A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Jake founded Serval in April 2024— by Dec 2025 he'd raised a $75M Series B from Sequoia at a $1B valuation.He didn't look for a "wedge" or a "niche." He looked at ServiceNow—a $160B, 20+ year-old incumbent that everyone IT team relies on—and rebuilt it from the ground up in a YEAR. In this episode, Jake reveals the audacity behind building a full-platform replacement from Day 1, why he spent months building in the dark with zero revenue, and how he achieved a 50% demo-to-close rate on six-figure enterprise deals.Why You Should ListenHow to go from incorporation to a $1B valuation in just 18 months.The psychological shift in sales calls that proves PMF.How to build a demo so compelling that 50% buy on the spot.Why you no longer need to find a small wedge to win post Gen AI.The specific question that stops customers from giving you generic feedback.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, hypergrowth, zero to one, unicorn startup, Sequoia Capital, replacing legacy software, enterprise sales strategy, ServiceNow competitor, Jake Stauch00:00:00 Intro00:03:25 Why "Hair on Fire" Problems Matter00:06:58 Learning What Winning Feels Like at Verkada00:14:05 100+ Customer Discovery Calls00:18:12 The One Question That Unlocks Real Pain00:23:48 Why No-Code Workflows Fail00:28:45 Taking Risks on AI Model Improvements00:35:49 From $0 to Six-Figure ACVs in 6 Months00:39:00 The Strategy to Rip and Replace ServiceNow00:47:30 The "Rounding Up" Signal of PMFSend me a message to let me know what you think!

Siqi was the CEO of a hot startup doing $20M a year. Then COVID hit. Overnight, revenue went to zero. He had to lay off 95% of his staff. In the chaos of trying to save the company using broken spreadsheets, he found his next big idea: Runway.But the path wasn't a straight line. Siqi spent four years building the product before fully launching. In this episode, he breaks down why product taste matters more than A/B testing, and the insane viral launch strategy that overwhelmed his sales team and generated $1M ARR in a single month.Why You Should ListenHow a viral marketing campaign added $1M ARR in just 30 days.Why "user love" is a trap.Why it took 4 years of building in the dark to create the "Figma for Finance."How to mentally survive losing 95% of your revenue and staff overnight.Why startups are a test of stamina, not intelligence.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, viral marketing, fintech, financial modeling, finding pmf, startup growth, founder stories, Siqi Chen00:00:00 Intro00:04:09 The COVID Crash: From $20M to $0 ARR00:20:36 The V1 Trap: Great UI, Zero Willingness to Pay00:36:25 The 4 Year Build: Comparing to Figma and Notion00:46:53 The Viral Time Locked Jacket Launch00:53:04 Adding 1M ARR in 30 Days00:53:45 The PMF MomentSend me a message to let me know what you think!

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!