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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He had paying customers before he even incorporated—then hit $1M ARR in a year and raised a $19M Series A. | Rahul Shivkumar, Co-Founder of Assured
- 02
His free app hit 200 locations and nobody used it, then he raised $25M. | Tushar Mishra, Co-Founder & CEO of Delightree
Oct 26, 2026
- 03
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
Oct 19, 2026
- 04
He has cold outbound data on 40 million startups. Here's what works. | Daniel Saks, Co-Founder of Landbase and AppDirect
Oct 12, 2026
- 05
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
- 06
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
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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·Nov 2, 2026Aiwyn: How Justin Adams Grew From $250K to $3M ARR in One Year and Raised $127M for CPA Firms
Aiwyn builds payments and tax software for CPA firms. Justin Adams grew it from $250K to $3M ARR in a year and has raised $127M, led by KKR and Bessemer.
Post 02·Oct 26, 2026Bright Machines Raised $400M+: How Lior Susan Carved a 170-Person Robotics Team Out of Flex
Bright Machines builds robotic microfactories for electronics assembly. Lior Susan spun it out of Flex with a $179M Series A and had raised $400M+ by June 2024.
Post 03·Oct 26, 2026Carbon Robotics: How Paul Mikesell Sold $10M of Laser Weeding Robots Before Building One
Carbon Robotics makes the LaserWeeder, an AI robot that kills weeds with lasers. Founder Paul Mikesell pre-sold about $10M of machines and has raised about $177M.
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