A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Bootstrapping isn't sexy. At least not at first. As they say, it's not greed that runs the world but envy. And when your founder friend raises $10M, it's hard not to want it too. 

But 10 years later, when you're running a $100M+ per year bootstrapped business, all of a sudden things aren't looking too bad. No runway to worry about. No pressure to sell. When you bootstrap a business past product-market-fit, the ones that raised $10M+ start to envy you. 

In this episode, Vitaly shares exactly how they did it. From humble beginnings building a minimum viable product for one client, to making a $500/mo salary and raising minimal VC funding, to one of Canada's largest startups today. 

Raising money in 2022 isn't easy. Even if it was, it's not clear raising it is optimal. It's always good to do more with less. 

If you're bootstrapping or thinking of it, this is the episode for you.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

What's the most important asset of any startup? It's easy. The talent. The software you build is not defensible. It can be replicated. The team you build is what's special. And the culture you develop is what's unique.

In this episode, Rob shares some incredible advice from his days at Uber and as the CEO of Float on how to build a high-performing team. He talks about hiring A+ talent by spending 80% of his time on recruiting and paying 90th percentile. He shares his hiring philosophy about hiring with high conviction (appropriately called "F--K Yes and F--K No"). And he talks at length about what culture is and how to make it work for your startup.

If you're running a team of any size, you have to check this out. Guaranteed at least three tips you can copy or your money back!

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Wealthsimple is arguably the hottest private startup in Canada, with over 3M users and a valuation of over US$4B.

In this episode, Mike (CEO) shares stories he’s never shared before. He goes deep into how he came up with the original idea, launched the product, and got early traction.

From getting rejected by YC, to running around Toronto hosting Lunch & Learns, and calling every single one of his first customers personally, this episode is filled with stories you wouldn’t expect given where Wealthsimple is today.

But all start-ups have humble beginnings. Wealthsimple is no exception. If you want to learn how one of the biggest successes coming out of Canada got started, check this episode out. 

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

When you launch a product and no one buys it, the decision is rather simple. You kill the product. At the very least, you make some serious changes to it. 

What happens when you do real customer discovery, launch a product that solves a pain point, and get some traction, but can't really seem to take off? What happens when your product is generating revenue, but true product-market-fit still seems unattainable? 

Michael, the CEO of LumiQ, shares the story of two products.  The Luminari recruiting marketplace, which generated close to $1M in sales but couldn't scale. And LumiQ, his current product and the result of a major pivot, which is on a path to 8 figures in ARR.

If you want to understand how to identify the need to pivot, how to conduct proper research to find the right pain points, and how to execute the change, this is the episode for you.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

There's nothing quite like going from 0 to an 8-figure+ acquisition, especially on your first startup. And 100% bootstrapped!

Aydin, the founder of Fluidware and now founder of Fellow, shares the story of his humble beginnings as a Jr Engineer, to launching a startup that would compete with SurveyMonkey and ultimately join their ranks.

 Notably, Aydin never raised money at Fluidware. While it had its downside, it enabled him and his team to solve customer problems without worrying about the market size or the big picture. Each step helped them discover new insights and led them closer to product-market fit. 

Want to get a feel for what it takes to bootstrap to PMF? Check this episode out.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Customer discovery is easy, right? You just call up a dozen or so potential customers, ask them a bunch of questions, and you're done. It seems absurd but that's what a lot of founders do. No one becomes a founder because they like to research; they become founders because they like to build. But building too early often comes at the cost of building the wrong thing.

Phil and his team at Paper did real customer discovery. They moved to a different country and rented a house right next to their customers. They visited their customers every day for months.  Countless hours later, they understood exactly what was needed and built the right thing.

They took Research Mode seriously. And it paid off. In 2022, they raised $300M and became a unicorn. Clearly, their product struck a chord. If you want to learn how exactly they did it, check this episode out.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

You've built a startup from nothing. You've set up a corporation, built a product, had customers, raised some funding, and maybe even had an exit. The entire time you're thinking to yourself, "Wow, next time it'll be so much easier!".

That's what Mike thought. He built TopHat from nothing to 500 FTEs. In early 2020, he raised US$130M and exited the company. He had a huge success and decided to do it all over again.

In this episode, Mike shares what it's like to start over. Which parts of the process are easier and which parts are not. If you're a repeat founder about to start over, this is the episode for you.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Finding product market fit is rarely a straight line. Many founders zig and zag through different iterations of their product, different target markets and competitive positioning until they find true product market fit. 

It was no different for Hongwei, the CEO and Founder of MappedIn. He went from building indoor maps for malls, to getting an investment on Dragon's Den, to finally building an 8-figure ARR startup. 

In this episode, he shares the main milestones and pivots that took him from a student at Waterloo to the CEO of a company with almost 100 employees. The main lesson? You might start off with a niche, non-scalable idea. But by working with customers you find unique insights you would otherwise never have uncovered. 

To win, you have to first be in the game.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Every founder knows before you launch, you have to build an MVP. They also know that to build an MVP, you should do customer discovery. But few understand how to properly do customer discovery. 

Before startup mode, there's research mode. And most founders don't do it right. Failure to do so is why most founders end up solving fake problems. If you want to avoid the fake problem trap, you need to spend a lot more time than you might think on research and customer discovery. 

Before launching the product, Adrian spoke to hundreds of paralegals. He hosted in-person focus groups in multiple cities. It was critical to his success and it's how he learned exactly what the problems were and exactly what to build.

If you want to learn how he did it, check out the episode.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

If you're selling to businesses, you already know... before you publicly launch your product, you'll have to go through a private beta. 

But beta programs are not all made equal. Many founders go through the motion but get very little out of it. Others, like Jack (the founder/CEO of Clio, a $1.5B start-up) leverage it to get the right customers, helpful feedback, and a successful launch.

Who should you let in and how do you get them? How early should you let customers in? When do you know you're ready to launch?  Those are a few of the questions Jack answers on the show. If you're going through a beta, this is the episode for you.

Send me a message to let me know what you think!