be prepared for rejection.""I would love his advice."
In this episode, Brian Balfour (Founder & CEO @ Reforge) deconstructs the two core, interconnected challenges leaders face in the AI age: deciding what to build and evolving the Engineering, Product, Design workflow to deliver it. We cover why you should avoid “the local maxima trap” and siphon off "skunkworks" teams to take high-risk, AI-native bets. Brian provides the blueprint for the "Great Distribution Shift," detailing how to reshape your product from the ground up to avoid being left behind as platforms close, and how to emerge as a winner in the new AI landscape. Plus, learn how to rethink what to build, avoid commoditization, compress product discovery from weeks to hours, scale feature variations & prototypes, evolve products to solve harder classes of problems and shift specialist roles from "inboxes" to system builders. ABOUT BRIAN BALFOURBrian Balfour is the Founder & CEO of Reforge, which provides expert training and tools for AI-native product teams. Previously, he served as VP of Growth at HubSpot, spearheading launches like HubSpot CRM and building the growth team that propelled the company's next chapter. This episode is brought to you by Span!Span is the AI-native developer intelligence platform bringing clarity to engineering organizations with a holistic, human-centered approach to developer productivity.If you want a complete picture of your engineering impact and health, drive high performance, and make smarter business decisions…Go to Span.app to learn more! SHOW NOTES:Brian's reaction to the 5:1 gap between AI coding usage and actual product quality challenges (1:57)Why your system only goes as fast as the slowest part, and how hyper-optimizing engineering moves bottlenecks elsewhere (4:53)The "Local Maxima" trap: Why turning designers and PMs into mediocre developers is a waste of opportunity cost (6:04)Siphoning off "Skunkworks" Teams for AI-Native Innovation (7:53)Moving from exploring two solution paths to ten by simulating "product reps" through AI prototyping (13:24)Reforge's AI-native suite (Build + Research): Scaling prototypes, feature variations and compressing product discovery & validation from weeks to hours (15:43)Case Study: How Captions evolved to solve harder classes of problems, using a creator-tool wedge to fund custom AI emotion-models for the media studio market (19:54)Case Study: How Shopify reframed support agents as multimodal "Business Advisors" to provide outsized value (22:24)Navigating the great distribution shift: Understanding the lifecycle from open platforms to closed ecosystems (25:10)The lifecycle of distribution shifts: Navigating the "Open Phase" growth to "Closed Phase" monetization w/ examples from Facebook, Google, and Apple (29:30)OpenAI, memory & context as moat, and why you need to reshape your product from the ground up to win in this distribution shift (31:16)Strategic de-risking for EPD leaders: Building proprietary moats through memory, context, and specialized workflows (32:51)Optimizing EPD workflows and structures: Separate high-risk "skunkworks" from core product optimization, lean cross-functional teams for faster iteration / decisions, and avoiding too many specialized roles (35:25)Dissolving the "Octagon of Specialists": Shifting researchers and PMMs from "inboxes" to builders of self-serve systems (36:57)The five types of product work and why there is no "one-size-fits-all" system for EPD (41:25)Rapid fire questions (43:25)LINKS AND RESOURCESAbout Reforge: Expert training & AI-powered tools for product teamsReforge Build: The prototyping tool discussed for exploring multiple feature variations without designer constraints.Reforge Research: The AI-interviewer tool used to compress user discovery and validation from weeks to hours.Reforge Insights: The platform that aggregates qualitative customer feedback into a self-serve system for EPD teams.Brian Balfour's Research & FrameworksBrianBalfour.com: Brian's personal blog featuring deep dives into growth and product strategy.The Next Great Distribution Shift: The foundational article explaining the lifecycle of open vs. closed platforms.The Four Fits Framework: A refresher on the system of Product-Market Fit, Product-Channel Fit, Channel-Model Fit, and Model-Market Fit.Reforge Strategic Deep DivesAI Disruption Risk Assessment: A guide for engineering leaders to determine if their product is at risk of being commoditized.Product-Market Fit (PMF) Collapse: How to identify and avoid the risk of your core product losing relevance in the AI era.MentionsInvest Like the Best podcastThis episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
We are multi-million-dollar CEOs specializing in sales and go to market teams in tech. We've met more millionaire sales people than you can count. This is exactly how to explode your income in our favorite career path. We are multi-million-dollar CEOs specializing in sales and go to market teams in tech. We've met more millionaire sales people than you can count. This is exactly how to explode your income in our favorite career path. Thanks for tuning in! Catch new episodes every Sunday Subscribe to Topline Newsletter. Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech. Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast! Chapters: 01:46 Sales Market Trivia: Headcounts and Income Statistics 07:14 CRO Compensation Realities and OTE Attainment 11:36 Can You Make $100k in Your First Year? 15:53 Essential Personality Traits for Top Sales Performance 21:25 The Timeline to Earning $200k and $300k 30:23 Strategies for Earning $1 Million in Sales 33:10 Executive Equity and Valuation Multiples in AI 38:10 Debate: Is OpenAI Too Big to Fail? 44:06 Kyle Poyar Joins: The State of AI Growth 45:17 Why AI Implementations Are Missing Expectations 50:32 Product Market Fit and AI-Driven Disillusionment 01:05:10 The Decline of Seat-Based Pricing Models 01:09:44 Emerging Pricing Models: Credits and Pass-Through Costs 01:17:48 The $500 Billion OpenAI Investment Question
For the holiday break we are resurfacing some of our best episodes so far. Here is the best episode of season 2.Here are the key lessons from the past 60 episodes that we've released to date. Each of the 5 steps to Product Market Fit is based on actual case studies with real examples you can use. It's a recap of everything I've learned over the last two years- you don't want to miss it.Chapters:(00:00:45) Mistakes Are Unavoidable But Avoidable Mistakes Are Unaffordable(00:04:41) 1. Before Startup Mode, There's Research Mode(00:07:16) 2. Only The Insanely Focused Survive(00:10:49) 3. You Have to be IN the Market to WIN the Market(00:14:08) 4. Forget Growth. Find Value.(00:18:05) 5. Pivot Harder & Faster(00:23:50) RecapSend me a message to let me know what you think!
Jennifer went from VC to founder and immediately broke every rule in the book. When she pivoted Scribe from an automation tool to a documentation platform, her investors told her she had just killed the company. She ignored them. Instead of polishing her product, she launched a "janky" offline MVP on Product Hunt to test for real market pull. Scribe is now used by 95% of the Fortune 500. In this episode, Jennifer reveals the brutal truth about ignoring "smart" money, why you should run PLG and Enterprise sales simultaneously from Day 1, and how to tell the difference between pushing a boulder up a hill and chasing one down it.Why You Should ListenWhy you sometimes need to ignore your investors to save your startup.The "Boulder Test": The definitive gut check for knowing if you have true Product-Market Fit.How to validate a massive opportunity with zero marketing budget.Why the conventional wisdom about choosing between PLG and Enterprise Sales is wrong.How to turn executive hiring interviews into free mentorship sessions.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, PLG strategies, MVP testing, enterprise sales, go to market strategy, early stage growth, finding pmf, founder stories00:00:00 Intro 00:02:21 1,200 Customer Interviews as a VC 00:22:07 How to Hire for Excellence 00:30:18 The Pivot from Automation to Documentation 00:39:17 Launching a "Janky" MVP on Product Hunt 00:49:09 The Boulder Test for Product-Market Fit 00:52:50 Doing PLG and Enterprise Sales Simultaneously 01:03:12 Ignoring Investors to Save the CompanySend me a message to let me know what you think!
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
While the bike helmet industry screamed "you need this for safety!", Gloria Hwang did the opposite. She made helmets so beautiful that 25% of Thousand customers are wearing helmets for the first time ever. Thousand now offers helmet and bike accessories in 20+ countries with financial backing from REI and the Clif Bar Family Office. Gloria talks all things customer loyalty, business branding, and nailing your product roadmap for maximum impact. She intimately shares how a personal tragedy inspired a mission to save 1,000 lives, and how that number grew to 1,300+ through their lifetime crash replacement guarantee. You'll learn the counterintuitive strategy that made safety cool, and why Thousand wins with culture instead of competing on tech features. You'll learn: Why fear-based marketing fails and what works insteadThe psychology insight that built a $10M+ brand across 20+ countriesHow 25% of customers are first-time helmet wearersTransitioning from maker to manager over 10 yearsTaking back the product roadmap to return to core differentiationWhy solving customer problems beats chasing growth at all costsChapters:00:00 Introducing Gloria Hwang, Founder & CEO of Thousand1:30 How to Change Customer Behaviors 4:11 The Personal Tragedy That Started Thousand & The Design Philosophy That Wins Every Time5:15 Why 25% of Customers Are First-Time Helmet Wearers7:30 Steps to Get Further Differentiated & Beat Out The Competition 9:55 Strategies for Collecting High-Quality Customer Insights 16:00 Expanding to 20+ Countries & Quality Standards19:50 The BEST Advice Gloria Has Ever Gotten 24:30 The Hardest Transition Gloria Went Through & How to Tackle People Problems 29:20 What to Ask for When Pitching Investors (Surprise, it's NOT Money) 32:48 How Motherhood Changed Her Approach to Business Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
David Schreiber, ehemals Stripe & Trade Republic, heute Gründer von Duna, spricht über die Kunst der Produktentwicklung. Er teilt, warum europäische und amerikanische Produktphilosophien unterschiedlich sind, wie man zwischen Vision und Pragmatismus balanciert und warum Europa der ideale Standort für komplexe B2B-Infrastruktur ist. Was du lernst: Produktphilosophie Unterschiede zwischen B2C und B2B US vs. EU Denkweisen Vision vs. Pragmatismus Go-to-Market Co-Development als Strategie Die richtigen ersten Kunden Warum Vertrauen entscheidend ist Pricing & Value Business Case basiertes Pricing Success-Based Modelle Wie man NRR richtig denkt Product Market Fit Segmentierung & Geografie Von "Gut genug" zu "Magic" Warum PMF mehrdimensional ist Alles zu Unicorn Bakery: https://stan.store/fabiantausch Mehr zum Gast: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ds-berlin/ Website: https://duna.com/ Join our Founder Tactics Newsletter: 2x die Woche bekommst du die Taktiken der besten Gründer der Welt direkt ins Postfach: https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/ Kapitel: (00:00:00) Intro: Produktentwicklung in der KI-Ära (00:02:12) Was macht ein richtig gutes B2B-Produkt aus? (00:04:44) US vs. Europa: Unterschiedliche Produktphilosophien (00:08:23) Von der Vision zur Realität: Der richtige Ansatz (00:12:59) Wie KI die Produktentwicklung fundamental verändert (00:17:12) Der Burggraben-Mythos: Wie baut man heute Wettbewerbsvorteile? (00:38:09) Dune: Von der Idee zur Identitäts-Infrastruktur (00:49:14) Die ersten Kunden: Zwischen Weihnachten und Launch (00:59:24) Co-Development als Go-to-Market Strategie (01:04:43) Pricing-Philosophie: ROI statt versteckte Gebühren (01:18:32) Product-Market Fit ist nicht binär (01:21:23) Die nächsten 3 Jahre: Vom Produkt zum Netzwerk (01:24:45) Warum Europa der richtige Ort für bestimmte Businesses ist
How do you know when a company is ready to go public? And what do you do to prepare for this? Chirag Shah, CFO of Motive and former CFO of Kong and Cornerstone OnDemand, joins CJ to share insights from his experience of scaling businesses from $30 million to nearly $1 billion and tripling ARR. He talks about taking companies public and how he helped take one private again in a $5.2 billion deal. In this episode, he explains what signals indicate that a company is ready to accelerate its growth, the art and science of building sales capacity, and how to balance efficiency and growth in hypergrowth mode. He also covers how to achieve a great valuation without a strong performance, the biggest headache on the road to IPO, and whether you should IPO in the first place or remain private.—SPONSORS:Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.comRightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo.Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more.Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runFidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off.Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—Chirag Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirag-shah-787b1b20/Motive: https://gomotive.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:From $30M to Almost $1B: A Guide to Hypergrowth, IPO Prep, and Navigating the Public Markethttps://youtu.be/_pJfdN5p-ik—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:57 Sponsors – Mercury | RightRev | Tipalti00:06:49 Motiv CFO Intro & Company Background00:07:01 Product Market Fit as a CFO00:09:26 Lessons From Taking Companies Public00:11:04 Preparing for Life as a Public Company00:11:26 Moving From Finance Into a GM Role00:12:50 Learning the Business Beyond Finance00:14:23 Empathy for Sales & Carrying a Quota00:15:51 Sponsors – Aleph | Fidelity Private Shares | Metronome00:19:03 Asking Better Questions After Operating Experience00:21:23 Knowing When to Accelerate Growth00:23:16 High-ROI Capacity Signals00:24:51 Scaling Requires Supporting Functions00:26:19 The Art + Science of Adding Reps00:27:53 Sales Team Buy-In Before Scaling00:29:15 Reading Product-Market Fit Through Sales00:30:08 Where Scaling Breaks First (Enablement)00:31:36 Importance of SE / SC Ratios00:33:13 Timing Supporting Hires00:34:32 Maintaining Momentum While Scaling00:36:33 Longest Pole in IPO Prep: Predictability00:38:47 Building Confidence Through Consistency00:40:45 Large Deals Swing Small Companies00:42:41 Growth Still Drives Quarterly Volatility00:44:43 Investor Education as a Core IPO Task00:46:00 Harder to Make Big Changes Publicly00:47:39 Managing Morale in Volatile Markets00:48:33 Taking Cornerstone Private00:52:32 Advice: Know Why You Want to Go Public00:56:18 Efficiency Without Sacrificing Growth01:00:58 Operating Roles Prepared Him for CFO01:06:23 Finance Software Stack Overview#RunTheNumbersPodcast #Hypergrowth #IPOreadiness #CFOInsights #MostlyClassics This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com
Doppelt so schnell zu sein bringt dir nichts, wenn du in die falsche Richtung läufst. Viele Founder tappen in die "Productivity Trap": Sie optimieren ihren Output, haben aber keine Klarheit über ihr eigentliches Ziel. Mike teilt seine Learnings aus 10 Jahren radikaler Exploration – warum er Robotik und Mathe studiert hat, um am Ende doch Unternehmer zu werden, und wie du systematisch herausfindest, was du wirklich willst. Du erfährst, wie du das "Ikigai"-Modell taktisch für dein Startup nutzt , warum du beim Validieren deiner Idee niemals deine Mutter fragen solltest und mit welchen 4 Instrumenten du echten Product-Market-Fit findest, statt nur Annahmen zu treffen. Was du lernst: - Speed vs. Direction: Warum die Richtung wichtiger ist als die Geschwindigkeit und wie du verhinderst, effizient das Falsche zu tun. - Ikigai für Founder: Wie du Purpose, Profit, Talent und Marktbedürfnisse vereinst. - Identität ist theatralisch: Warum dein Selbstbild oft falsch ist und du dich jederzeit neu erfinden kannst. - Validation Framework: Die 4 konkreten Instrumente (Desk Research, Observation, Immersion, Interviews), um echte Probleme zu identifizieren. ALLES ZU UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery Mehr zu Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldippold/ Website: https://www.ewor.com/ Mehr zu Co-Host Mike: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemahlkow/ Website: https://fastgen.com/ Join our Founder Tactics Newsletter: 2x die Woche bekommst du die Taktiken der besten Gründer der Welt direkt ins Postfach: https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/ Kapitel: (00:00) Intro: Warum Founder-Produktivität allein nicht reicht (01:04) Die Alice im Wunderland Analogie: Richtung schlägt Speed (02:18) Das Ikigai-Modell: Wie finde ich meinen Purpose? (06:49) Exploration vs. Exploitation: Mikes 10 Jahre "Trial & Error" (11:40) Negative Selektion: Warum es hilft zu wissen, was du nicht willst (14:40) Hyper Focus & Hyper Delegation: Wie man sich Zeit freischaufelt (16:22) "Es gibt keinen Spiegel für die Seele": Warum du externes Feedback brauchst (23:30) Identität als Entscheidung: Du spielst nur eine Rolle (28:33) Problem First vs. Tech First: Wie startet man ein Unicorn? (30:22) Warum der TAM (Total Addressable Market) oft irreführend ist (36:53) Das Luck-Skill-Continuum: Warum PMF am Anfang oft Glückssache ist (40:00) Das Framework zur Ideen-Validierung: Desk Research, Observation, Immersion & Interviews (41:30) Buchempfehlung: "The Mom Test" – Wie man richtig Fragen stellt (43:25) Start Specific: Warum du spezifisch starten musst, um groß zu pivoten
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Download Gary's 13 Keys to Creating a Multi-Million Dollar Business from https://www.DitchDiggerCEO.com/Tim Stojka (@TimStojka) is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and board leader who has spent three decades building technology companies from the ground up. From programming an Apple II in his parents' basement to founding three major SaaS firms — including one that raised $40 million during the dot-com boom — Tim has lived the full arc of innovation, hype cycles, and hard-earned product-market fit. His latest chapter: applying AI and language models to reshape enterprise software through his new venture, Nexus Three Capital.In this conversation with Gary Rabine, Tim breaks down the real mechanics behind creating, scaling, and surviving as a founder — from vitamins vs. painkillers, to why most tech is overhyped early and under-hyped later, to how AI will transform the next decade of entrepreneurship.In this episode, Gary and Tim discuss:Product-Market Fit: why vitamins lose money and painkillers scaleHow a failed stuffed-animal startup taught him everything about inventory and demandThe dot-com rollercoaster: raising $40M, preparing for a $1B IPO, then crashing to zeroWhy founders should go slow now to go fast laterLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timjstojka/ Website: https://nexus3capital.com/ Connect with Gary Rabine and DDCEO on: Website: https://www.DitchDiggerCEO.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DitchDiggerCEOTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ditchdiggerceopodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DitchDiggerCEOTwitter: https://twitter.com/DitchDiggerCEO YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ditchdiggerceo
Brian Balfour, Founder & CEO of Reforge and former VP of Growth at HubSpot, joins Mostly Growth to explore why product-market fit is a moving target. He introduces the concept of the Product-Market Fit Treadmill, a state where rising customer expectations and competitive pressure make it harder than ever to stay ahead. Brian breaks down how AI has accelerated PMF collapse, explains the hidden costs of product adoption, and shares how Reforge shipped five AI-native products with a team of just 20 people. Packed with frameworks, strategic insight, and startup realism, this episode is essential listening for product leaders, operators, and founders navigating the next wave of GTM.—SPONSORS:Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—LINKS:Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/Brian Balfour: brianbalfour.comBrian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-frameworkhttps://x.com/amasad/status/1981201454032703662?s=46https://getlatka.com/companies/firefliesaihttps://x.com/rowancheung/status/1988218743952916537?https://gamma.app/insights/how-we-built-a-usd100m-business-differently—RELATED EPISODES:When the marketing math doesn't math | with Emily Kramerhttps://youtu.be/sSuoV_YSrlwWhy Founders Are Posting Sad Dinnershttps://youtu.be/Zl6NSIHF2Gk—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:01:51 Sponsors – Pulley, Metronome00:04:11 Introducing Brian Balfour & Reforge background00:07:22 Evergreen frameworks & Four Fits resurgence00:11:01 PMF treadmill and rising expectations00:14:26 AI shocks and PMF collapse (Chegg)00:16:43 CRM expectations & AI-native workflows00:20:44 R&D as ongoing cost to serve00:22:26 Customers buying based on future product velocity00:24:32 Communicating rapid releases & driving adoption00:25:17 Reforge's expanding AI product suite00:27:52 Product delivery vs. product adoption bottlenecks00:29:32 Platform distribution shifts introduction00:30:51 Evaluating emerging platforms00:32:04 The open → close platform cycle00:33:31 Moats, escape velocity & platform dominance00:36:32 Choosing major vs. emerging platforms00:40:22 ChatGPT dominance in AI discovery00:42:16 Hiring, resumes & filtering AI-generated applications00:43:30 AI note-taking market & “Flintstoning”00:47:03 Trying Gamma & AI-generated presentation tools00:50:08 AI onboarding innovations (WhatsApp agent)#MostlyGrowthPodcast #ProductMarketFit #BrianBalfour #StartupStrategy #Reforge This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com
What does product-market fit really look like? In this episode, I share the raw, unfiltered story of how we spent two years building the wrong product, the painful lessons we learned, and how we finally found true product-market fit with Rella. You'll hear about the metrics that fooled us, the pivots that saved us, and the real signals that your product is actually working. If you're a founder, creator, or just curious about the startup journey, this episode is for you. Timestamps and chapters below! 00:00 – What is Product-Market Fit, Really? 02:34 – The Early Days: Rella 1.0 and False Signals 06:26 – The Slack & Figma Stories: Real Product-Market Fit 10:20 – Vanity Metrics That Fooled Us 14:21 – The Pivot: Rebuilding from Scratch 18:07 – How to Know When to Pivot vs. Persevere 21:00 – Metrics That Actually Matter 23:41 – What to Do After You Find Product-Market Fit 25:38 – Final Thoughts & Where to Find Me Subscribe for more honest founder stories and business growth tips. Subscribe to my Substack: https://thegrowthlist.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of Talk Commerce, Mo ElHawary, a DTC creative strategist, shares insights into his role and the importance of understanding customer personas. He discusses the Five Whys model as a tool for uncovering deeper customer motivations and provides advice for new DTC brands on product development. As the holiday season approaches, Mo emphasizes the need for brands to focus on what is already working while also testing new concepts. He concludes with a recommendation to learn from successful brands like Huel.TakeawaysMo ElHawary has over seven years of experience as a creative strategist.Understanding customer personas is crucial for effective marketing.The Five Whys model helps uncover deeper customer motivations.Brands should focus on existing successful products during the holiday season.Testing new concepts should not consume too much time or resources.It's important for brand founders to solve problems they personally face.Successful marketing requires a deep understanding of customer needs.The holiday season is a critical time for brands to maximize sales.Early promotions can attract customers looking for deals.Learning from successful brands can provide valuable insights.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Mo ElHawary and His Role02:49 Understanding the Creative Strategy Process05:41 The 5 Whys: A Deep Dive into Customer Insights08:38 Creating Customer Personas for DTC Brands11:33 Advice for Brands During Holiday Seasons14:15 Promoting Brands and Personal Insights
Watch the full video on YouTube here.Are you a law firm owner looking to understand the importance of connection? In this episode of the Maximum Lawyer Podcast, Tyson interviews Sam, an entrepreneur and leader of Nashville's Entrepreneur Center. Sam shares his unconventional journey from studying history to hotel management, nonprofit work, and founding multiple businesses. He emphasizes the importance of hospitality, community, and authentic relationships in business, drawing lessons from both corporate and local experiences. Sam talks about how important community and connection is to success. For him, success is directly related to the depth of the community. People just want a place to belong and it is crucial for businesses to thrive when they have other people or other businesses supporting them. Whether it's through networking or partnerships, building connections and maintaining a community of support will make or break success. Sam provides some advice to listeners about building better client relationships. One way is getting to know other client businesses. Once you get to know other clients, their business and what is important to them, you are able to understand them and their work, which can help build trust. Relatability is important in the legal space and it can really help build that bridge between clients and can create great relationships over time.Listen in to learn more!5:19 Lessons from Hospitality9:06 Community and Belonging in Business12:20 Corporate vs. Local Business Culture16:52 Consistency and Service in Hospitality17:38 Practical Tips for Client Communication25:11 Building Community: Safety, Growth, and Meaning26:46 Rituals for Team and Customer Bonding45:28 Product-Market Fit and Customer Discovery51:06 Bad Business Advice to Avoid53:37 Finding and Working with Co-Founders57:33 First Hires and Building a Team 1:02:02 Best Advice for New Law Firm OwnersTune in to today's episode and checkout the full show notes here. Connect with Sam:Website Linkedin
Register for Founder University Japan's kickoff! https://luma.com/cm0x90mkToday's show:*On TWiST, Jason welcomes an all-star VC panel — Deedy Das of Menlo Partners and Jay Eum of GFT Ventures — for a deep dive into the shocking scale of early-stage AI raises, a transitional moment for investors, the growing importance of the “prosumer” market, ChatGPT's insane smile curves, and much much more.IN THIS EPISODEWhat the panelists make of Roelof Botha's exit from Sequoia… and is he really going anywhere…Why Jason says VC is no longer the best way to get rich…Why so many private companies are growing SO HUGE before going public…And much more!Timestamps:(00:03:37) Jason is fresh from surviving Riyadh traffic but he's here and introducing our all star panel(00:04:03) Why Jason compares Riyadh to Silicon Valley in the 1960s(00:05:21) Friend of the Pod Roelof Botha is stepping down at Sequoia… our insiders try to guess what might have happened…(10:00) Crusoe - Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit crusoe.ai/startup to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.(00:13:11) Deedy moved up at Menlo without being a venture native… he shares the secrets behind his rise.(00:19:09) Was Roelof wrong about “return-free risk”? Does more capital always = more great companies?(20:00) Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!(00:26:54) With so many private companies growing SO HUGE… when is the right time to go public? Considering the case of Glean and Stripe…(30:00) AWS Marketplace - If you're ready to really accelerate your sales cycle, AWS Marketplace is your next stop. Head to https://aws.com/startups to learn more.(00:30:07) Why Jason says venture capital is no longer the best way to get rich(00:32:34) Why AI apps are so appealing to enterprises after years of paying for SaaS(00:36:32) The growing importance of “prosumers”(00:37:31) Why Deedy says a smile curve is the most beautiful depiction of “Product Market Fit”(00:44:36) Why it's still tough to raise pre-seed money, even during an AI “boom”!(00:46:08) Why Jason says the hardest job in the tech ecosystem is being an investor(00:55:52) “Time is one of the primary drivers of venture capital return.” - Jay Eun(00:57:42) Deedy on the shocking amounts being raised by early-stage AI companies(01:00:21) Just how much DO VCs work compared to founders? The panel compares notes.(01:02:53) Are some investors not doing diligence? Deedy on the speed of some AI deals.(01:16:51) The panel picks their fav portfolio company of the moment (or one of their faves)Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comFollow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelmFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisThank you to our partners:Crusoe - Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit crusoe.ai/startup to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visitAWS Marketplace - If you're ready to really accelerate your sales cycle, AWS Marketplace is your next stop. Head to https://aws.com/startups to learn more.Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanisFollow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.comSubscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916
In this episode, Alisa Cohn interviews Isaac Evans, co-founder and CEO of Semgrep, a startup giving security tools directly to developers. Isaac shares his journey from conducting research at the U.S. Defense Department and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he explored binary exploitation bypasses, control-flow integrity, and novel hardware defenses on architectures like RISC-V, to founding and leading a fast-growing company at the forefront of developer security. A graduate of MIT with BS and MS degrees in EECS, Isaac also brings a deep curiosity for next-generation programming languages, secure-by-design frameworks, and the intersection of cryptography and public policy.Together, Alisa and Isaac dive into the realities of startup leadership, the evolution of Semgrep's business model, the value of feedback, and the transition from founder to CEO. Isaac offers candid insights on managing a growing team, navigating change, and staying grounded through self-awareness. The conversation also explores how AI is reshaping software development, concluding with advice and reflections for aspiring founders building companies in today's fast-moving world.Where to find Isaac:SemgrepXLinkedInTimestamps:(00:00) Introduction to Deep Conversations(01:55) Exploring Love Languages in Relationships(06:00) The Founding Insight of Semgrep(10:06) Navigating Early Startup Challenges(13:45) The Evolution of Semgrep's Business Model(17:53) Handling Community Feedback and Criticism(21:54) Crisis Management and Personal Growth(25:46) The Importance of Feedback Culture(33:20) Embracing Feedback as a Gift(35:45) Shifting Leadership Styles(38:32) The A-Plus Responsibilities of a CEO(42:34) Navigating the Founder to CEO Transition(46:46) Learning Through Experience(50:32) The Challenge of Team Dynamics(54:31) The Future of AI and Security(59:28) Imposter Syndrome and Self-Awareness(01:03) 15 Advice for Aspiring FoundersConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon
Today's show:Jason's been skeptical on Apple lately, but he's BLOWN AWAY by his new iPhone Air.Hear why JCal thinks Cupertino's latest release is “completely inspiring,” and why he's sure it's the next step on the road to Apple Glasses.We're chatting with LAUNCH founder Zach Handshoe of spacial video startup SpatialGen about designing products for Cupertino AND the intense pressure of performing a Steve Jobs-level keynote.PLUS Raiza Martin of Huxe stops by to tell us why they're using audio to make AI assistants more personalized AND proactive, and how they're already getting noticed in an increasingly crowded App Store.AND we've got another Gamma Pitch Competition entrant! Chess Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli presents his expert-focused app, ChessEver.Timestamps:(2:05) Friend of the pod @ZacharyHandshoe stops by to talk about supporting Apple Immersive Video (and staying up during the AWS outage)(9:37) Enterpret - Turn feedback noise into Customer Intelligence, so your team knows exactly what to fix and build next. Head to Enterpret.com/twist to book a demo and see it in action.(15:55) The iPhone Air can already shoot spatial video! Just part of why Jason calls it a “completely inspiring” product.(21:25) Crusoe Cloud - Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit crusoe.ai/startup to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.(24:30) Jason offers viewers a peek inside LAUNCH's Whisper Network(32:09) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist(33:10) Huxe co-founder (and NotebookLM vet) Raiza Martin wants to make your AI assistant more personalized and proactive.(37:14) Why Raiza and her team went with an audio-forward interface instead of a chatbot.(43:25) How Huxe is getting noticed in the App Store as a brand new arrival.(50:25) The big LLMs still aren't great at writing engaging content for humans, so Huxe is doing it themselves.(52:41) Chess Grandmaster Vasif Durarbayli from ChessEver joins us for his Gamma pitch!(54:26) Why Vasif is focusing on very serious players FIRST before appealing to more casual chess fans(1:05:28) Jason thinks ChessEver is at the moment of “triangulation” in their journey to finding Product Market Fit… what do Grandmasters really want?Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Lon:X: https://x.com/lonsFollow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelmFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisThank you to our partners:Enterpret - Turn feedback noise into Customer Intelligence, so your team knows exactly what to fix and build next. Head to Enterpret.com/twist to book a demo and see it in action.Crusoe Cloud - Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit crusoe.ai/startup to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twistGreat TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarlandCheck out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanisFollow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.comSubscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916
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