Fund/Build/Scale Why Conviction Matters More Than TAM: The Seed-Stage Litmus Test
Uncork Capital Partner Amy Saper shares practical advice for early-stage founders building AI-enabled tools for engineering, product, and design teams, or as she describes them, "products that make you not want to quit your job."
Drawing on her experience in product marketing at Twitter, Uber, and Stripe, she explains why storytelling is an underrated founder skill, how to refine your ideal customer profile, and why it’s good to reverse-engineer a roadmap from your Series A goals.
She also shares tips for assessing founder/investor fit, when (and when not) to launch, and why she cares more about your conviction than your TAM slide.
If you're a technical founder looking to pitch smarter, launch better, and scale leaner, this episode is for you.
RUNTIME 40:46 EPISODE BREAKDOWN(3:46) How Amy’s product marketing background informs her investor perspective
(8:45) Storytelling skill (and coachability) “ separates the mediocre founders from the exceptional ones.”
(12:02) “ I do tend to gravitate towards very technical teams. Sometimes they're all engineers.”
(15:16) A few questions Amy would ask a VC if she were an early-stage founder
(17:25) How she defines founder conviction — and the traits she looks for
(22:56) Identify your goals and targets, then work backwards from there
(26:55) “ I have a funny but also kind of real sub-thesis, which is products that make you not want to quit your job.”
(28:50) Thanks to new AI tools, “ we're seeing the rise of small lean teams that are achieving early profitability.”
(33:45) “ I am a sucker for a great deck or a beautiful presentation.”
(36:30) “ I care less about the overall TAM than how you're defining what's addressable.“
(39:27) The one question Amy would have to ask the CEO if she were interviewing for a job with an early-stage startup
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.