The founderplaybooks.
Every episode also lives as a written breakdown — the frameworks, the spreadsheets, the dead ends, and the exact moments PMF clicked.
- 01Oct 12, 2026
Dabble: How Jon Robin Built a Social Sports Betting App From $0 to $150M in Revenue in Four Years
- 02Oct 12, 2026
Influential Went From a Coachella Party to a Reported $500M Publicis Exit: Piotr Tomasik's Influencer Marketing Story
- 03Oct 12, 2026
Wyre: How Yanni Giannaros Built Crypto's First On-Ramp to a $90M Run Rate, a $1.5B Bolt Deal, and Then a Shutdown

Dabble: How Jon Robin Built a Social Sports Betting App From $0 to $150M in Revenue in Four Years
Dabble is a social sports betting app from Australia. Co-founder Jon Robin explains how it did $10M in revenue in year one and reached a $150M revenue run rate.
- 02Oct 12, 2026
Influential Went From a Coachella Party to a Reported $500M Publicis Exit: Piotr Tomasik's Influencer Marketing Story
Influential is an influencer marketing company and platform. Co-founder Piotr Tomasik explains how selling to ad agencies led to a reported $500M Publicis exit.
- 03Oct 12, 2026
Wyre: How Yanni Giannaros Built Crypto's First On-Ramp to a $90M Run Rate, a $1.5B Bolt Deal, and Then a Shutdown
Wyre was a crypto payments API that Bolt agreed to buy for $1.5B in 2022. Co-founder Yanni Giannaros on the pivots, the failed deal and the 2023 shutdown.
- 04Oct 5, 2026
Ashby Raised a $3.5M Seed, Kept the Team at Three, Then Grew Revenue 10x: Benjamin Encz's Story
Ashby is an all-in-one recruiting platform. Founder Benjamin Encz built it with three people on a $3.5M seed, then grew revenue more than 10x in one year.
- 05Oct 5, 2026
Cameo Went From One Athlete to $100M GMV and a $1B Valuation, Then Rebuilt to Profit: Steven Galanis's Story
Cameo sells personalized celebrity video shoutouts. It hit $100M GMV in four years and a $1B valuation, then reset to profit. Steven Galanis explains how.
- 06Oct 5, 2026
Cohere Skipped Consumer Chatbots and AGI, Then Hit $240M ARR: Nick Frosst's Enterprise AI Story
Cohere builds large language models for enterprises. Co-founder Nick Frosst explains how it passed $240M ARR and a $7B valuation by ignoring consumers and AGI.
- 07Oct 5, 2026
PointClickCare Raised $600K, Grew to Nearly $50M in Revenue, and Reached a $5B Valuation: Mike Wessinger's Story
PointClickCare, the senior care EHR, raised about $600K in its first decade, neared $50M revenue, then topped a US$5B valuation. Mike Wessinger explains how.
- 08Oct 5, 2026
WEKA Took Five Years to Ship, Then Hit $100M ARR and a $1.6B Valuation: Liran Zvibel's Story
WEKA builds a software data platform that keeps AI GPUs busy. Founder Liran Zvibel took it past $100M ARR and a $1.6B valuation after five years of building.
- 09Sep 28, 2026
BrightAI: How Alex Hawkinson Bootstrapped to $100M in Revenue After His $200M SmartThings Exit
BrightAI is Alex Hawkinson's company after SmartThings, sold to Samsung for a reported $200M. He says he bootstrapped it to $100M revenue before its $51M Series A
- 10Sep 28, 2026
How Josh Domingues Built Flashfood: From Losing His Only 2 Customers to $1.5M ARR in a Year
Flashfood cuts grocery waste with app discounts up to 50% off. Josh Domingues lost his only 2 pilot retailers, then hit $1.5M ARR in a year with Loblaws.
- 11Sep 28, 2026
Later.com Raised Just $1.5M, Hit $40M ARR, and Exited for Over $100M: Ian MacKinnon's Story
Later.com (formerly Latergramme) raised just $1.5M, grew to $40M ARR, and sold for over $100M in 2022. Co-founder Ian MacKinnon explains seed-strapping.
- 12Sep 28, 2026
ZayZoon: How Tate Hackert Went From Craigslist Loans to a $68M-Funded Earned Wage Access Fintech
ZayZoon is a Calgary earned wage access startup co-founded by Tate Hackert. It raised $68M and grew from 20 to 200 employees after a brutal 2020 COVID dip.
- 13Sep 28, 2026
Zeffy Grew 30x in 3 Years After a VC Passed: François de Kerret's One-and-Done Playbook
Zeffy is a free, tip-funded fundraising platform for nonprofits. A VC passed at under $1M ARR; François de Kerret grew it 30x in 3 years, no new funding since.
- 14Sep 21, 2026
How Amplitude Beat Mixpanel on Price: Jeffrey Wang on 10 Million Free Events and a 100x Cost Advantage
Amplitude is a public product analytics company at $366M ARR. Co-founder Jeffrey Wang on the 100x cost gap with Mixpanel and giving away 10 million events free.
- 15Sep 21, 2026
How Gusto Got to $1B in Revenue: Josh Reeves on Launching in One State With Six People
Gusto does $1B in revenue at a $9.3B valuation serving 400,000 small businesses. Josh Reeves launched in California only, with six people and most of the seed unspent.
- 16Sep 21, 2026
How Infinitus Built Healthcare Voice AI Before ChatGPT: Ankit Jain on $102.9M Raised and 30-Minute Phone Calls
Infinitus automates healthcare's back-office phone calls with AI voice agents. Ankit Jain started in 2019, raised $102.9M including a $51.5M a16z Series C.
- 17Sep 21, 2026
Martin Basiri Built ApplyBoard to $3.2B, Then Started Over: Inside Passage and Its C$40M Seed
Martin Basiri co-founded ApplyBoard, valued at US$3.2B, then left to start Passage with a C$40M seed - low-interest loans so smart students can study abroad.
- 18Sep 21, 2026
How Noah Glass Built Olo: From Text-Message Coffee Orders to a $2B Restaurant Platform
Olo powers digital ordering for 750+ restaurant brands. Noah Glass spent 8 years at 12 people, hit $121M ARR on $6M of net burn, and sold to Thoma Bravo for $2B.
- 19Sep 14, 2026
Andrew Filev Bootstrapped Wrike for Seven Years, Then Sold It to Citrix for $2.25B — Now He's Building Zencoder
Wrike was bootstrapped for seven years before its first VC round. Andrew Filev raised $26M total, sold to Citrix for $2.25B, and now builds Zencoder.
- 20Sep 14, 2026
MobileIron Went From $1M to $80M ARR in Four Years: Bob Tinker on the IPO, the $872M Exit, and Building BlueRock for the AI Wave
MobileIron went from $1M to $80M ARR in four years and IPO'd in 2014. Bob Tinker on go-to-market fit, the $872M Ivanti exit, and his new startup BlueRock.
- 21Sep 14, 2026
Numeric Raised a $28M Series A With a Five-Person Team: Parker Gilbert on Staying Small Until the Product Was Right
Numeric automates the accounting close for teams like OpenAI, Brex and Plaid. Parker Gilbert kept it at five people for a year, then raised $28M and $89M total.
- 22Sep 14, 2026
Pylon Raised $17M From a16z in 14 Days: How Marty Kausas Built a B2B Support Platform YC Said Would Never Work
Pylon is the B2B customer support platform replacing Zendesk. Marty Kausas raised $17M from a16z in 14 days after YC told him the idea never works.
- 23Sep 14, 2026
Warp Adds $1M ARR Every 10 Days: How Zach Lloyd Went From a Free Terminal to an Agentic Development Environment
Warp is an agentic development environment born out of the terminal. Founder Zach Lloyd took 300 days to reach $1M ARR, then started adding $1M every 10 days.
- 24Sep 7, 2026
Judi Health Raised $400M at a $3.25B Valuation: How AJ Loiacono Built Capital Rx With Zero Marketing
Judi Health (formerly Capital Rx) is a transparent health benefit manager taking on CVS, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare. AJ Loiacono raised $400M at a $3.25B valuation after spending $0 on marketing for two years.
- 25Sep 7, 2026
PointFive Hit $1M ARR in Six Months: Why Alon Arvatz Gave Up Millions in Earnout to Start Again
PointFive finds hidden cloud waste for enterprises. Alon Arvatz sold IntSights to Rapid7, walked away from most of his holdback, and hit $1M ARR in six months on $36M raised.
- 26Sep 7, 2026
How Adam Robinson Bootstrapped Retention.com to $25M ARR and $14M in Annual Profit With Six People
Retention.com identifies anonymous website visitors and turns them into email contacts. Adam Robinson bootstrapped it from a $5,000 Facebook ad to roughly $25M ARR and $14M in profit with a team of six.
- 27Sep 7, 2026
Thatch Raised a $38M Series A After Two Years With Almost No Revenue: Chris Ellis's ICHRA Story
Thatch gives employees a tax-free budget to buy their own health insurance under ICHRA. Chris Ellis spent two years with almost no revenue, then raised a $38M Series A led by Index and General Catalyst.
- 28Sep 7, 2026
How Andrew Antos Grew Within to $20M ARR in 18 Months, Then Sold His $10M Business to Bet On It
Within (formerly Klarity) builds a company brain for AI agents at OpenAI, DoorDash and ServiceNow. Andrew Antos grew it to ~$20M ARR in 18 months and sold his older $10M business.
- 29Aug 31, 2026
Flo Health Hit a $1B Valuation and $200M in Revenue: How Dmitry Gurski Beat a Better-Funded Rival
Flo Health is a $1B+ period tracking app doing $200M in revenue with 75M monthly users. Dmitry Gurski built it from Belarus and out-executed a16z-backed Glow.
- 30Aug 31, 2026
Neo Financial Raised Over C$700M After SkipTheDishes Sold for $200M: Jeff Adamson's Second Act
Neo Financial has raised over C$700M and serves 1M+ Canadians. Co-founder Jeff Adamson built SkipTheDishes first, sold it for $200M, then took on the big banks.
- 31Aug 31, 2026
Perkbox Grew to $36M ARR and Exited for $170M After Three Pivots: Saurav Chopra's Story
Perkbox started as HuddleBuy, a Groupon for SMBs. Three pivots later it hit $36M ARR on a $500K seed and sold for $170M. Saurav Chopra's full founder story.
- 32Aug 31, 2026
Suger Reached $2M ARR With 5 People, Then Raised a $15M Series A: Jon Yoo's Cloud Marketplace Story
Suger automates cloud marketplace sales for Snowflake, Fivetran and Notion. Jon Yoo hit $2M ARR with a 5-person team, survived a co-founder split, raised $15M.
- 33Aug 31, 2026
Super.com Went From Near-Zero in COVID to $150M in Revenue: Hussein Fazal's SnapTravel Pivot
Super.com started as SnapTravel, nearly died in COVID, and rebuilt into a $150M-revenue profitable savings app now valued at $1.2B. Hussein Fazal's full story.
- 34Aug 24, 2026
Artisan Went $0 to $1.3M ARR in 8 Months: How Jaspar Carmichael-Jack Built Ava, the 'Stop Hiring Humans' AI BDR
Artisan is the AI BDR startup behind Ava and the 'Stop Hiring Humans' billboards. Founder Jaspar Carmichael-Jack took it from $0 to $1.3M ARR in eight months.
- 35Aug 24, 2026
Augment Raised $110M in Its First Year: How Harish Abbott Built Augie, the AI Teammate for Logistics
Augment is an AI teammate for freight, built by Deliverr founder Harish Abbott. It raised $110M in a year and supports $35B+ in freight under management.
- 36Aug 24, 2026
Chainguard Raised $50M from Sequoia With No Revenue — Then Killed Its First Product: Dan Lorenc's Story
Chainguard raised $50M from Sequoia pre-revenue on a handshake, killed its first product at $1M ARR, and reached a $3.5B valuation. Dan Lorenc's full story.
- 37Aug 24, 2026
Larridin Raised $17M from a16z: How Russ Fradin Is Building the Measurement Layer for Enterprise AI
Larridin is Russ Fradin's AI measurement startup, which raised $17M from a16z, Bloomberg Beta and GV to tell enterprises which AI tools actually work.
- 38Aug 24, 2026
Tessl Raised $125M Before Launch: How Snyk Founder Guy Podjarny Is Betting on Spec-Driven Development
Tessl is Guy Podjarny's AI-native development startup. It raised $125M — $25M seed plus a $100M Series A — to make specs, not code, the core of software.
- 39Ep 50·Aug 24, 2026
Finding Product Market Fit 3 Times: Andrew Antos on the 30 & 100 Rule
Andrew Antos found PMF three times in one company. Learn his 30/100 rule, quarterly experiment framework, and why founder-market fit matters as much as PMF.
- 40Aug 17, 2026
How Zach Abrams Built Bridge: The Stablecoin API Stripe Bought for $1.1B
Bridge is the stablecoin infrastructure company Stripe acquired for $1.1B. Zach Abrams pivoted a month after raising $8M and launched the week USDC de-pegged.
- 41Aug 17, 2026
How HappyRobot Hit a $1.2B Valuation: Pablo Palafox's $150M Series C Story
HappyRobot builds AI agents for logistics and enterprise ops. It raised a $150M Series C at a $1.2B valuation in August 2026 — after a brutal post-YC pivot.
- 42Aug 17, 2026
How Amar Varma Built Mantle: $2 Trillion of Funds on a Carta Challenger
Mantle is the AI-native cap table and equity platform from Ten Key Labs. Founder Amar Varma raised $10.5M and now tracks close to $2 trillion of funds.
- 43Aug 17, 2026
How Chaz Englander Built Model ML: A $75M Series A One Year After Launch
Model ML is an AI workflow platform for financial services. Chaz Englander's third startup raised a $75M Series A one year after launch. Here's the full story.
- 44Aug 17, 2026
How Edo Liberty Built Pinecone: 40 VC Rejections to a $750M Vector Database
Pinecone invented the vector database category. Edo Liberty was rejected by 40 VCs with 6 months of runway, then raised $138M total at a $750M valuation.
- 45Ep 49·Aug 17, 2026
How Endra Closed $1.5M ARR in One Month With Enterprise AI
Niklas Lindgren spent $150K on brand before building Endra, found users on Reddit, and closed $1.5M enterprise ARR in January 2026. Full playbook inside.
- 46Aug 10, 2026
AI Startup Defensibility: Building a Moat When Everyone Has the Same Models
AI startup defensibility and moat-building from 200+ PMF Show interviews: why production reliability, existing budgets and POC speed beat model access in 2026.
- 47Aug 10, 2026
Capital Efficiency Startup Metrics: What Founders Actually Track
The capital efficiency startup metrics that matter, from 200+ PMF Show interviews: burn multiple, demo-to-close, gross margin discipline and real numbers.
- 48Aug 10, 2026
Generative Engine Optimization for Startups: How to Get Cited by AI
Generative engine optimization for startups: how to get cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, built on distribution lessons from 200+ PMF Show founders.
- 49Aug 10, 2026
Is My AI Startup Just a Wrapper? The Test Founders Actually Use
Is your AI startup just a wrapper? Based on 200+ PMF Show interviews, here are the four tests founders use to tell a thin GPT wrapper from a real company.
- 50Aug 10, 2026
Shadow Burnout: Why Founders Are Exhausted But Won't Admit It
Shadow burnout is the founder exhaustion nobody reports. Based on 200+ PMF Show interviews: how to spot lost energy early and what founders do about it.
- 51Aug 10, 2026
How Colin Zima Lost 5 Deals Then Raised $250M for Omni
Colin Zima lost every early Omni deal, then raised $250M. Learn his product-market fit playbook, LinkedIn outreach strategy, and how to hire for enterprise SaaS GTM.
- 52Aug 4, 2026
Confidence as a Founder: Where Conviction Comes From
- 53Aug 4, 2026
Leading Indicators Startup Founders Actually Track
- 54Aug 4, 2026
Product-Market Fit for B2B SaaS: 6 Real Signals
- 55Aug 4, 2026
Product-Market Fit in a Downturn: What Changes
- 56Aug 4, 2026
Startup Operating Rhythm: How Founders Run the Week
- 57Ep 47·Aug 3, 2026
He Fired Almost Everyone and Raised a $30M Series A
Rafael Broshi shut down a crypto insurance product with $2M left, rebuilt with 2 engineers, and raised $30M. Learn his PMF signals, pivot playbook, and enterprise sales tactics.
- 58Jul 27, 2026
Copying Competitor Startup: What to Do When You're Cloned
- 59Jul 27, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Cybersecurity: How Founders Did It
- 60Jul 27, 2026
Product-Market Fit in a Two-Sided Marketplace
- 61Jul 27, 2026
Startup Recruiter vs DIY Hiring: When Each Makes Sense
- 62Jul 27, 2026
When to Rebuild Startup Product: 6 Founder Lessons
- 63Ep 46·Jul 27, 2026
How Peregrine Built a $6.8B Company by Doing Their Customer's Job
Ben Rudolph embedded inside a police department for 18 months before building Peregrine. Now valued at $6.8B. Here's the product-market fit playbook.
- 64Jul 21, 2026
Contract Length for SaaS Startups: Monthly vs Annual
- 65Jul 21, 2026
How to Find Product-Market Fit for Vertical SaaS
- 66Jul 21, 2026
Product-Market Fit With No Revenue: How to Know It's Real
- 67Jul 21, 2026
Startup Discount Strategy: When to Discount vs Hold Price
- 68Jul 21, 2026
Startup Values at the Early Stage: What Actually Matters
- 69Jul 20, 2026
Negative Churn SaaS: How 5 Founders Got NRR Above 100%
- 70Jul 20, 2026
Product-Market Fit After Pivot: 6 Before-and-After Stories
- 71Jul 20, 2026
Seed Stage Board Meeting: How Founders Should Run It
- 72Jul 20, 2026
Things That Don't Scale: How Startups Win First Customers
- 73Ep 45·Jul 20, 2026
90 Interviews in 90 Days: How Nebulock Hit $25M Series A
Solo founder Damien Lewke shares how 90 customer interviews, a 100%-converting design partner program, and a POC playbook closed a Fortune 500 in 6 weeks.
- 74Jul 13, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Developer Tools: How Founders Know
- 75Ep 44·Jul 13, 2026
Astro Teller: How X Kills 1,000 Ideas to Find One Waymo
Astro Teller reveals X's moonshot process: kill criteria, learning per dollar, and the 'train the monkey' rule that built Waymo, Wing, and Google Brain.
- 76Jul 6, 2026
Moving Upmarket: How Startups Go From SMB to Enterprise
- 77Jul 6, 2026
Product-Market Fit B2B Enterprise: How Founders Crack It
- 78Jul 6, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Fintech: How 5 Founders Found It
- 79Jul 6, 2026
Solo Founder Startup: What the Data and Founders Say
- 80Jul 6, 2026
Startup Data Moat: How Founders Build Real Defensibility
- 81Ep 43·Jul 6, 2026
How Accrual Found PMF in AI-Powered Accounting
Accrual's founder shares how a 21-person team hit PMF, landed H&R Block, ran 100% pilot conversions, and raised $75M with radical transparency and lean team design.
- 82Jun 29, 2026
Hiring AI Engineers at a Startup: A Founder's Guide
- 83Jun 29, 2026
How to Choose Between VCs When You Have Options
- 84Jun 29, 2026
How to Get Design Partners for Your Startup
- 85Jun 29, 2026
Non-Dilutive Funding Options for Startups
- 86Jun 29, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Consumer Apps: The Real Signals
- 87Jun 29, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Marketplaces: Solving Chicken-and-Egg
- 88Jun 29, 2026
Revenue-Based Financing for Startups: When to Skip VC
- 89Jun 29, 2026
SMB vs Enterprise: How Founders Chose Their Market
- 90Jun 29, 2026
Your Startup First Hire: What Founders Actually Choose
- 91Jun 29, 2026
Startup Pivot Examples: 7 Founders Who Changed Everything
- 92Ep 42·Jun 29, 2026
How Render Found Product Market Fit: Anurag Goel
Render CEO Anurag Goel on word-of-mouth PMF, founder-market fit, and building a $1.5B developer cloud with no marketing spend. Key lessons for early-stage founders.
- 93Jun 22, 2026
AI SaaS Metrics Benchmarks 2026: Real Founder Numbers
AI SaaS metrics benchmarks 2026: real numbers from PMF Show founders — 186% net revenue retention, $1M ARR in two quarters, $2M to $20M in twelve months.
- 94Jun 22, 2026
AI Startup Valuation Multiples 2026: The Real Numbers
AI startup valuation multiples 2026: real benchmarks from Carta data and founders — seed at $20-22M post, Series A near $75M, and one startup at $1.8B in two years.
- 95Jun 22, 2026
How Long Does It Take to Raise a Seed Round?
How long does it take to raise a seed round? PMF Show founders share real timelines — 2.5 months end to end, months of rejection, and one $5M raise in weeks.
- 96Jun 22, 2026
How to Get Your First 10 Customers: 6 Founder Playbooks
How to get your first 10 customers: 6 PMF Show founders share exact tactics — cold email to 5 design partners, guerrilla LinkedIn outreach, and small-blast-radius POCs.
- 97Jun 22, 2026
Product-Market Fit Examples: 5 Real Founder Stories
Product-market fit examples from 5 PMF Show founders — overnight usage spikes, $2M to $20M ARR on referrals, and the moment sales worked without the founder.
- 98Ep 41·Jun 22, 2026
From Zero to $1M ARR in 6 Months: How Monk Found PMF
Monk's co-founder shares how AI-native AR automation hit $1M ARR in 6 months via cold outbound, a dashboard pivot, and sharp customer pain. Key lessons for B2B founders.
- 99Jun 15, 2026
Founder Mental Health: What No One Talks About
Founder mental health: 5 founders open up about the panic, sleeplessness, and self-doubt behind billion-dollar companies — and what actually helped. Real stories.
- 100Jun 15, 2026
Getting Your First Enterprise Customer
Getting your first enterprise customer: 6 founders explain how they broke in — design partners, multi-year deals, and 6-9 month cycles. Real tactics and numbers.
- 101Jun 15, 2026
Startup Failure Recovery: How Founders Bounce Back
Startup failure recovery: 5 founders explain how they bounced back from stalled companies and dead ideas — and turned the next attempt into 9-figure growth.
- 102Jun 15, 2026
Startup Pivot Case Study: 5 That Pivoted to Wins
Startup pivot case study: 5 founders who changed direction and found product-market fit — Mercury pivoted 4 times, Wispr Flow saw 20% conversion. Real numbers.
- 103Jun 15, 2026
Vertical AI Startup: How Founders Find PMF
Vertical AI startup playbook: 5 founders on applying AI to specific industries and finding product-market fit fast — one hit $1M ARR in 4 months. Real numbers.
- 104Ep 40·Jun 15, 2026
ManifestOS: AI-Native Law Firm Model & Value-Led Growth
How ManifestOS raised $60M building an AI-native immigration law network using community acquisition, earned media, and 1,000 intake calls before launch.
- 105Jun 8, 2026
B2B Startup First Customers: How to Land the First 10
How do B2B startups get their first customers? 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal the founder-led outbound and design-partner playbook — from a $25K ACV funnel to $1M ARR.
- 106Jun 8, 2026
How to Sell Before the Product Is Built
How do you sell a startup product before it's built? 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal the pre-product playbook — 80 customer interviews before code, paid design partners, and production POCs.
- 107Jun 8, 2026
Pivot vs Persevere: How Founders Decide
Pivot or persevere? 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal how founders make the hardest call — when to change direction and when to stay the course. Real stories and numbers.
- 108Jun 8, 2026
When to Hire Your First Sales Rep
When should a startup hire its first sales rep? 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal the signal: hire only after founder-led sales is repeatable. Real stories, real numbers.
- 109Jun 8, 2026
When to Hire a VP of Sales at a Startup
When should a startup hire a VP of Sales? 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal the mistake founders make — hiring a sales leader to fix sales before the motion is repeatable.
- 110Ep 39·Jun 8, 2026
Amigo AI: From $12K Pre-Code to Series A in Healthcare
How Amigo AI validated demand before building, churned 100% of revenue to pivot into healthcare AI agents, and hit $1M ARR from a $20/month Slack community.
- 111Ep 38·Jun 1, 2026
How SolidRoad Hit $1M ARR With Cold Email Outbound
SolidRoad co-founder Mark reveals how a pivot to customer support AI, 500K cold emails, and 56 customer flights drove $1M ARR and a $25M Series A with 12 people.
- 112May 25, 2026
First Paying Customer: How 5 Startups Got Theirs
How does a startup get its first paying customer? 200+ PMF Show interviews show the exact moment 5 founders landed first revenue — from $45K deals to $1M contracts.
- 113May 25, 2026
Product-Market Fit for HR Tech: How Founders Win Over People Teams
- 114May 25, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Latin America Startups: Lessons From Top Founders
- 115May 25, 2026
Startup Founder Dating: How Founders Make Relationships Work
- 116May 25, 2026
Startup Regret: 8 Founders on What They'd Do Differently
- 117Ep 37·May 25, 2026
Series A in 2026: What the Data Says You Actually Need
Carta's Peter Walker breaks down Q1 2026 venture data: Series A valuations doubled, ARR bar at $3.5M, Bay Area commands 30% premium. Real benchmarks for founders.
- 118May 18, 2026
The Comparison Trap: How Founders Escape Twitter Envy & Stay Sane
- 119May 18, 2026
Founder Aging in a Startup: Why 40+ Founders Win in 2026
- 120May 18, 2026
How to Close a Funding Round Fast: 6 Founders Share the Playbook
- 121May 18, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Food Tech: 5 Founders Share What Actually Works
- 122May 18, 2026
Product-Market Fit for PropTech: How Real Estate Founders Win
- 123May 18, 2026
How to Raise a Seed Round Fast Using the FOMO Playbook
Pablo Srugo's 4-step FOMO fundraising playbook: build 50 VC targets, engineer warm intros, compress timelines, and close your seed round in weeks not months.
- 124Ep 39·May 11, 2026
How Ema Closes 7-Figure Fortune 500 AI Agent Deals
Ema founder Surojit Chatterjee on Hitachi's 55,000-employee AI deployment, compliance-first strategy, and why PMF means your average rep closes without you.
- 125May 4, 2026
Founder Therapy: Why Top Founders See a Therapist (And You Should Too)
- 126May 4, 2026
Founder vs CEO Transition: How Founders Become Real CEOs
- 127May 4, 2026
How to Run a Fundraising Process Like a Pro (The Real Playbook)
Learn how to run a fundraising process from 200+ PMF Show interviews. List building, compression, FOMO tactics, Carta data on round size, and term sheet timing.
- 128May 4, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Climate Tech: How Hard-Tech Founders Find PMF
- 129May 4, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Edtech: How Founders Crack a Market That Buys Slow
- 130Ep 36·May 4, 2026
From $500/Month to $300K Enterprise Deals: BackOps Playbook
Sean McCarthy built BackOps from a Slack bot to a Fortune 500 AI platform. Learn the exact discovery, rebuild, and enterprise sales tactics behind his $300K deals.
- 131Apr 30, 2026
Founder Divorce and Startups: The Hidden Personal Cost
- 132Apr 30, 2026
Founder Identity Crisis: When Your Startup Becomes Your Self-Worth
- 133Apr 30, 2026
How Many Pivots Before Product-Market Fit? Real Founder Data
- 134Apr 30, 2026
Product-Market Fit Pull vs Push: How Founders Tell the Difference
- 135Apr 30, 2026
When to Stop Fundraising: 6 Founders on Knowing When Enough Is Enough
- 136Ep 34·Apr 27, 2026
From $1M to $13M ARR: AirOps CEO on AI Content Sales
AirOps CEO Alex Halliday on growing from $1M to $13M ARR: picking high-taste customers, consultative enterprise sales, and why positioning beats product.
- 137Ep 33·Apr 20, 2026
180 VC Rejections to $40M Series B: Bland AI's Playbook
Bland AI CEO Isaiah Granet on pivoting mid-YC, a $60K billboard that hit 1B impressions, firing 50% of customers, and winning seven-figure enterprise deals.
- 138Ep 32·Apr 16, 2026
From Dorm Room to $10M ARR: BoldVoice's B2C Playbook
Anada Lakra grew BoldVoice to $10M ARR and a $21M Series A. Learn her B2C playbook: launch fast, charge from day one, and scale via YouTube influencer ads.
- 139Apr 13, 2026
False Product-Market Fit: When Traction Is Just a Mirage
- 140Apr 13, 2026
Co-Founder Relationships: What Founders Really Need
- 141Apr 13, 2026
Product-Market Fit for API Companies
- 142Apr 13, 2026
Startup Acquisition Offer: When to Say Yes, No, and Maybe
- 143Apr 13, 2026
Startup Platform Risk: What It Is and How Founders Beat It
- 144Ep 31·Apr 13, 2026
From $1M to $30M GMV: How Protege Found Product Market Fit
Bobby Samuels grew Protege 30x in one year with in-person sales, trusted data networks, and A-plus hiring. Key lessons for B2B founders finding PMF.
- 145Ep 30·Apr 9, 2026
Ex-Amazon VP Raised $20M to Rebuild E-Commerce with AI
Spangle co-founder Maju Kuruvilla explains why 40% of e-commerce traffic is wasted, how AI rebuilds storefronts in real time, and the future of seller vs. buyer agents.
- 146Apr 6, 2026
Founder Loneliness: Why Startup CEOs Struggle in Silence
- 147Apr 6, 2026
When to Kill Your Startup: Lessons from Founders Who Shut Down
- 148Apr 6, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Hardware Startups
- 149Apr 6, 2026
Product-Market Fit for Healthtech Startups
- 150Apr 6, 2026
Saying No as a Founder: How Top Startups Grew by Doing Less
- 151Ep 29·Apr 6, 2026
22 VC Rejections to $100M ARR: Amanda Kahlow on AI Sales
Amanda Kahlow built 6sense to $200M ARR after 22 rejections. Now she's collapsing the B2B sales stack with AI at 1mind—and raised her Series A in 3 days.
- 152Ep 28·Apr 2, 2026
How Stuut Hit $1M ARR in 2 Months Using AI for Accounts Receivable
Tarek Alaruri built Stuut to $1M ARR in 2 months using AI for accounts receivable. Learn how he pre-sold $65K contracts and achieved 40% collection improvements.
- 153Mar 30, 2026
How AI Agent Startups Find PMF Differently
- 154Mar 30, 2026
Co-Founder Breakups: How 4 Founding Teams Split and What Happened
- 155Mar 30, 2026
Fundraising as an Immigrant Founder: How 5 International Founders Raised in the US
- 156Mar 30, 2026
Can You Lose Product-Market Fit?
- 157Mar 30, 2026
Party Rounds: Good or Bad? 5 Founders Share the Truth
- 158Ep 27·Mar 30, 2026
From $2M to $12M ARR: AppDynamics' Freemium Enterprise Playbook
Bhaskar Sunkara reveals how AppDynamics grew $2M to $12M ARR in one year, drove 60%+ leads via free download, and sold to Cisco for $3.7B.
- 159Ep 27·Mar 26, 2026
How Yogi Goel Raised $41M to Replace Enterprise Accountants with AI
Former Rubrik executive Yogi Goel raised $41M in one year to build Maxima, an AI platform automating enterprise accounting. Learn his design partner playbook and fundraising strategy.
- 160Mar 23, 2026
Agent AI Startup Product-Market Fit: How Founders Actually Found It
- 161Mar 23, 2026
Fundraising as a Solo Founder: How 5 Founders Raised Without a Co-Founder
- 162Mar 23, 2026
How to Get Your Startup Round Oversubscribed: Exact Tactics from 5 Founders
- 163Mar 23, 2026
Product-Market Fit for AI SaaS: Why AI Companies Hit PMF Faster But Churn More
- 164Mar 23, 2026
When to Pivot Your AI Startup: The Data Says You Get 1–2 Shots
- 165Ep 24·Mar 23, 2026
How Omar Haroun Scaled Eudia from $2M to $20M ARR in 12 Months
Learn how Omar Haroun scaled AI legal platform Eudia from $2M to $20M ARR by targeting enterprise labor budgets, using cold emails for Fortune 500 sales, and focusing on customer referrals.
- 166Ep 25·Mar 19, 2026
Helen Hastings: How to Build an AI-Enabled Service That Replaces QuickBooks
Learn how Helen Hastings raised $20M to build Quanta, an AI-enabled accounting service that replaces QuickBooks. Get her playbook for user research, fundraising, and scaling service businesses.
- 167Mar 18, 2026
Firing at a Startup: What 200+ Founders Learned About Letting People Go
- 168Mar 18, 2026
Founder Burnout: 8 Founders on the Darkest Moments and How They Got Through
Founder burnout is real. 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal panic attacks, rock bottom, drinking by day, and the exact tactics founders used to come back.
- 169Mar 18, 2026
Founder-Led Sales: How 10 Founders Closed Their First Deals
Founder-led sales is how startups close their first $1M. 200+ PMF Show interviews reveal the exact scripts, cold call cadence, and pricing tactics that worked.
- 170Mar 18, 2026
How to Raise Prices at a Startup (Without Losing Customers)
How do you raise prices at a startup? 200+ PMF Show interviews show how founders 10x'd pricing — Knak went $100/mo to $5K/yr, GoBolt tested its way to an $90/hr rate.
- 171Mar 18, 2026
When to Pivot Your Startup: The 6 Signals That Told These Founders It Was Time
- 172Ep 22·Mar 16, 2026
From $2M Revenue to Zero: How CookUnity's Founder Built a $750M ARR Company
How Mateo Marietti built CookUnity into a $750M ARR marketplace by shutting down $2M revenue to pivot from on-demand to subscription meals. Product-market fit lessons.
- 173Ep 23·Mar 12, 2026
How This 3x Founder Hit $1M ARR in 5 Months with AI Customer Service Automation
Roy Moussa built GetVocal from zero to $1M ARR in just 5 months. Learn his playbook for enterprise AI success and the Context Graph technology behind it.
- 174Ep 20·Mar 9, 2026
From Zero Sales to $200M ARR: Filevine's Legal Tech Growth Story
How Ryan Anderson built Filevine from 8 months of zero sales to $200M ARR through events marketing, product customization, and AI transformation.
- 175Ep 21·Mar 5, 2026
How Method Security Raised $25M & Landed a $1M Contract by Building in the Dark
Sam Jones built Method Security in isolation for a year, raised $25M from a16z in 3 days, and landed $1M+ contracts. Learn his contrarian enterprise cybersecurity approach.
- 176Mar 4, 2026
How AI Agent Startups Find Product-Market Fit: Real Data From 5 Founders
Based on 200+ founder interviews, AI agents hit $1M ARR 3x faster than traditional SaaS, but face unique retention challenges. Learn the 4 patterns that define PMF for AI startups.
- 177Mar 4, 2026
Founder Depression: Why Even Successful Founders Struggle—and How They Recover
Based on 200+ founder interviews, founder depression affects 1 in 3 founders during growth, not failure. Discover identity collapse patterns and 4 evidence-based interventions that accelerate recovery.
- 178Mar 4, 2026
How Long Does It Take to Find Product-Market Fit: Data From 50+ Founders
Based on 200+ founder interviews, most B2B SaaS startups find PMF in 6-18 months. We analyzed timelines across 50 episodes to answer your question with real data.
- 179Mar 4, 2026
How to Create FOMO When Fundraising: The 5 Tactics That Close Rounds in Days, Not Months
- 180Mar 4, 2026
When to Focus on Unit Economics: The Moment 8 Founders Made the Switch
When should startups prioritize unit economics? Based on 200+ founder interviews, we found the answer: after PMF, not before. Learn when 8 scaling founders switched from growth to profitability.
- 181Ep 18·Mar 2, 2026
How Michel Tricot Raised $185M Before Finding Revenue Model | Airbyte
Learn how Michel Tricot raised $185M for Airbyte through open source community building, then hit $1M ARR in 4 months. Includes Magic Wand validation framework.
- 182Ep 19·Feb 26, 2026
From 5 Years of Failure to $20M ARR: Didi Gurfinkel's FP&A Pivot Story
How Datarails founder survived 5 years of failed pivots, validated FP&A with $790/month contracts, and scaled to $20M ARR through 100% outbound sales targeting Excel users.
- 183Ep 17·Feb 23, 2026
How LiveKit Powers OpenAI's Voice Mode: From Near-Death to AI Unicorn
Discover how LiveKit went from struggling startup to powering ChatGPT's voice mode. Learn about voice AI infrastructure, WebRTC, and the pivot that created a unicorn.
- 184Ep 16·Feb 19, 2026
How Kevin Tian Pivoted at $1M ARR and Raised $120M for Doppel
Kevin Tian pivoted Doppel from NFTs to cybersecurity at $1M ARR, secured his first $5k contract with no product, and raised $120M+ from a16z during the transition.
- 185Ep 14·Feb 16, 2026
From $100M Exit to $250M Raised: Dileep Thazhmon's Global Banking Strategy
How Dileep Thazhmon built Jeeves into a global business bank serving 25 countries after selling PowerInbox for $100M. Learn his Beat Down Framework and unscalable growth tactics.
- 186Ep 13·Feb 12, 2026
How Chaz Englander Built 3 Successful Startups: From $40M Exit to $75M Series A
Serial entrepreneur Chaz Englander reveals his proven playbook for building successful startups, from LinkedIn fundraising tactics to achieving rapid growth in AI-era companies.
- 187Ep 12·Feb 9, 2026
How to Pivot from $3M ARR to $1B Valuation: Jay Madheswaran's Eve Story
Jay Madheswaran fired all customers at his $3M ARR startup and pivoted to legal AI. Learn how Eve reached unicorn status in 2 years with 40% cold outreach conversion.
- 188Ep 11·Feb 5, 2026
Account Based Marketing Secrets from Briq's Founder — Enterprise Sales Playbook
Bassem Hamdy reveals his exact ABM playbook: identifying challengers who kill deals, 1-person webinars, selling risk vs. time, and why trade shows don't work.
- 189Ep 10·Feb 2, 2026
From YC Rejection to $1.8B Unicorn: Max Junestrand's Legora Story
Max Junestrand built Legora into a $1.8B AI legal tech unicorn after YC rejection. Learn his strategies: pausing sales post-Series A, 55% demo conversion, hypergrowth scaling.
- 190Ep 9·Jan 29, 2026
From Studio Apartment to $100M+ Revenue: Spot & Tango's DTC Pet Food Journey
Discover how Russell Breuer scaled Spot & Tango from cooking dog food at home to $100M+ revenue through UnKibble innovation, vertical integration, and data-driven marketing strategies.
- 191Ep 6·Jan 26, 2026
How Harman Narula Built Canary Technologies Into a $600M Company | PMF Show
Learn how Harman Narula built Canary Technologies into a $600M hospitality platform starting with digital forms and 100 daily cold calls. Outbound sales secrets revealed.
- 192Ep 7·Jan 22, 2026
100K Signups in 30 Days, 99.9% Churned: How Fathom Hit $10M ARR
Rich White's wild journey: 100K Zoom signups nearly killed Fathom when 99.9% churned. Learn how visible meeting bots drove viral growth to $10M ARR.
- 193Ep 8·Jan 19, 2026
Product-Market Fit vs. Go-To-Market Fit: Bob Tinker
Bob Tinker built MobileIron to $150M ARR by mastering both PMF and GTM Fit. Learn the Deal Grind, the magic question, and the surfing framework for startups.
- 194Ep 5·Jan 15, 2026
How Terra Security Hit $1M ARR in One Quarter
Shahar Peled hit $1M ARR in one quarter with zero marketing spend. Learn his Service-as-Software playbook, design partner strategy, and 40% SQL-to-close rate.
- 195Ep 4·Jan 12, 2026
How Decagon Hit $1M ARR With 2 People in 6 Months
Ashwin Sreenivas built Decagon to $1.5B in 2 years with 2 founders. Learn his customer discovery playbook, the $150k PMF test, and how to close enterprise deals early.
- 196Ep 3·Jan 8, 2026
Unicorn in 18 Months: How Serval Replaced ServiceNow
Jake Stauch built Serval into a $1B company in 18 months by replacing ServiceNow with AI. Learn his PMF signals, discovery tactics, and 50%+ close rate strategy.
- 197Ep 2·Jan 5, 2026
4 Years to Launch, $1M ARR in 30 Days: Siqi Chen's Story
Siqi Chen lost 95% of his revenue to COVID, spent 4 years building Runway, then hit $1M ARR in 30 days with a viral launch. Here's how he did it.
- 198Ep 104·Dec 29, 2025
B2B SaaS Is Dead: How AI Founders Win in 2025
Pablo Srugo explains why the B2B SaaS playbook is obsolete, what triple-threat competition means post-ChatGPT, and why Service-as-Software is the next big opportunity.
- 199Ep 104·Dec 22, 2025
60 VC Rejections to $100M ARR: Kyle Hanslovan's Huntress Story
Kyle Hanslovan burned his savings, slept in his car, and got 60 VC rejections before Huntress hit $100M ARR. Here's how he built a $2B cybersecurity company.
- 200Ep 101·Dec 18, 2025
He Killed a $100K Product & Pivoted to Raise $375M
Viraj Parekh killed a working product after customers kept asking about the backend tech. Here's how he validated the pivot, landed first customers, and raised $350M.
- 201Ep 100·Dec 15, 2025
Five Steps to Product Market Fit — Pablo Srugo
Pablo Srugo's 5-step PMF framework from 60+ founder interviews: research mode, insane focus, niche markets, value over growth, and faster pivots.
- 202Ep 99·Dec 11, 2025
How Juicebox Hit $10M ARR in 2 Years and Raised $30M from Sequoia
David Paffenholz killed a viral app, fixed brutal churn manually, and scaled Juicebox to $10M ARR with 24 people before raising $30M from Sequoia. Here's how.
- 203Ep 98·Dec 8, 2025
How Jennifer Smith Built Scribe to $1.3B Ignoring Her VCs
Jennifer Smith ignored investor pushback, launched a janky MVP, and ran PLG + enterprise sales simultaneously. Here's how Scribe reached $1.3B and 95% Fortune 500 penetration.
- 204Dec 4, 2025
From $166M Snap Exit to $50M AI Video Startup — Alex Mashrabov
Alex Mashrabov sold to Snap for $166M, then built Higgsfield AI — raising $50M to help brands produce 10,000+ AI video ads per year. Key lessons inside.
- 205Ep 96·Dec 1, 2025
How Tenex Hit $43M ARR in Year One: Eric Foster
Eric Foster built Tenex to $43M ARR in year one. Learn how AI-native ops, outcome-based selling, and founder-led sales collapsed the enterprise sales cycle.
- 206Ep 95·Nov 27, 2025
Series A Fundraising Data: What Carta's Q3 2025 Shows
Carta's Peter Walker shares real 2025 benchmarks: median seed is $20M post, Series A is $60M post, and only 20% of seed companies graduate in 2 years.
- 207Ep 94·Nov 24, 2025
Growth Buyout: How Metropolis Raised $3.5B on AI Parking
Alex Israel explains how Metropolis built a 20M-member AI parking platform by acquiring legacy operators instead of selling to them—the growth buyout playbook.
- 208Ep 93·Nov 20, 2025
How Instalily Hit $1M ARR in Months With AI Agents
Amit Shah left 1-800-Flowers to build Instalily. Learn how operator market fit, 100+ trade shows, and AI agents drove $1M ARR in months.
- 209Ep 92·Nov 17, 2025
He Validated a $120M Insurance Startup in One Weekend
Wayne Slavin built Sure — embedded insurance for Tesla, Toyota & Mastercard — after a fake checkout flow converted 15.91% in a single weekend. Here's the full playbook.
- 210Ep 91·Nov 13, 2025
How Matt Espinoza Hit $8M ARR in 6 Months with Volume
Matt Espinoza grew Clover to $8M ARR in 6 months: 1,000 AI videos/day, Reddit SEO hacks, and 15,000 cold emails. Inside his 'volume negates luck' playbook.
- 211Ep 90·Nov 10, 2025
He Left $5M ARR Behind—Then Built a $50M Company
Russ Fradin walked away from $5M ARR at Dynamic Signal to chase a $200K signal—and built to $50M ARR. His pivot playbook and lessons for founders.
- 212Ep 89·Nov 6, 2025
Product-Price-Market Fit: How Deliverr Hit $100M ARR
Harish Abbott explains how 2 changes — a flat pricing model and a dynamic delivery badge — took Deliverr from 10 customers to $100M ARR and a $2B Shopify exit.
- 213Ep 88·Nov 3, 2025
PMF Is Never a Destination: Dheeraj Pandey on Building $20B+ Companies
Nutanix founder Dheeraj Pandey explains why PMF must be re-earned at every stage, why 130%+ NRR signals real traction, and how platform thinking drives billion-dollar scale.
- 214Oct 30, 2025
How TurboPuffer Cut Vector DB Costs 95% and Won Cursor
Simon Eskildsen built TurboPuffer to make vector databases 100x cheaper. How he won Cursor, Notion, and Linear — and why he turned down a $30M Series A.
- 215Oct 27, 2025
Product-User Fit vs. Product-Buyer Fit: Snyk's $300M Lesson
Guy Podjarny burned $4M to hit $100K ARR at Snyk. One insight—product-buyer fit—drove $4.5M ARR in 12 months. Here's the full breakdown.
- 216Ep 85·Oct 23, 2025
How a 5x Founder Turned a Contract Into a Ford Acquisition
Amar Varma explains the pricing move that triggered Ford's acquisition of Autonomic, the real Tinder origin story, and how Mantle competes with Carta.
- 217Ep 84·Oct 20, 2025
Fake vs. Real PMF: How Blue J Went from $2M to $25M ARR
Blue J founder Ben Alarie on 8 years of partial PMF, a full product rebuild on RAG-based LLMs, and the hypergrowth that followed: $2M to $25M ARR in 2 years.
- 218Ep 83·Oct 16, 2025
How Axonius Grew to $100M ARR in 5 Years | Dean Sysman
Dean Sysman reveals how Axonius created cyber asset management, survived 20 POC bugs, and grew to $100M ARR in 4.5 years. Key: messaging + time-to-value.
- 219Ep 82·Oct 13, 2025
How Casey Ellis Built Bugcrowd to $180M Raised
Casey Ellis validated Bugcrowd's hacker marketplace with $500, landed Google in month 4, and raised $180M+. Learn his Uber pitch method and GTM playbook.
- 220Ep 81·Oct 9, 2025
From Google to $1M ARR Every 10 Days: Zach Lloyd's Warp Story
Zach Lloyd quit Google, survived a failed startup, then built Warp to $1M ARR every 10 days by pivoting to agentic development. Key founder lessons inside.
- 221Ep 80·Oct 6, 2025
From $2K in the Bank to Microsoft Acquisition: Alex Sherman's PMF Journey
Alex Sherman survived 18 months of 2-month runway before retail media exploded and Microsoft acquired PromoteIQ. Now he's building Bluefish AI for Fortune 500 CMOs.
- 222Ep 79·Oct 2, 2025
From Drug Dealer Death Threats to $50M ARR: ServiceUp's Story
How Brett Carlson built ServiceUp to $50M ARR by copying DoorDash, surviving death threats, and pivoting from B2C to B2B fleet repair with 5x higher order values.
- 223Ep 78·Sep 29, 2025
From $5M to $7B AUM: Doug Scott's Decade-Long Overnight Success
Doug Scott pitched 100+ investors and spent 3 years building Ethic before one go-to-market insight drove 5x growth. How he reached $7B AUM in fintech.
- 224Ep 77·Sep 25, 2025
Speed Is the Only Startup Moat — Here's How to Keep It
Pablo Srugo reveals why execution speed is the only real moat for founders — and how Twitter hit top 5 in the App Store with 300 small iterations, not one big bet.
- 225Ep 78·Sep 22, 2025
Stop Talking to Customers—Work Beside Them | Buildots
Buildots co-founder Aviv Leibovici on spending 5 months on construction sites before building, the 90% adoption failure, and the Excel hack that drove 3–4X growth.
- 226Ep 75·Sep 18, 2025
Cold Outbound to $10M ARR: Shensi Ding's Merge Playbook
Shensi Ding cold-messaged 50,000 engineers and ran demos 9am–9pm to grow Merge to $10M ARR. Her unfiltered B2B SaaS go-to-market playbook.
- 227Ep 74·Sep 15, 2025
7 Years to $1M, Then $100M ARR: Eldon Sprickerhoff's Story
Eldon Sprickerhoff bootstrapped eSentire for 7 years to $1M ARR, then scaled to $10M in 3 years after one key hire. Here's exactly how he did it.
- 228Ep 73·Sep 10, 2025
From Failed Pivot to $30M Series A: Composio's AI Agent Growth
Soham Ganatra shares how Composio grew to 100,000 developers and raised $30M from Lightspeed — by ditching friendly customers and running 10–20 cold calls per day.
- 229Ep 72·Sep 8, 2025
From YC Fraud to $10M ARR: Sahil Phadnis's SMB Fintech Pivot
Sahil Phadnis was called a fraud on TechCrunch at 18. He pivoted to build Affiniti—$10M ARR, 2,000 SMB customers, using trade associations to cut CAC by 75%.
- 230Ep 71·Sep 4, 2025
How Gamma Went from Dying Startup to $1M ARR in 2 Months
Gamma co-founder Jon Noronha shares how a dying startup survived 3 years of no traction, pivoted to AI presentations, and hit $1M ARR in 2 months after Paul Graham trashed their launch tweet.
- 231Ep 70·Sep 2, 2025
From Google to $16B IPO: Rubrik's PMF Playbook
Rubrik co-founder Soham Mazumdar on hitting $1M ARR in 2 quarters, why paid pilots beat free trials, and how to find PMF in enterprise hardware.
- 232Ep 69·Aug 28, 2025
Bootstrapping to $55M: Stéphan Donzé's Anti-VC Playbook
How Stéphan Donzé bootstrapped AODocs to $55M without VC money—using founder-led sales, long enterprise cycles, and 40% annual growth over hypergrowth.
- 233Ep 68·Aug 25, 2025
How Andrew Filev Bootstrapped Wrike to a $2.2B Exit
Andrew Filev bootstrapped Wrike for 17 years without pivoting and sold for $2.2B. His contrarian playbook on compounding, product, and AI agents explained.
- 234Ep 67·Aug 21, 2025
Series A in 2025: The $3M ARR Bar & What It Takes
Carta data reveals the new Series A bar: $3M ARR, 2.1-year median timeline, and 20% seed-to-A conversion. What founders must know to raise in 2025.
- 235Ep 66·Aug 18, 2025
How Hedra Hit $10M+ ARR in Months With Zero Outbound
Hedra founder Michael Lingelbach breaks down how his AI video app reached eight-figure ARR with no outbound sales, a creator-led launch, and a deliberate V2 rebuild.
- 236Ep 65·Aug 14, 2025
How Ross McNairn Grew Wordsmith AI to Millions in ARR in 18 Months
Ross McNairn's playbook: test co-founders with deliberate conflict, build Slack-native, stay at 8 people, and pivot to the pain nobody else solved. Wordsmith AI's PMF story.
- 237Ep 64·Aug 11, 2025
How Rick Song Built Persona to $100M ARR by Expecting Failure
Rick Song grew Persona to $100M ARR by expecting failure, avoiding hyper-optimization, and hiring only trusted people. Key lessons for early-stage founders.
- 238Ep 63·Aug 7, 2025
Neil Patel: Give Software Away Free to Build Bigger
Neil Patel says skip product-market fit — give software away free, collect leads at scale, and monetize via adjacent services. Here's the full playbook.
- 239Ep 62·Aug 4, 2025
0 to $5M ARR in 3 Months: Roy Lee's Viral Growth Playbook
Roy Lee grew Cluely from zero to $5M ARR in 3 months using engineered virality and short-form content. Here's his full tactical playbook for founders.
- 240Ep 64·Jul 31, 2025
She Raised $1.3M, Delivered Results, Then Shut Down
Mary Beth Snodgrass built a health tech startup that worked — and still failed. Learn the 7 reasons Healthiby shut down despite real patient outcomes.
- 241Ep 60·Jul 28, 2025
How Wispr Flow Hit 50% MoM Growth—Tanay Kothari
Wispr Flow founder Tanay Kothari on pivoting from brain-computer hardware to a voice dictation app with 50% MoM growth, 20% paid conversion, and $30M raised.
- 242Ep 59·Jul 24, 2025
Why Every Startup Problem After PMF Is a People Problem
Pablo Srugo reveals why startup challenges beyond product market fit are people problems — and how free pricing built Zeffy an unbeatable moat.
- 243Ep 58·Jul 21, 2025
How Mercury Hit $500M ARR: Immad Akhund's Playbook
Mercury CEO Immad Akhund breaks down how he raised $6M pre-product, launched virally on Twitter, and hit $1M ARR in 5 months on the way to $500M.
- 244Ep 59·Jul 17, 2025
Mike Maples: Why Your Startup Idea Isn't Crazy Enough
Mike Maples (Floodgate, Pattern Breakers) explains why breakthrough startups reject consensus, harness inflections, and measure product market fit with 3 real tests.
- 245Ep 56·Jul 14, 2025
How Zuben Matthews Built Brigit to $100M ARR and Sold for $460M
Zuben Matthews turned overdraft fee pain into Brigit—$100M ARR, $460M exit. Learn his playbook for customer discovery, unit economics, and fintech growth.
- 246Ep 57·Jul 10, 2025
He Hit $3.5M ARR and Still Failed: Lessons from Freshline
Joseph Lee built Freshline to $3.5M in revenue, raised nearly $2M, and still couldn't scale. Learn why marketplaces fail and what market selection really means.
- 247Ep 54·Jul 3, 2025
How Illumio Raised $140M Before Revenue | Andrew Rubin
Illumio founder Andrew Rubin raised $40M in 6 months with no product. Learn how he navigated new market creation, enterprise sales, and startup fundraising.
- 248Ep 53·Jul 3, 2025
Why Getting to $1M ARR Fast Doesn't Matter
Speed to $1M ARR is a startup myth. Pablo Srugo breaks down 4 real founder journeys — Carbon6, Lightspeed, Graphite, Vapi — to show what actually drives scale.
- 249Ep 52·Jun 30, 2025
7 Years, No Revenue: How Sigma Computing Hit $100M ARR
Rob Woollen built Sigma Computing through 7 years of failed prototypes before tripling revenue 3 years straight to $100M ARR. Here's exactly how he did it.
- 250Ep 51·Jun 26, 2025
Fintech Startup Failure: $10M Raised, 500K Users—What Went Wrong
Oval Money raised $10M and hit 500K users—then still failed. Founder Benedetta Lucini reveals the real reasons: corporate VC traps, bad equity splits, and a costly bank partnership.
- 251Ep 50·Jun 23, 2025
How Mercado Libre Built a $100B Business Without Hypergrowth
Hernan Kazah reveals how Mercado Libre survived near-bankruptcy, cut 50% of staff, and built a $100B company through patience and focus—not hypergrowth.
- 252Ep 49·Jun 19, 2025
How 4 Founders Built Massive Startups Unconventionally
Skip the Dishes, Polarsteps, Jobber & Public.com each broke a different startup rule — deliberately. Learn the meta-lesson for finding product-market fit your way.
- 253Ep 48·Jun 16, 2025
From $500K Stuck to $10M ARR: Vapi Founder Jordan Dearsley
Vapi founder Jordan Dearsley shares how he pivoted from a stalled $500K calendar app to $10M ARR in one year by solving a 10/10 burning customer pain.
- 254Ep 47·Jun 12, 2025
How Glean & Huntress Hit $100M ARR: Two Founders, Two Paths
Arvind Jain (Glean, $5B) and Kyle Hanslovan (Huntress, $2B) share raw lessons on fundraising, PMF, and scaling to $100M ARR from Web Summit Vancouver.
- 255Ep 46·Jun 9, 2025
How Tailscale Hit $10M+ ARR With Zero Marketing
Tailscale founder Avery Pennarun reveals how word-of-mouth, a free developer tier, and obsessive listening drove $10M+ ARR and a $160M raise in 6 years.
- 256Ep 53·Jun 5, 2025
Startup Scams, AI Jobs Crisis & OpenAI's $6.5B Device
OpenAI's $6.5B Jony Ive device, Builder AI's fraud, Elizabeth Holmes' return, and why AI is cutting entry-level tech jobs by 25%. May 2025 startup news breakdown.
- 257Ep 44·Jun 2, 2025
How Graphite Hit $1M ARR in 10 Months After a Full Pivot
Merrill Lutsky pivoted Graphite twice before hitting $1M ARR in 10 months. Learn his lessons on product-market fit, pricing, and enterprise sales for dev tools.
- 258Ep 43·May 29, 2025
Why Passion & Prioritization Drive Product-Market Fit
ButcherBox, Aragon, 7shifts: four founder stories reveal why you can't fake PMF, how to prioritize ruthlessly, and why passion keeps founders in the game.
- 259Ep 42·May 26, 2025
How Dax Dasilva Bootstrapped Lightspeed to $1B ARR
Dax Dasilva bootstrapped Lightspeed for 7 years using 4x pricing and 400 resellers. Here's the exact strategy that drove $10M ARR — no VC required.
- 260Ep 41·May 22, 2025
Seed to Series A Gap 2025: What Carta Data Reveals
Carta data shows just 15% of seed companies reach Series A in 2 years. Learn what bridge rounds, valuations, and ecosystem data mean for founders in 2025.
- 261Ep 40·May 19, 2025
0 to $210M Exit in 3 Years: Kazi Ahmed's Roll-Up Playbook
Kazi Ahmed built Carbon6 by rolling up Amazon seller software, survived $1M/month burn, pivoted to profitability, and sold for $210M. Here's the full playbook.
- 262Ep 37·May 15, 2025
Startup Lessons: Build Step by Step, Not Forecast to Forecast
Four founders. One meta-lesson: constraints beat forecasts. Learn how Stacker, Clutch, Retention.com, and Cleerly built breakout businesses through near-failure moments.
- 263Ep 38·May 12, 2025
How Public.com Grew to $1B: Fractional Shares & Focus
Jannick Malling reveals how Public.com grew from 1K beta users to millions — using fractional shares, unconventional acquisition, and the GameStop moment. Key lessons inside.
- 264Ep 37·May 8, 2025
April 2025 Startup News: Spies, AI Bubbles & Buy Now Eat Later
Adam Neumann raises again, Deel plants a spy at Rippling, Safe Super Intelligence hits $34B with no revenue, and Klarna lets you finance ice cream. April 2025 unpacked.
- 265Ep 36·May 5, 2025
From 3 Customers to $100M ARR: Jobber's Slow Burn Story
Jobber co-founder Forrest Zeisler shares how 6 months of rejection, $29/month pricing, and no silver bullets led to $100M ARR and $180M raised.
- 266Ep 35·May 1, 2025
How Polarsteps Hit $10M ARR by Obsessing Over NPS
Koen Droste grew Polarsteps to 10M users and $10M ARR with zero marketing spend. His secret: NPS as the only metric that matters. Here's how.
- 267Ep 34·Apr 28, 2025
How 7Shifts Reached 1 in 10 Restaurant Workers in the US
Jordan Boesch built 7shifts from a side project into software used by 50,000 restaurants. Learn his SEO, partnership, and culture strategies on the PMF Show.
- 268Ep 33·Apr 24, 2025
Zero to $10M ARR in 2 Years: Aragon AI Founder Wesley Tian
Wesley Tian built Aragon, an AI headshot app, from $0 to $10M ARR in 2 years with no VC funding. Learn his affiliate, SEO, and PMF tactics.
- 269Ep 32·Apr 21, 2025
He Raised $30M & Failed, Then Bootstrapped to $550M
Mike Salguero lost $30M chasing VC without product-market fit, then built ButcherBox to $550M profitably with $10K. Key lessons for early-stage founders.
- 270Ep 31·Apr 17, 2025
What Pre-Seed VCs Really Look For in Founders | Gopi Rangan
Gopi Rangan shares how he picks founders, structures pre-seed pitches, and builds a targeted investor list. Practical advice for raising your first round.
- 271Ep 30·Apr 14, 2025
How Dr. Jim Min Raised $300M to Prevent Heart Attacks
Cleerly founder Dr. Jim Min on using AI to detect heart plaque before attacks strike — plus fundraising, FDA hurdles, and startup survival lessons.
- 272Ep 29·Apr 10, 2025
Bootstrapped to $14M Profit: Adam Robinson on PMF
Adam Robinson grew Retention.com to $14M annual profit with 6 people and no funding. Learn his PMF signals, ICP strategy, and LinkedIn growth playbook.
- 273Ep 28·Apr 7, 2025
97% Down Round to $575M: Clutch CEO Dan Park's Survival Playbook
Dan Park took Clutch through a 97% down round with six weeks of cash — then doubled revenue to $400M ARR. Here's the exact playbook he used to survive.
- 274Ep 27·Apr 3, 2025
LinkedIn GTM Playbook: $4M ARR in 2 Years | Noah Greenberg
Noah Greenberg bootstrapped Stacker to $4M ARR using LinkedIn content, watering hole posts, warm DMs, and 3-month pilots. Steal the full playbook here.
- 275Ep 26·Apr 1, 2025
Startup Fundraising Satire: What VC Culture Gets Wrong
Jack Kuveke's Jabroni Capital satire exposes real startup dysfunction—fake traction, network privilege, founder secondaries, and VC hype culture. April Fool's, but true.
- 276Ep 25·Mar 27, 2025
Product-Led Growth Secrets: Wes Bush on PLG That Works
Wes Bush breaks down the Bowling Alley Framework, how to find your million-dollar free problem, and how to nail PLG onboarding. From the Product Market Fit Show.


















































































































































