A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders He got 100k signups in 30 days. They all churned. 2 years later, he hit $10M ARR. | Rich White, Founder of Fathom
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Jan 22, 2026 Rich White, Founder and CEO of Fathom, shares his journey from securing a spot on the Zoom Marketplace to generating 100k signups in just 30 days—only to find that nearly all of them were non-usable. He details the critical pivot to monetization during a market downturn, the importance of a long private beta, and how the 'Visible Feature' mechanic spurred organic growth. Rich also discusses selling a non-existent roadmap to reach $100k ARR swiftly and the pivotal role of AI tools in transforming user experience and retention.
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Massive Launch, Minimal Active Users
- Rich White launched via Zoom Marketplace and got 100,000 signups in the first month. After that month they only had ~100 daily active users, revealing most signups were useless.
Build Ahead Of Infrastructure Cost Shifts
- Rich White bet transcription costs and generative AI would fall, enabling low-cost, horizontal product. That thesis justified delaying monetization and building a free single-player product first.
Delay Launch Until Bulletproof Reliability
- Stay in private beta until the first impression is bulletproof and reliability is solved. Launch only when the product works almost every time because early failures kill trust.