Mike first raised $30M for a marketplace that never truly had product-market fit. Then he bet only $10K on ButcherBox. A few years later, he's doing $550M in revenue and he's profitable.

The difference is in his first startup he was just catering to investors— in his second one only to customers. If you’re an early founder chasing growth, listen to how Mike ditched vanity metrics, found sustainable traction, and grew ButcherBox past $500M in revenue—with no outside funding.

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Why You Should Listen

1. Why not raising can often be a powerful forcing function.

2. Why what VCs want is often not the same as what customers want.

3. How to differentiate in what seems like a commoditized market.

4. Why there is no stronger force in startups than true product-market fit.

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Keywords

product market fit, bootstrapping, butcherbox, direct to consumer, CPG subscription, grass fed beef, founder lessons, Kickstarter, food startup, early stage founder

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(00:00:00) Mastering the VC Game

(00:01:45) How I Raised $30M Without Product Market Fit

(00:08:21) Why my VC-backed Startup Failed

(00:15:34) Growing Revenue but Losing Money

(00:28:07) Early Signals of Real Product Market Fit

(00:34:59) Solving Supply Chain to Scale ButcherBox

(00:39:43) Bootstrapping to $550M (The Power of Constraints)

(00:51:18) Product Market Fit from Day One

(00:52:42) Why Founders Need a Lifestyle Plan

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

25SU Office Hours #11: Going Through Headlines | Finding the "Truth" | Sam's Thought Process