Why do some startups take off ($25M ARR within 2 years) while others - with equally talented founder teams, with equally unique tech, with equally attractive markets, … - struggle to reach $500k, $1M or just feel like they’re pushing instead of customers pulling?

Rob jumps into that question in this week’s Substack and this podcast. The answer is that PULL is not linear - it’s logarithmic - and that explains how startups can have such divergent outcomes.

Rob's Substack post here: ⁠LINK⁠

PMF Camp / Work with Rob: ⁠LINK⁠

Pre-order Rob's book ("The Power of PULL") - ⁠Amazon⁠

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: ⁠LINK⁠

Today we’re learning from true masters of their craft - the heroes behind infomercials and “As seen on TV” product - who understand PULL more intuitively than the best marketers.

Rob breaks down the “TurboPump” infomercial, which communicates just about everything a customer needs to know within 16 seconds. Lessons include:

• Sequencing a sales call

• How to describe how your product works

• How to improve your sales calls using this approach

• How to differentiate your supply vs. others

Turbo Pump infomercial: YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/MtzSgzijGyk?si=4EfpEv7MaffDvRAc 

Breathe Easy Humidifier infomercial: YOUTUBE

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Work with Rob: INFO

Rob's Substack post here: ⁠LINK⁠

PMF Camp / Work with Rob: ⁠LINK⁠

Pre-order Rob's book ("The Power of PULL") - ⁠Amazon⁠

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: ⁠LINK⁠

There are two types of PULL out there. If a customer has either of them - and if your Supply fits - they will rip a product out of your hands. Here is how Rob defines them:

1. COPING PULL: A buyer who is prioritizing a project right now, but their current approach is sufficiently bad that they are COPING - struggling against their current approach.

2. BLOCKED PULL: A buyer who would prioritize a project right now if they could - but their existing options are unworkable, so they are BLOCKED.

In this episode, Rob dives into the difference between the two, case studies of each, how to find them, and common pitfalls that founders run into. 

Substack post: “Blocked or Coping?”

Rob's Substack post here: ⁠LINK⁠

PMF Camp / Work with Rob: ⁠LINK⁠

Pre-order Rob's book ("The Power of PULL"): ⁠Amazon⁠

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: ⁠LINK⁠

Cyberstarts (VC focused on cybersecurity) has an insane hit rate - its first fun turned $50M into $2B within 3 years investing in 9 founders. Founded by Gili Raanan, their approach (which they call "Sunrise") inverts the pre-idea / pre-product stage. Instead of choosing a market / technology to bet on, they invest in founder teams pre-product, use a network of CSIOs to identify demand, validate by selling, then begin to build the product.

In this episode, Rob breaks down Cyberstarts' approach from the lens of PULL and customer demand - including why Cyberstarts' approach has an advantage over other VCs, what can be learned from both a founder and a VC perspective - and a few areas that he would approach differently.

Invest like the Best interview with Gili Raanan: Spotify, transcript, Cyberstarts webpage

Rob's Substack post here, "Inverting the idea stage": LINK

PMF Camp / Work with Rob: LINK

Pre-order Rob's book ("The Power of PULL") - Amazon

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: LINK

A frequent critique Rob hears of "Sell then build" is that it's fine for a 'lifestyle business' but can't possibly result in a unicorn or generational company. ...Right?

So Rob dug into the histories of some of the leading tech (Microsoft, Oracle, Hubspot), Deep-tech (NVIDIA) and consumer (Nike, Starbucks) companies.

... turns out, they follow similar themes:

• Figure out some sort of a market need by selling and delivering something
• Learn the shape of the real opportunity by selling and delivering something that’s not quite right.
• Avoid attempting to (1) predict the future or (2) convince the market.
• At some point, benefit from demand waves or dams. (related post)

This week's post: "How companies become generational" (Substack)

Work w/ Rob or join the next PMF Camp: LINK

Subscribe to Rob's Substack: LINK

Pre-order Rob's book, "The Power of PULL": LINK

Rob discusses the evolution of sales calls from the first version (often awkward, typically clunky and uncomfortable for the prospect, and not effective) to the various iterations he sees with each step improving incrementally.

The discovery sharpens, then the customer targeting, then the pitch, the demo, the sequencing of calls, and the offer / conversion.

This is a very practical episode and Substack for founders and early sales hires that are noticing 'friction' in their sales process and struggling to understand how to think about improving.

Rob's newsletter: LINK - this week's post: "The aerodynamics of sales"

Join Rob's upcoming PMF Camp: LINK

Pre-order Rob's book, "The Power of PULL": AMAZON

Rob's website: www.robsnyder.org

A lot of the advice around "understanding / empathizing with customers" or "being customer centric" advises interviews or maybe even visiting customers. But it doesn't go far enough. Rob discusses why "forward deploying" is critical - and not just visiting customers, but what to actually do when you're there. Rob discusses what to look for, and how the "calendar" and "to-do list" come into play.

Great post / conversation if you've wondered how to generate a PULL hypothesis, how to understand your customer, or what to do when you do customer visits.

Pre-order Rob's book "The Power of PULL" - Amazon

Rob's next PMF Camp starts Feb 9 - info on working with Rob ⁠here⁠.

Rob's newsletter: LINK

Among the hardest parts of early sales calls is figuring out what isn't working - "Do I have PMF but I'm screwing up the sale, or do I just not have PMF yet?" Rob breaks down how he diagnoses what is going on in a sales call, and how founders can apply as they are improving their sales calls and navigating early sales.

Rob's substack: LINK

Info about PMF Camp: LINK

Pipeline Megapost: LINK

Discovery is very important - but it's poorly understood what exactly you should be looking for in the first moments of a sales call and founders almost always screw it up. This leads to a confused customer being grilled with random questions and the founder struggling to connect with the customer and generate interest in their product (the wrong way to think about it).

In this episode, Rob discusses how to properly run demand discovery at the start of a call - using the PULL framework and a simple process that will immediately improve the quality of your calls.

Rob's book "The Power of Pull" is now available for pre-order! https://amzn.to/48KC1yv

PSA - next PMF Camp starts in Feb. More info on how to join here: www.robsnyder.org under "Learn more and get started"

• Work with Rob: www.robsnyder.org
• Connect w/ Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsnyder1/
• Weekly founder insights: https://howtogrow.substack.com/
• Preorder Rob's book - "The Power of PULL" - https://amzn.to/48KC1yv

Highly recommend reading this week's Substacak as the language around supply and demand is precise: LINK

Rob Snyder dives into how to think about Demand as it relates to AI - using both historical (Ford) and contemporary (Jump, Loveable, AI SDRs) examples.

This convo should be helpful for entrepreneurs, investors and marketers thinking about AI, product positioning, categories, identifying AI-related demand.

Info and work with Rob: www.robsnyder.org