A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

The startup game has completely changed. If you are still building with the 2018-2022 B2B SaaS playbook, you are already behind. In this episode, we break down exactly how the GenAI shift has altered value creation, competition, and business models forever. This isn’t just about adding AI to your product—it’s about rethinking your entire reason to exist. If you want to know where the massive, uncrowded opportunities are right now (and why Service-as-Software is the next gold rush), this is your blueprint.Why You Should ListenWhy "incremental value" startups are no longer fundable.The 3 new threats killing your "time-to-market" moat.Why the B2B SaaS playbook is dead and what’s replacing it.The massive "Service-as-Software" opportunity most founders are missing.Moving beyond "per seat" pricing: The new revenue models winning today.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, GenAI startups, product market fit, service as software, B2B SaaS, AI business models, startup competition, seed stage, founder advice00:00:00 Intro 00:01:57 Pre-Gen AI vs Post-Gen AI Eras 00:03:23 The Trap of Incremental Value Props 00:06:58 Gen AI Unlocks Undeniable Value 00:08:50 The New Triple Threat Competition 00:11:50 Why Time in Market Is Dead 00:13:14 Cycle Speed Is the Only Moat Left00:15:00 Rethinking B2B SaaS Business Models 00:16:45 The Service as Software OpportunitySend me a message to let me know what you think!

For the holiday break we are resurfacing some of our best episodes so far. Here is the best episode of season 3.Kyle left his job as a hacker at the NSA to launch Huntress. He bootstrapped for 3 years and burned all his savings. One of his co-founders quit. He got into an accelerator program, but had to sleep in his car for 16 weeks because he couldn't afford a hotel.Finally, 3 years in he'd hit $1.5M ARR. So he pitched 60 VCs for a Series A—and got 60 'no's. He was forced to raise a small, $1M inside round. But then things changed:2018: $1.5M ARR2019: $5M ARR2020: $10M ARR2021: $20M ARR2022: $40M ARR2023: $70M ARR2024: $100M+ ARRHuntress is valued at $2B.The investors who backed his $1M bridge are up 140x. Now every VC wants to invest—and Kyle's the one saying 'no'.Why you should listen: How to know whether you should keep going or quit.What it takes to get through the first few years at a bootstrapped startup.Why revenue expansion is a huge lever for fast-growth (Huntress has 140% net revenue retention).How starting a startup can impact your personal life and relationships.How to work with partners to sell to long tail SMB customers.Keywordsentrepreneurship, cybersecurity, product market fit, startup journey, military experience, SMB market, funding challenges, automation, human expertise, business growthTimestamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:2:01) Working at the NSA(00:6:14) A big win in counter cyber terrorism(00:10:00) What gave way to Huntress(00:14:22) Pitching to a startup accelerator(00:16:29) Adopting curiosity(00:21:04) Getting ahead of cyber criminals(00:26:00) Starting to grow(00:32:50) Cult or conviction(00:35:00) It takes grit(00:39:50) Learning from people's lessons(00:42:20) Cockroaches and underdogs(00:46:10) Three strikes, I'm out(00:52:56) Having a military background(00:56:17) One piece of adviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!

They were building a Segment competitor. It was working—customers were paying. But every sales call, prospects kept asking about the backend tech instead of the product. So they killed the roadmap and pivoted. It took them 18 months to hit $1M ARR. Then they started growing. And so far, they've raised $350M. Viraj walks through exactly how he validated the pivot, landed the first 10 customers, and why being outside Silicon Valley forced him to show more traction than everyone else.Why You Should ListenHow to know when your side feature is actually your real productThe exact question to ask prospects to validate willingness to payWhy getting to $1M ARR slowly can set you up to scale fasterHow to compete when you're not based in Silicon ValleyWhat talking to your first customer 4x a day for 2 months teaches youKeywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, open source startup, B2B SaaS growth, pivot strategy, developer tools startup, finding product market fit, early stage fundraising, design partners, commercial open source00:00:00 Intro00:01:46 Getting caught at the Coldplay concert00:14:29 Deciding to Pivot From a Working Product to Something New00:17:27 Building a Business Around Open Source Technology00:19:38 Selling Before You Build00:27:37 Talking to the First Customer Four Times a Day00:30:51 Landing the First Ten Customers00:35:10 Fundraising Without Silicon Valley Pedigree00:38:48 When He Knew He Had Product Market FitRetrySend me a message to let me know what you think!

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!

David had a consumer app with 50,000 users and viral traction—and he shut it down. The retention metrics weren't as good as what he'd seen at Snapchat.That difficult decision cleared the path for Juicebox, AI for recruiting that grew to $10M ARR in 2 years. In this episode, David reveals how he pivoted to AI recruiting, generated millions of views with a simple LinkedIn demo, and ground through months of brutal churn to unlock 10x growth. If you want to know how to execute a flawless PLG strategy, run a hyper-lean team, and secure a $30M Series A from Sequoia, this is the blueprint.Why You Should ListenWhy you should kill some products even if they're going viral.How to launch a B2B product with zero budget.The "manual" playbook for fixing high churn.Why you should keep your team under 25 people even after raising millions.How to land an inbound term sheet from Sequoia.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, PLG strategy, viral marketing, pivoting, AI recruiting, Series A fundraising, Sequoia Capital00:00:00 Intro00:03:15 Learning Growth at Snap00:13:01 Killing a Viral App with 50k Users00:20:34 The 90 Second LinkedIn Video That Launched Juicebox00:26:21 Fixing High Churn with Manual Work00:33:04 Why B2B Products Only Need to be Marginally Better00:42:27 Scaling to $10M ARR with Founder Led Sales00:47:40 Raising a $30M Series A from Sequoia00:50:12 The Moment of True Product Market FitSend me a message to let me know what you think!