Nailing Your Market Niche w/ Dutch CEO, Joe Spector (Spotlight)
The Startup Podcast
What Investors Look For in Founders
Chris explains signals investors value: founder execution, problem detection, and proven ability to scale.
What happens when a founder who took a taboo health topic mainstream decides to reinvent pet care? In this Spotlight episode of The Startup Podcast, former Hims co-founder Joe Spector faux-pitches his startup Dutch, a telemedicine platform making veterinary care accessible, affordable, and convenient.
Most founders fear tough questions from investors, this episode shows what happens when they face them live. Discover how Joe applies lessons from scaling a billion-dollar company to a completely different market, and how understanding regulation, timing, and storytelling can make or break your pitch.
In this episode, you will:
- Discover what makes a founder “fundable”, beyond just a good idea
- Understand how Joe Spector scaled Hims and is now using those insights to disrupt pet telehealth with Dutch
- Explore how regulatory insight can become a startup’s biggest competitive moat
- See why subscription-based business models drive valuation and recurring growth
- Find out how Dutch makes pet care up to 10x cheaper while creating flexible jobs for veterinarians
- Hear expert commentary from Chris and Yaniv on storytelling, founder credibility, and investor psychology
Learn more about Dutch: https://www.dutch.com/
Connect with Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joespector
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Key links
Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A
The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/
Learn more about Chris and Yaniv
Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/
Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/
Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/
Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur
Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
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