A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders He grew to millions in ARR in 18 months—by fighting with his co-founders on purpose. | Ross McNairn, Co-Founder of Wordsmith AI.
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Aug 14, 2025 Ross McNairn, Co-Founder of Wordsmith AI, made an impressive leap from lawyer to self-taught engineer, rapidly building his startup to $5M ARR within 18 months. He reveals his unconventional strategy of testing co-founders through conflict, allowing for some interesting dynamics in teamwork. Ross shares insights on keeping a lean team for agility and his accidental fundraising approach that captivated VCs. Plus, he hilariously discusses how becoming a parent dramatically boosted his productivity amidst the startup chaos.
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Stress-Testing Founders Early
- Ross intentionally provoked arguments between co-founders to test conflict handling and peer equality.
- He then sealed bonding by taking them on a grueling Camino hike to see how they handled real stress.
Deliberately Test Founder Conflict
- Test co-founders by creating small, provokable disagreements to see how they resolve conflict.
- Ensure fights happen as peers and that people can argue healthily before committing long-term.
Accidental Seed Signal
- Ross walked into Index without a deck and instead demoed a quick MVP they had built.
- Index seeded them on a team bet and that signal triggered huge VC FOMO.