Scrappy tactics and a huge post-COVID pivot | Owner’s unconventional journey to product-market fit | Adam Guild (Co-founder and CEO of Owner)

Adam Guild is the co-founder and CEO at Owner, an online food ordering system for independent restaurants. Within a year, Owner went from being about to run out of money to having hundreds of customers. Last year, they raised a $33M Series B.

Adam’s entrepreneurial journey began as a teenager when he built a successful Minecraft server, which led him to drop out of high school to become a founder. His passion for helping small businesses was sparked by his mom’s struggles running a dog grooming shop, which led him to launch the early iteration of Owner.

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In today’s episode, we discuss:

• How working with a small business kickstarted Owner
• Adam’s unusual outbound strategy
• Why the pandemic accelerated Owner’s success
• How Owner’s pivot led to “hyperbolic” product-market fit
• The two qualities Adam looks for in new hires

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Referenced:

• Alex Bard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexbard/
• Dean Bloembergen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanbloembergen/
• Guisados: https://www.guisados.la/
• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/
• Jack Altman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackealtman/
• Kimbal Musk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimbalmusk/
• Modern Restaurant Management: https://modernrestaurantmanagement.com/
• Naval Ravikant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navalr/
• Neil Patel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/
• Peter Thiel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterthiel/
• P.F. Chang's: https://www.pfchangs.com/
• Sean Rad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrad/
• Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/
• Tim Ferriss: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timferriss/
• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/

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Where to find Adam:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamharrisonguild/

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Where to find Brett:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

Where to find First Round Capital:

• Website: https://firstround.com/
• First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
• This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:29) Adam’s first business

(04:15) The transition from Minecraft to Owner

(05:58) The dark side of the gaming industry

(14:20 Adam’s scrappy strategy to landing his first customers

(16:52) The COVID pivot

(21:31) The quest to find product-market fit

(30:53) What actually worked to get new customers

(36:03) Inside Owner’s explosive growth

(46:41) How Owner secured its crucial first round of funding

(53:34) The bet on going multi-product

(64:28) What Adam wishes he knew at 17

(76:22) Sales-led vs. product-led growth