Hey friends 👋

You’ve had the good conversations. Coffee chats that ended with “this is really interesting.” Followers who DM you to say they can’t wait. And when you go to investors, they pass.

Because interest and evidence are two completely different things.

This week, JDM and Cameron are joined by Nikki Sims — operator, VC fund veteran, and someone who’s actually seen what happens when founders confuse the two. In a special format, we invited founders from the Traction Lab Venture School to join us on the livestream to ask their questions.

We covered traction signals that matter in historically offline industries, what happens to your roadmap when you land a 227-location enterprise deal, why your TAM slide is probably lying to investors without you realizing it, what to do when your market has a literal expiration date, and how to think about funding a hard goods business when VC math doesn’t apply.

Nikki didn’t hold back. Neither did the guys. It’s the kind of honest investor feedback you usually only get if you already know someone.

As always, thanks for listening.

—Cameron and JDM

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction & Nikki Sims

05:00 - Traction in offline markets (AgTech / game birds)

18:00 - When your market has an expiration date

24:30 - The enterprise trap: SMB to 227 locations

32:00 - Funding a hardware business (not a SaaS)

51:00 - TAM slides: bottoms-up or bust

58:30 - Biotech buy vs. build decisions

1:02:30 - Channel strategy for construction tech

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zerototraction.substack.com