Early revenue can sometimes fool you into thinking that you have product-market fit. Startups begin to focus on growth without having solved the core problem their customers are playing them to address.

In this episode, we are joined by Lars Albright, a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, where he leads investments in vertical SaaS and fintech startups. Lars is a three-time founder of enterprise software companies, having sold two of his companies to Apple and Mastercard. Today, Lars joins us to talk about his last startup SessionM, a pioneer in mobile loyalty, and even today, powers the loyalty infrastructure for Fortune 1000 brands.

Join us as we discuss:

How SessionM needed to find product-market fit with 3 different customer stakeholders
The launch of mPlus Rewards and early traction
Why Lars and his team decided to pivot from coalition loyalty programs to enterprise software despite the revenue traction
The challenges of working with fortune 500 companies as a small startup and the lessons Lars took from that time
Lars’ advice to founders who have revenue but not product-market fit

About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness,  and Vivun.

About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/).

Further reading:

Customer validation: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-customer-validation
Lars’ core fintech themes and advice for founders in today's market: https://www.unusual.vc/post/core-fintech-themes-and-advice-for-founders-in-todays-market
Loyalty 3.0: Where consumers become owners: https://www.unusual.vc/post/loyalty-in-a-web3-world

A Mass Extinction Is Taking Place in the Human Gut