Navigating Customer Engagement and Monetization in the Early Startup Phase

Poojan is a multi-time successful founder. He raised $60M for his first startup and exited. He just raised a $75M Series D at his current startup. But it wasn't always easy.

- In his first startup, he had to hover beside conference booths for hours to land his first customer.
- He gave his product away for free to the first several customers.
- It took him 6 years to cross $10M in ARR

- Learn exactly how a successful repeat founder thinks about team structure in the early days. Though he raised $11M, he spent only a third of it.

- Understand why sometimes giving your product away for free is the best way to get off the ground.

- Hear about specific sales tactics you may want to use to get your first customers.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:30) Before Clumio

(00:05:53)  Raising 7 Million Dollars off a Power Point

(00:09:35) Starting Clumio

(00:16:41) Starting Conversations with Customers

(00:20:08) Finding and Solving the Real Pain Points

(00:24:18) The Stage Between Series A and B

(00:26:02) Keep your Team Lean

(00:27:47) Finding True Product Market Fit

(00:29:06) One Piece of Advice