A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Raising money seems really easy when you're reading Techcrunch. Then you go out and try to do it and all of a sudden it seems impossible. Especially when you're new to the startup world and know no one.

That's exactly what it was like when Aman, the founder/CEO of Procurify, raised his first round. He describes in vivid details how he flew to San Francisco, slept on the floor of a shared house, cold emailed Mark Cuban and got him to invest. The series of events in this episode are extremely unlikely. They are hard to believe. But they are real. 

The reality is that early rounds raised by first-time founders often look like pure luck or serendipity. But you'll notice the hustle, the networking, and the determination that creates these "happy accidents". If you're about to try to raise a pre-seed or seed round, you'll want to check this out. 

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Before startup mode, there’s research mode. 

Many startup stories sound like happy accidents, where founders stumble upon an amazing idea more by chance than by strategy. The reality is the best founders have a deep understanding of the problem they’re solving. They are experts in their industries. They make sure not to invest time and resources into solving fake problems. And they achieve that through customer discovery.

Prior to writing a single line of code, Hanif spoke with 100s of industry experts, employees and potential customers in his industry. He broke down his research into multiple phases. And he didn’t commit to building Symend until he was sure there was a problem worth solving. 

If you want to understand how to do customer discovery right, check out this episode.

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There are two types of startups: those that sell into existing markets and those that create new markets. 

There are ups and downs to both. Selling into an existing market means you have a clear idea of customer needs and market size. It also means you have lots of competition. Creating a new market tends to cost a lot of money and the upside is uncertain. But you get to define the market and potentially capture a strong position in your customer's minds, like Uber or Airbnb.

When Dialogue started, telemedicine wasn't really a thing. At least, it wasn't a thing companies paid for in Canada. Cherif built Dialogue into a public company in just a few years by creating a new market.

In this episode, he shares details of how we crafted the story and sold the product to his first few customers. If you want to learn how to create a new market, check this episode out.

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The standard advice is you need to first generate your own demand, and only then look for partnerships to accelerate your business. Another piece of standard advice is you should probably raise a small round  early on to hire key employees. The last piece of advice is that if you're a business founder, you probably should get a technical co-founder.

Laura chose to do exactly the opposite. And it worked.

She decided not to bring on a technical co-founder, and it's "the best decision she ever made". She decided to bootstrap the company for as long as possible, and it helped her focus on what really mattered. And she decided to start with partnerships and it worked.

If you want to learn how she did it, check out this episode.

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You've launched a startup. Your excitement turns to anxiety as it becomes clear things aren't working out. Some customers are buying but not nearly enough. They like your product, but they don't love it.

You realize you don't have product-market fit and are unlikely to get it. You'll need to change things up. You'll need to pivot.

It's a painful process, but pivots are more common than you think. The right pivot can take you from nothing to billion-dollar status. Many unicorns, including Slack, Twitter and Ada, started off as completely different businesses. 

The key, of course, is to do it right. Mike and his co-founder spent a full year as customer service agents to feel their customers' pains. They solved those problems over time and a few years later raised at a $1.2B valuation. 

If you want to hear exactly how they did it, have a listen.

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You have a startup idea. You tell 10 friends and they tell you it's awesome.  What does that prove?

Unfortunately, not much. 

Validating your idea requires you to go outside your building and talk to real customers. Not only that, real validation means having customers pay for your product. But how do you do that without having to build something first?

Find out from Eran, the CEO of Thriver on this episode. Eran and his co-founders generated thousands of dollars in sales before writing a single line of code. By the time they started building, they knew for sure there'd be demand... because they'd already closed real customers. 

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Getting started with a consumer product is HARD. 

Unlike selling to businesses, you can't just grind it out with cold calling. You'll need to figure out how to get noticed and drive traffic to your site. 

And getting media attention is one of the best ways to do it. Andrew is the founder of Borrowell, a startup with millions of users. When he launched he was featured in dozens of publications across the country.  For the first time, he describes in clear, step-by-step detail, exactly how he did it. 

If you want to maximize media attention, you won't want to miss this episode. 

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You want to become an entrepreneur. But you're stuck at level 1.

How do I come up with an idea? It's not easy. And there's no silver bullet.

Matt, the founder of Assent. has built three successful startups: NoNotes, Assent Compliance, and Millions. In this episode, he shares the stories of how he came up with each one. 

There's no playbook for how to come up with a billion-dollar idea. But there is a mindset that will help. Check this episode out - maybe you'll get inspired.

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Building a product is the easy part. With the right resources, you can build just about anything.

But once you've done that, how do you launch it? How do you get people to know your product even exists? And how do you do it on a tight budget?

Jay, the founder of Bold Commerce, has launched dozens of succesful e-commerce products. In this episode, he shares the detailed story of how he launched  Kickbooster, an affiliate management program for kickstarter campaigns.

If you're planning to launch a product for SMBs, you don't want to miss this one.

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Once you have clear traction, once revenue is up and to the right and growing quickly, investors come to you.

But what about early on? How do you get people to invest millions of dollars when all you have is an idea?

Stephany, the founder of Tealbook, has raised over $70M. She got her first cheque from an angel investor she met during her kid's soccer game. In this episode, she dives into how she raised her first few rounds. Angels investors invest in people- and Stephany shares details into how to build relationships that may catalyze your round.

Check this episode out to learn how to raise your first round.

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