He exited to Snap for $166M— built an AI video startup, then raised $50M. | Alex Mashrabov, Founder of Higgsfield AI
Alex built the original Snapchat filters-- and sold his company to Snap for $166M. Then he left to start Higgsfield. The company just raised a $50M Series A to help brands create AI-generated video ads at scale. We go deep on why he thinks Adobe is in trouble, how top advertisers are already producing 10,000+ ad creatives a year, and why the companies winning in AI video aren't building foundation models.Why You Should ListenWhy consumer AI apps are a trap (and what to build instead)How to drive early growthThe economics of AI-generated videoHow to know when to pivot away from traction that has no long termKeywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, AI video generation, generative AI startup, social media marketing AI, B2B SaaS growth, founder pivot, AI startup fundraising, creator marketing, product market fit00:00:00 Intro00:06:29 Selling to Snap and Working With Evan Spiegel for Four Years00:08:28 The Origin Story of HiggsField00:17:47 The Real Use Cases for GenAI Video Today00:27:26 The First Product and Why They Pivoted Away From Consumer00:29:08 The $10 Billion Short Form Drama Market Nobody Talks About00:33:26 Going All In on Social Media Advertising00:41:16 When He Knew He Had Product Market FitRetrySend me a message to let me know what you think!
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How his AI-first services company grew $0 to $40M ARR in one year. | Eric Foster, Founder of Tenex
Eric spent 30 years in cybersecurity. Built and sold an MSSP to private equity for hundreds of millions. Then he started Tenex and hit $43 million in revenue in ONE YEAR. This isn't theory. This is a founder who's done it multiple times breaking down exactly how AI-native companies are about to eat every services industry alive. If you're building anything that touches AI, services, or enterprise sales, this is the episode.Why You Should ListenWhy selling outcomes beats selling products every timeHow to close enterprise deals in 60 days instead of 12 monthsThe difference between AI-native and AI-bolted-on companiesWhy founder-led sales is non-negotiable in the early daysHow to build for IPO from day one without slowing downKeywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, AI startup growth, founder-led sales, zero to one startup, enterprise sales strategy, AI native company, managed services startup, cybersecurity startup, product market fit00:00:00 Intro00:10:29 Selling His Last Company for $100Ms00:15:10 The Origin Story of TENEX00:36:47 How They Hit $43M ARR in Year One00:43:27 The 30 Second Demo That Closes Enterprise Deals00:47:10 Why Selling Outcomes Beats Selling Products00:51:29 The Mechanics of Going From Zero to $40M ARR01:01:09 Go to Market and Founder Led Sales01:05:32 When He Knew He Had Product Market FitRetrySend me a message to let me know what you think!
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Q3 2025 w/Carta: What you need to raise a Series A. | Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta
Carta's Peter Walker is back with the freshest data on what's actually happening at the early stage—and it's not what you're reading on X. While headlines scream about record-breaking rounds, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Seed deals are down. Time between rounds is stretching. And there's a brutal divide between the companies getting all the attention and everyone else. We dig into the exact valuations, graduation rates, team sizes and revenue you need for Seed and Series A... plus why the lowest-quartile seed rounds are failing at twice the rate. If you're raising or planning to raise, this is the episode.Why You Should ListenThe round size that cuts your Series A odds in halfWhy smaller teams are winning (and what that means for your hiring plan)The real median valuations at pre-seed, seed, and Series A right nowHow long it actually takes to get from seed to Series A in 2024When taking secondary as a founder makes sense (and when it doesn't)Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, seed round valuation, Series A fundraising, startup fundraising data, venture capital trends, pre-seed funding, startup metrics, founder secondary, seed to Series AChapters:00:00:00 Intro 00:02:46 Seed Valuations and Who Actually Graduates to Series A 00:06:58 What Founders Outside the Hot Cohort Should Do 00:11:44 Team Sizes Are Shrinking and Employees Are Getting Less 00:17:40 Crowded Categories and Competing with Foundation Models 00:24:47 Founders Starting Companies for the Wrong Reasons 00:33:32 When Founder Secondaries Make Sense 00:39:55 The Actual Median Valuations at Pre-Seed Seed and Series ASend me a message to let me know what you think!
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He added AI to parking lots—then raised $3.5B. | Alex Israel, Founder of Metropolis
Alex and his co-founders spent 2018 pitching parking lot owners on computer vision tech. Every meeting ended the same way: "Cute startup, come back in 30 years." So they did something else—they bought the parking operators and implemented the AI themselves. VCs called them delusional. But today, Metropolis has 20 million members and adds 1 million new members every month. Every 1-2 seconds someone signs up.Alex's biggest lesson? When enterprise customers won't adopt your tech, don't convince them—buy them. Sometimes the only way to disrupt an industry is to become the industry. Why You Should Listen:The "growth buyout" playbook—buy old companies to force your tech Why adding friction made their product better The counter-intuitive metric: success = less time users spend in your productWhy VCs said "absolutely not" to their best strategic moveKeywords:startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Metropolis, Alex Israel, computer vision, growth buyout, parking technology, M&A strategy, enterprise sales, B2B SaaS00:00:00 Intro00:03:05 Seeing the parking opportunity00:06:37 The original vision00:12:33 Raising $7.5M and leasing the first two parking lots00:16:04 First customer transaction00:22:58 The growth buyout strategy00:27:54 Acquiring SP Plus with 23,000 employees00:34:32 Building beyond parkingSend me a message to let me know what you think!
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He left a $2B ARR company to build AI agents—then hit $1M ARR in < 6 months | Amit Shah, Founder of Instalily
Amit walked away from being President of 1-800-Flowers after scaling it from $500M to $2B because he saw smart people trapped in dumb systems. His insight: half of global GDP is 90% manual work—salespeople entering data instead of selling, technicians reading manuals instead of fixing. He started Instalily in Spring 2023 when everyone said AI agents were impossible. Instead of replacing workers, he built AI that finds signals in noise—telling each salesperson exactly which deal to focus on right now. The results are insane: $1M ARR within months, tripling revenue year two, delivering $150M+ value to single customers. His secret? While competitors pitched flashy demos, Amit's team attended 100+ trade shows to understand actual operator pain. They hired fresh AI grads who "shipped fearlessly" instead of senior talent stuck in old paradigms.Why You Should Listen:How "operator market fit" beats product market fit for enterprise salesThe GTM playbook that hit $1M ARR in months by attending 100+ trade showsWhy hiring AI-native grads crushed hiring senior talent for AI productsHow focusing on time-to-value unlocked enterprise dealsThe counterintuitive approach: augment the best parts of jobs, not the worstKeywords:startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Instalily, Amit Shah, AI agents, enterprise sales, operator market fit, B2B SaaS, AI automation, vertical SaaS00:00:00 Intro00:04:42 Leaving 1-800-Flowers00:09:55 Starting when everyone said AI agents were impossible00:11:51 The vision—amplify the best parts of work, not replace the worst00:16:59 Operator market fit over product market fit00:20:48 Landing first $2B enterprise customers 00:29:00 The 100+ trade show GTM strategy that actually worked00:33:02 Why they hired AI-native grads instead of senior talent00:34:51 Hitting $1M ARR in monthsRetrySend me a message to let me know what you think!
About A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders
Every founder has 1 goal: find product-market fit. We interview the world's most successful startup founders on the 0 to 1 part of their journeys. We've had the founders of Reddit, Gusto, Rappi, Glean, Cohere, Huntress, ID.me and many more. We go deep with entrepreneurs & VCs to provide detailed examples you can steal. Our goal is to understand product-market fit better than anyone on the planet. Rated one of the world's top startup podcasts.
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