Real founders.Real numbers.From zero to one.
Top startup founders break down — episode by episode — how they actually found product-market fit. By 
Mistral Ventures.
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Carriers wouldn't talk to him, so he started with kids' smartwatches—then landed AT&T, Revolut and Klarna and now wins 90% of deals. | Hermann Frank, Co-Founder & CEO of Gigs
- 02
He has cold outbound data on 40 million startups. Here's what works. | Daniel Saks, Co-Founder of Landbase and AppDirect
Oct 12, 2026
- 03
He introduced his buyers to VCs instead of pitching them—then closed 20 deals in a row and a $20M Series A | Jonathan Awad, Co-Founder & CEO of Baselayer
Oct 5, 2026
- 04
He runs 3 dinners a week instead of cold outbound—and closes $500K+ ARR deals. | Nick Fleisher, Co-Founder & CEO of Sandstone
Sep 28, 2026
- 05
Revenue fell from $25M to $8M—so he raised $75M in crowdfunding and ignored VCs. | Dan Novaes, Co-Founder & CEO of Mode Mobile
Sep 21, 2026
- 06
He turned off a product with 20M users and went from 70 people to 7—then raised a $47M Series A. | Keith Peiris, Co-Founder & CEO of Lightfield
Sep 14, 2026
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Deep-dives
Read the founder playbooks.
Every episode also lives as a written breakdown — the frameworks, quotes, and lessons in long form.
Post 01·Oct 19, 2026Eightfold AI Hit a $2.1B Valuation After Two Pivots: Ashutosh Garg's Story
Eightfold AI is a talent intelligence platform. Founder Ashutosh Garg took it from $1M to $12M+ ARR in a year and a $2.1B valuation after a $220M Series E.
Post 02·Oct 19, 2026ID.me Hit $150M ARR and a $2B+ Valuation: Blake Hall's Story From Army Ranger to Identity Wallet CEO
ID.me is a digital identity wallet used by 150M+ people. Founder Blake Hall pivoted from a daily-deals site to a verified-ID network and reached $150M+ in ARR.
Post 03·Oct 12, 2026Clio's Jack Newton Ran a 100-Customer Beta With a Built-In Hurdle, Then Built a $5B Legal Tech Company
Clio is cloud practice management software for lawyers. Jack Newton built it from a 100-customer beta in 2008 to a $5B valuation and $500M+ ARR by 2026.
Fig. 01The host
Pablo asks the questions you’d actually want to ask.
Pablo Srugo is a partner at Mistral, a seed-stage venture firm. Before VC, he co-founded Gymtrack (venture-backed FitTech) and an online tutoring platform that was acquired in 2014.
He’s interviewed 250+ founders — from the team behind Reddit to first-time builders shipping their first $100 in revenue. The result is a feed of conversations that skip the inspiration porn and dig into the spreadsheets, the dead ends, and the exact moments PMF clicked.
- 250+
- Founders interviewed
- $2B+
- Raised by guests
- 14yr
- Operator + investor