A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

His 1st startup failed—but his 2nd one hit $100M ARR & a $1.6B valuation. Here's what he learned. | Liran Zvibel, Founder of WEKA

Oct 14, 2024

Liran Zvibel, the founder and CEO of Weka, shares insights from his journey in deep tech, having transitioned from a failed startup to a $1.6B valuation. He discusses the challenges of building enterprise software, especially in securing commitments before product readiness. Liran emphasizes the importance of strategic investors in navigating early revenue struggles. He reveals how Weka achieved impressive growth in ARR, despite fierce competition from free alternatives, highlighting essential lessons on product-market fit and pricing strategies.

46:44

Episode guests

Liran Zvibel

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Liran Zvibel learned that addressing real customer pain points is crucial for startup success, as demonstrated by his failure with Fuzik.

WEKA's impressive growth to $100M ARR was fueled by strategic partnerships and the ability to meet specific enterprise needs in deep tech.

Deep dives

Weka's Journey to Market Readiness

Weka is a deep tech company that focuses on data management solutions, particularly for enterprise-level clients. Founded in 2013, it took over five years for Weka to bring its product to market, launching it in 2018. The product significantly enhances the performance of GPUs, enabling them to operate at 90% capacity compared to the average 30% without Weka's software. This substantial performance boost has led to high demand for its services as enterprises seek to maximize their GPU efficiency in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Intro

2min

The Rise and Fall of a Promising Startup Venture

2min

Barriers to Teenage Content Creation in Early Smartphone Era

2min

Challenges in Sustaining User Engagement in Interactive Music Experiences

2min

Navigating Tech Platforms: Challenges and Innovations

18min

Navigating Market Competition and Funding Challenges

17min

Navigating Product-Market Fit: Lessons from Weka's Journey

4min

Liran quit a cozy job at IBM to launch Fusic, a TikTok-like app back in 2011. He raised over $10M, acquired tens of thousands of users, and failed.

So he went back to what he knew: deep tech and enterprise. He launched WEKA in 2013 to improve the efficiency of GPUs. He was operating on hard mode: building deep tech and selling to large enterprise customers. It took him 5 years to build a commercially-ready product. In that time, he raised over $35M from strategic investors, since VCs didn't get it.

Once they launched, they more than doubled every year. And this year, they crossed $100M in ARR.

Here's how Liran built WEKA and got it off the ground.

Why you should listen:

Why deep tech is much harder than normal software startups and always takes much longer.
How to get enterprise customers to commit well before your product is ready.
How to leverage strategic investors to get you through the early days when you have no revenue.
How Liran was able to get customers to pay 6-figure deals when competitors offered 'similar' products for free.

Keywords
Weka, deep tech, large enterprises, GPUs, OS, product-market fit, funding, strategic investors, POCs, POVs, AI, GPU use case, performance, cost reduction, rapid growth

Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:12) Why my first startup failed
(00:08:35) Starting WEKA
(00:15:04) WEKA's First Customer
(00:17:43) The Operating System of CPUs
(00:21:19) The Issues with Deep Tech Companies
(00:26:19) Competing with a Free Product
(00:32:57) Reaching a Couple Million in ARR
(00:36:26) Fundraising
(00:43:19) Finding Product Market Fit
(00:44:08) One Piece of Advice

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A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

His 1st startup failed—but his 2nd one hit $100M ARR & a $1.6B valuation. Here's what he learned. | Liran Zvibel, Founder of WEKA

Episode guests