A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

If you want to validate an idea, the conventional wisdom is to build an MVP. But even an MVP takes time to build. What if you could validate not only your idea but your entire funnel, without writing a single line of code?That's what Moe did. He built a landing page, found ways to advertise and generate traffic, and went so far as to convert traffic to paying members- before having any product to sell! (Of course, he immediately refunded those early customers and added them to a waiting list.)If you have an idea and want to know if there is real demand - this is the episode for you. Send me a message to let me know what you think!

After you've had an idea and validated the problem, it's probably time to build. But how exactly do you decide what to build, how to build it, and how to get end users to actually adopt the solution?Carol is a multi-time founder and she has this process down to a science. On this episode, she shares how she built the first version of Axonify (now acquired for over US$350M). She explains how to find a champion, how to stay close to them throughout the build phase, and how to  get end users to adopt the product.If you're starting to build out a product, especially in a b2b or b2b2c context, check out this episode. Send me a message to let me know what you think!

To launch a startup you have to leave your job and spend considerable capital, with no guarantee of success. It involves considerable risk, right?Not for Mike.Mike started Rewind- a company now approaching unicorn status- fully on the side. It started off as a project, and neither Mike nor his co-founders took any salary cuts to get Rewind off the ground. Instead, they worked nights and weekends, steadily growing MRR and joined one at a time as the startup became self-sufficient.If you have an idea but aren't ready to go all in, check out this episode and learn how to start it on the side. Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Why do professional athletes have coaches, but professional entrepreneurs don't?Dan thought this was odd. So many years ago, a long time before starting Koho - a company now worth over $250M- Dan started working with performance coaches. In this episode, he walks us through how to pick a coach, what exactly a coach is (hint: it's not an advisor), and how a coach can help your startup grow.  In fact, Dan is such a believer in coaching that Koho offers coaching to all of their 200+ employees.If you're interested in performance coaching, or are looking for an edge, listen to what Dan has to say. Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Ask most early-stage founders what they need most and you'll likely get the same answer: money.Especially early on, before you have much traction, raising money can be daunting. If you don't have much of a network, it's hard to even know where to start. Who are these angel investors and how do you find them? How do you get them to take a meeting? And how do you get interested investors to actually close?Marc walks us through his first fundraise at Unito. How he leveraged an accelerator to build a network, got other founders to get him investor introductions and used various tactics to build momentum and FOMO. If you're looking to raise one of your first rounds of funding, check out how Marc got it done.Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Launching a marketplace is hard. The chicken-and-egg problem often seems insurmountable. In 2021, Wattpad was acquired for over $600M. But it wasn't easy. Early on, Wattpad cofounder and CEO Allen Lau almost gave up. He discusses the virtues of starting with a small niche and allowing growth to come with time. He explains the ASSET framework he’s developed to help you launch and scale a marketplace. If you’re about to launch a marketplace or just launched one and are not seeing the traction you were hoping for, you might want to give this a listen.  Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Many people say that hype leads nowhere, that instead you should keep your head down and focus on building. But hype- or raising the profile of your company, as Solon calls it- brings many benefits. It means more potential hires, more investors, and even more customers. As you'll see, Solon is the master of creating hype. Find out how Solon raised the profile of MindBridge to get a multi-time founder to join as CEO, to poach key technical talent and to raise money well ahead of building product.Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Building a successful startup starts well before the first prototype is created or the first investor goes all in. It starts with customer discovery, and Mallorie Brodie has some unique insight into what that looks like. Now the cofounder and CEO of Bridgit, she started out as a college student eagerly chasing down construction cranes and listening to complaints. Today, she tells The Product Market Fit Show the secret to finding great startup ideas. If you think you already know your market’s pain points, you’re probably doing it wrong. Send me a message to let me know what you think!