May 31, 2022
How to Find your Co-Founders | Lindsey Goodchild, Founder of Nudge
Running a startup is hard. Doing it alone, especially when it's your first time, can be downright tortuous. Lindsey started off on her own, without much of a network in the startup scene in Toronto. Not only that, as a business type she didn't have the skills needed to build a prototype, let alone the full product. On this episode, she discusses how she methodically set out to find her co-founder through three steps: networking, networking, networking. If you're a solo founder looking...
Running a startup is hard. Doing it alone, especially when it's your first time, can be downright tortuous.
Lindsey started off on her own, without much of a network in the startup scene in Toronto. Not only that, as a business type she didn't have the skills needed to build a prototype, let alone the full product. On this episode, she discusses how she methodically set out to find her co-founder through three steps: networking, networking, networking.
If you're a solo founder looking for your second half, you'll want to give this a listen.
01:44 - Why to join accelerators
03:26 - Steps to take when looking for a co-founder
06:48 - Using agencies before having a co-founder
09:06 - Serendipity is key
11:13 - How to know you've found your co-founder
15:02 - How to split founder equity
16:13 - Co-Founder vs Technical Hire
21:21 - What PMF Feels Like
22:57 - Recap
WEBVTT
00:00:00.089 --> 00:00:02.910
I did what, I thought, was the right approach.
00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:10.589
I went to Kijiji and I posted some ads to see if somebody would build this app and work with me.
00:00:10.291 --> 00:00:18.570
And in doing I had a bunch of responses and I thought I found somebody that would do it, and I ended up paying them half up front.
00:00:18.571 --> 00:00:21.449
And I never heard from them again, ever.
00:00:21.451 --> 00:00:22.410
That was a really low point.
00:00:24.870 --> 00:00:29.519
Welcome to the product-market fit show brought to you by Mistral, a seed stage firm based in Canada.
00:00:29.521 --> 00:00:31.980
I'm Pablo, I'm a founder turned VC.
00:00:31.981 --> 00:00:35.399
My goal is to help early-stage founders like you find product-market fit.
00:00:35.970 --> 00:00:42.299
Today we have Lindsey, the founder of Nudge.
00:00:42.301 --> 00:00:46.170
Nudge is a digital communications platform for improving workforce performance.
00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:47.549
They're based in Toronto.
00:00:47.551 --> 00:00:51.149
They have about 70 employees and have raised over$15 million.
00:00:51.149 --> 00:00:52.799
Lindsey, it's a pleasure to have you here today.
00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:54.179
Thanks for having me.
00:00:54.270 --> 00:01:00.689
The topic of today's episode is how to find your co-founders.
00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:16.620
And that's a really interesting topic because I meet so many founders, and it's just such a big issue for early-stage founders, idea stage founders that maybe they're technical, and they need somewhat more of a business mindset, or they're more business, and they need somebody technical.
00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:17.489
And there's no clear playbook.
00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:26.010
It's not like, well, you do this, this and this, and you end up with a co-founder.
00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:26.989
It's a really tricky one.
00:01:26.990 --> 00:01:28.799
And yet, you have to find a way to solve it.
00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:44.819
I'm really, really interested in hearing your story of how you did it because I do think people by kind of hearing a story and the examples will really be able to get the sort of things they might be able to do to also find a great couple of co-founders.
00:01:44.820 --> 00:01:48.569
Maybe just to start it off, Lindsey, if we could start really at the beginning.
00:01:48.570 --> 00:01:49.319
Was it always the plan?
00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:50.280
I'm going to find a co-founder.
00:01:50.281 --> 00:01:52.950
Is that how and why you're joining, DMZ, MaRS, et cetera?
00:01:54.120 --> 00:02:01.439
Yes, at the time I joined the DMZ and MaRS, I really wanted to become a part of the community and better learn about entrepreneurship.
00:02:01.441 --> 00:02:10.800
And as I did, and really started to understand the potential of what it was I was doing, I recognized that I couldn't do it alone, in order to build a meaningful business.
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:19.229
And also just to have some of the core skill sets that a business like this would require, I wasn't going to be able to do it all myself.
00:02:19.230 --> 00:02:24.150
I didn't have the money to hire a large team, or even a small team.
00:02:24.151 --> 00:02:24.659
I couldn't hire anybody.
00:02:24.661 --> 00:02:26.849
I had no money.
00:02:26.850 --> 00:02:37.530
As I started to get more involved in the community, I recognized more of the opportunity and the more I understood the opportunity, the more I realized having the right people at the table with me to build this thing from the ground up was going to be essential.
00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:38.610
Okay.
00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:41.039
And to be clear, were you still part-time?
00:02:41.161 --> 00:02:43.889
I'm curious, when did you make that flip over to“okay, I'm all in on this?”
00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:53.189
I was working on this in the evenings and the weekends for probably the first year.
00:02:53.191 --> 00:02:57.930
I was also at a really exciting time in my consulting career.
00:02:57.931 --> 00:03:04.240
I just won a very big project that I was a big lead on, and I brought a bunch of industry experts to the table.
00:03:04.241 --> 00:03:17.050
So, it was a difficult decision for me because I had just gone to school for six years to get this kind of job, and then I was finally making some serious tracks and then this other opportunity came.
00:03:17.050 --> 00:03:21.879
But at the end of the day, it was just, the problem just continued to surface in all of my work.
00:03:21.881 --> 00:03:25.419
And I knew I needed to take a stab at solving it.
00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:27.449
Got it.
00:03:27.100 --> 00:03:39.849
So, you're getting to DMZ you get into MaRS, and what exactly are you doing to meet people and to potentially find someone that could be a co-founder?
00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:51.699
Well, back then, I mean, a little different than the world we live in right now, but there were a lot of seminars on building your business plan, building up your business, different, marketing tactics, sales tactics.
00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.319
I was just so hungry to learn all of it.
00:03:53.320 --> 00:03:56.590
I was showing up to all of these different sessions.
00:03:56.591 --> 00:04:07.330
Tried sticking around afterwards and then networking, and trying to meet other people, meeting other entrepreneurs who are at varying stages in getting their stories and understanding how it all went for them.
00:04:07.389 --> 00:04:20.589
Through that, I ended up meeting a mentor who really understood what I was trying to do and said,"All right, look, let me help you." He'd built a number of businesses and helped me map out a plan to getting this thing built and coming to fruition.
00:04:20.591 --> 00:04:30.069
He helped me, get networked with a number of different development agencies in Toronto.
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:35.529
I went and did that tour and kind of understand the scope of the costs.
00:04:35.531 --> 00:04:41.079
I was having conversations around, maybe I raise a bit of angel money to help out with this first round of building.
00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:44.920
I also, I did a lot of startup weekends.
00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:53.009
That was a really cool way to go and be with a whole bunch of different people, but, build a business, essentially, over the course of the weekend.
00:04:53.011 --> 00:04:59.680
I loved that you get all different backgrounds and all different skill sets coming together, and it's a good chance to try people on for size to see how you work together.
00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.829
I did quite a few of those and that taught me a lot.
00:05:02.831 --> 00:05:10.420
Not only about, finding the right partners and the skill sets, but also about building a business and a lot of the early validation and so on.
00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:18.759
And I know you met, and we'll get to how you actually met your first co-founder through the agency roadshow and working with agencies.
00:05:18.940 --> 00:05:21.699
With these events, you would network afterwards.
00:05:22.391 --> 00:05:29.230
Did you try, if you met someone interesting, take them out for coffee and try and just like get deeper or start working with them on the side?
00:05:29.230 --> 00:05:31.720
What sort of things did you try through it all?
00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:32.920
Absolutely.
00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:46.540
I met quite a few people that I met for coffee afterwards.
00:05:46.569 --> 00:05:51.519
I did find, I ended up meeting a lot more founders with ideas than technical co-founders.
00:05:51.521 --> 00:06:03.019
That also might've just been because that was more similar to my own scenario, but I think spending those times grabbing a coffee, getting to understand people, they connect you with somebody else who would connect you with somebody else.
00:06:03.050 --> 00:06:09.709
There is a lot of power to that, and it does take time, and it does take effort to nurture those relationships.
00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:16.459
But for me, I was really keen, as I mentioned, to learn from people that were at various stages.
00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:23.660
Through that, I ended up meeting a mentor and then a different mentor, and that mentor ended up introducing me to another one of my co-founders.
00:06:23.661 --> 00:06:27.920
I have two co-founders, found them two different ways.
00:06:29.151 --> 00:06:36.829
It was a lot of heavy lifting, but it's so important, I think, to go through that process of meeting a lot of people and understanding how different people think about building businesses.
00:06:36.831 --> 00:06:44.689
Because picking a co-founder or finding the right co-founder is really, it's one of the most...
00:06:44.690 --> 00:06:47.089
it is the most important decision you're making in building a business.
00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:48.980
Back to it.
00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:52.879
So, you start, one of the mentors starts introducing you to agencies.
00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:58.790
You don't have much of a budget, but you start talking to agencies to at least understand what it would take.
00:06:58.401 --> 00:07:02.810
So, walk me through that, what happens after that?
00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:15.649
Meeting a lot of these different agencies was a really important part of the process because I was able to start to understand the true scope and breadth of what it is I was trying to build.
00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:22.879
It also gave me a much better understanding and appreciation for how much time, money, and effort it was going to be to get this thing off the ground.
00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:30.769
But it was a really important part of the process, I think, to just really flush out a bunch of elements of the ideas.
00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:43.040
And it did help me understand, for me to go into this, I was going to have to find a way to bring...sell this thing ahead of time and get some customers to pay up front for it, or bring in some capital or find an early investor.
00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.579
I did a bit of both.
00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:53.449
I was able to really find alignment with one of the agencies around what I was trying to build, the opportunity.
00:07:53.451 --> 00:07:55.639
And they became one of my first investors.
00:07:55.641 --> 00:08:01.759
And at the same time, I was out there still trying to pre-sell the product.
00:08:01.761 --> 00:08:04.730
Those two things came together to give us the confidence to move forward.
00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:11.060
The Working Group ended up becoming the first investor and helped me build out the MVP of the product.
00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:17.930
And so, you start working with them and in parallel, you still don't know where co-founder's going to come from.
00:08:17.930 --> 00:08:23.389
So, you're still going to all these networking events and still using different strategies to try to meet people and find a potential co-founder?
00:08:24.589 --> 00:08:24.920
Absolutely.
00:08:32.211 --> 00:08:33.980
So, I'm moving forward with them.
00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:44.929
I decided to move forward with the agency because I hadn't yet found a technical co-founder, and I was under a bit of a time pressure because I had taken some upfront payment from some customers.
00:08:44.931 --> 00:08:47.659
So, I knew I just needed to keep pushing forward.
00:08:47.660 --> 00:08:51.139
And I thought, I'll continue to go down this path.
00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:58.049
And I was applying to accelerators, I was applying to all kinds of different support networks to hopefully find a co-founder.
00:08:58.051 --> 00:09:05.970
I remember doing co-founder dating, one of these rapid fire things where you meet like 20 people, and you talk for five minutes and see if there's any magic.
00:09:05.971 --> 00:09:12.179
But as that was happening, I was already engaged with TWG and starting to build the project.
00:09:12.181 --> 00:09:32.940
And I recall in some of those meetings, there was one of the members of the team that was on the build team, who was Dessy, was just really engaging in those conversations from me, asking really thought-provoking questions, helping me understand the landscape in which I was getting into building this technology and her and I just had a really good rapport in these meetings.
00:09:33.210 --> 00:09:40.200
And afterwards, I remember after one meeting, I was like,"Hey, do you want to grab a beer after and just talk a little bit about that?
00:09:40.201 --> 00:09:40.799
I have some more questions.
00:09:40.801 --> 00:09:45.179
I'd love to pick your brain on some stuff." And so that started to become this regular frequency.
00:09:45.181 --> 00:09:55.769
I would go and have the big meeting with a bunch of the folks involved in the project from TWG and Dessy would always be on that team, and then her and I afterwards would always go and grab a beer and kind of talk about things.
00:09:55.770 --> 00:10:03.629
And in those sessions I realized, I loved the way that she thought about building scalable technology to make a difference in the world.
00:10:03.630 --> 00:10:12.600
And I think she saw the opportunity with Nudge to bring a lot of her own entrepreneurial dreams to life because she's always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:23.669
She had a game plan, I fell into it by accident, but it was really interesting to meet somebody who had thought about it from a totally different angle.
00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:38.190
And eventually, I had to ask her if she was interested in being my business partner, which was kind of weird because we were friends at this point and I realized if she says no, I wonder if this is going to make things really weird for us.
00:10:38.191 --> 00:10:44.580
But she had told TWG when she started working there that she was always interested in going off and building her own thing.
00:10:44.581 --> 00:10:53.399
So, she was at Eloqua and was building the big thing for a while, and then she went to TWG, so she could build a lot of smaller things and just really get that broad experience.
00:10:53.400 --> 00:11:03.690
And so, it was, I did have my moment of serendipity in this whole thing because, her and I got together and really found some great alignment and had totally complimentary skill sets.
00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:13.529
And one of the questions I have is, obviously at some point you decided to ask Dessy to become a co-founder or if she wanted to join you at Nudge.
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:18.360
But how early on did you think to yourself, I want Dessy on my team?
00:11:18.541 --> 00:11:21.299
At some point you're just kind of meeting her, you're going for beers.
00:11:21.301 --> 00:11:22.710
When did you cross that line and why?
00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:37.049
Probably after our second meeting of beer and poutines.
00:11:37.051 --> 00:11:57.039
We had already had a number of meetings together and had been working together for a while through the working group relationship, but I felt like we really clicked as friends, as colleagues, and I had such an admiration for her brain.
00:11:58.000 --> 00:11:59.649
She's absolutely brilliant.
00:11:59.650 --> 00:12:03.039
The way she thinks is just remarkable.
00:12:03.041 --> 00:12:13.240
And so, between that and the overall vision alignment around what we wanted to do in the world, I felt coming out of the second or third meeting, this, this is the one for me.
00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:14.590
I hope she feels the same way.
00:12:14.591 --> 00:12:17.679
It feels a lot like I'm talking about dating, but it's kind of the same.
00:12:17.681 --> 00:12:24.700
You really are committing a good part of your life to spend with somebody to solve some of the hardest stuff that you could possibly imagine.
00:12:24.701 --> 00:12:26.620
So, do want to have that chemistry.
00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:34.179
And I feel like the nerves and asking her if she wanted to be my partner were normal, and obviously, it worked out really well.
00:12:34.181 --> 00:12:40.149
We've been together for a number of years now as business partners to be clear, we're both married to other people.
00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:42.759
I appreciate that.
00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:46.570
So, the other question I have around this co-founder you've been looking for a long time.
00:12:46.571 --> 00:12:55.690
Did you have a very clear idea- you needed to be someone technical- but did you have a clear idea of anything else that you were looking for in a co-founder?
00:12:56.769 --> 00:13:24.519
I did when I met my third co-founder, that kind of hit me like a bolt of lightning, in terms of, I realized in that meeting, what my co-founding team was missing, which was a tried and true entrepreneur that's done this many times before and is always thinking bigger and how to push the envelope and how to scale and how to get all the right pieces and partnerships in a shorter amount of time happening.
00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:31.210
And, Dessy and I had been working together for maybe a year and...
00:13:31.211 --> 00:13:32.080
maybe less than a year.
00:13:32.081 --> 00:13:36.759
We'd raised a little bit of money, and we had our first MVP together.
00:13:36.760 --> 00:13:45.879
And my mentor had introduced me to Jordan, who had just come back from six months in Asia because he was taking a bit of a sabbatical after selling his last company.
00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:53.440
And I sat down with him, and he just started grilling me with questions on the business and have I thought of this and have I thought of that?
00:13:53.441 --> 00:13:54.730
Or what about this?
00:13:54.730 --> 00:13:55.929
And what about that?
00:13:55.931 --> 00:14:03.820
And I loved the way he was testing my thinking and pushing my thinking and adding, to our thinking in just in a matter of an hour.
00:14:03.821 --> 00:14:05.830
The first coffee meeting was just...
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:15.759
I still remember so, so clearly, and coming out of that, I was just like, man, it would be so great to have that perspective in this business every day.
00:14:16.301 --> 00:14:17.649
So, we started working.
00:14:17.650 --> 00:14:21.549
We asked him if you would be interested in helping us out with a couple of projects.
00:14:21.551 --> 00:14:30.759
So, we kind of tried each other on for size and said,"Hey, come work with us almost as a consultant on a couple of things." And he did.
00:14:30.760 --> 00:14:39.879
And then the three of us realized, here I am, coming to the table with a good understanding of the problem, having really understood it, but not a lot of background in business and technology.
00:14:39.880 --> 00:14:49.330
I come across Dessy, who is an absolute technical wiz, and then Jordan, who is an entrepreneur who just loves to make things big and bold and go fast.
00:14:49.331 --> 00:14:56.419
And so, I think the three of us really recognized early on that we could do something special together because we were all bringing something different to the table.
00:14:56.690 --> 00:15:04.429
Back to Dessy, once you asked her to join, and she's interested, another big question that comes up here is...
00:15:05.541 --> 00:15:09.049
I would say number one, probably the equity split, like that's probably the next big thing.
00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:20.419
Do you say,"Let's just do it down the middle, or you were there for six months, you came up with the idea you should have more," how did that kind of negotiation go, and how would you recommend to founders that they should think about that?
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:21.830
Yeah.
00:15:24.921 --> 00:15:30.350
I read a lot of logs about that when I was trying to sort that out.
00:15:30.650 --> 00:15:35.750
I think at the end of the day, the equity split doesn't really matter as much as having the right people at the table.
00:15:35.750 --> 00:15:42.440
Because it's not really the size of the piece of the pie, it's how big the pie is.
00:15:42.441 --> 00:15:47.149
With that said, I think equity really speaks to how much risk each person is taking.
00:15:47.150 --> 00:15:55.669
So, for me to quit my job, which I eventually did, and raise a bit of capital and secure some first customers and have an idea and a vision, I put a bunch of the work in.
00:15:55.671 --> 00:16:07.309
So by the time that Dessy joined and then by the time Jordan joined...by the time Dessy joined, there was a bit of validation that had already gone on and then, her and I were working together, and we got an MVP and a bit of capital in, and then Jordan joined.
00:16:07.431 --> 00:16:12.919
The equity split kind of reflects the risk taken by each person along the way.
00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:18.200
One question I have is,[inaudible] the effect of what it felt like before and after Dessy.
00:16:18.201 --> 00:16:25.250
You were just you, and then all of a sudden, you had another person in there who is a technical co-founder.
00:16:25.250 --> 00:16:51.019
And I'm asking this from the lens of, there's some founders who would, let's say business founder, or even technical one doesn't matter, but let's think business founder who might say to themselves,"Well, what if I could just get enough traction, raise some money, especially in this environment where raising money is better than it used to be, let's say, and then just hire a technical person." How do you think about that versus really getting a technical co-founder versus in terms of what it feels like to work on the business
00:16:51.740 --> 00:17:02.330
For me, having co-founders to share the highs and share the lows and share the weight...
00:17:02.331 --> 00:17:04.640
Building a company is hard.
00:17:04.641 --> 00:17:12.950
And so, I feel really grateful to be spending this time in this journey with two people I really trust and really want to do this with.
00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:15.710
It is hard and it is lonely.
00:17:15.471 --> 00:17:20.420
I feel, personally, for myself, I would have a really hard time doing this on my own.
00:17:20.750 --> 00:17:22.640
There are amazing single co-founders that do it.
00:17:22.641 --> 00:17:23.869
It is possible.
00:17:23.871 --> 00:17:27.589
But, I think it depends on kind of the type of person you are and what you want.
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:38.539
But for me, I wanted to share in the highs and the lows with people, and it has made all the difference in how I feel in this journey.
00:17:38.540 --> 00:17:45.920
Even in the early days, when I was just a lone founder, you're in it alone.
00:17:45.921 --> 00:17:51.359
Whether you're trying to prepare for a pitch or you're trying to handle some tricky thing, it's really you.
00:17:51.361 --> 00:18:05.069
You're just kind of bouncing your ideas off yourself, maybe a mentor or two, but it's different when you have somebody who's fully in it the same way as you, thinking about problems in the business or thinking about challenges and is so truly invested in solving them.
00:18:05.070 --> 00:18:11.339
You have complete alignment on that, that you really do have a true partner in crime.
00:18:11.340 --> 00:18:17.039
I'm always of the mindset two minds are better than one, and three is even better.
00:18:17.040 --> 00:18:23.309
That's really worked for us, but I have a lot of respect for single founders that can find their way through, on their own.
00:18:23.310 --> 00:18:25.740
I don't know how they do it, but I think it's pretty badass.
00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:27.240
Awesome.
00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:28.259
So, that's really helpful.
00:18:28.410 --> 00:18:37.799
Fast-forward a little bit, it's you, and Dessy raising money, you get some customers, are you still looking for a third co-founder when Jordan gets presented to you?
00:18:39.680 --> 00:19:00.470
We were not looking for another co-founder, but it was one of those light bulb moments, aha moments where in that first discussion with Jordan, it became so clear to me what we were missing from our leadership team, just tiny team really at that time.
00:19:00.471 --> 00:19:17.240
Because of his experience in being a repeat entrepreneur and just his out-of-the-box thinking and his tried and true playbooks and just the entire spirit that he brought to that conversation opened my eyes to what else it was that I was missing or just didn't know.
00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:29.869
It was of one of those things where you could feel how it could be really powerful, very early on, but at the same time we've ever worked together, we've not done anything together other than have this one or two amazing coffees.
00:19:29.871 --> 00:19:41.839
Having the chance to bring him into the fold under the guise of a consultant and help us chip away at a couple of big things really gave us a chance to see what kind of damage we could do as the three of us.
00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:50.539
And it became really compelling to see just how much we could get done and how our various skill sets really complimented each other, and we could just get further, faster together.
00:19:53.089 --> 00:20:02.509
And did you think about, once you decide, yeah, we want to bring them on full time, it's going to be great, just making him COO, and then you have him on the executive versus making co-founder?
00:20:02.510 --> 00:20:04.190
How did you think about that?
00:20:04.191 --> 00:20:07.190
I know it's partially just the title, but it's not also.
00:20:07.520 --> 00:20:08.359
How did you think of that?
00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:25.009
It became really obvious that he was a co-founder just in terms of the way we were dealing with pivoting the business and some product-market fit and just the effort in, and just the businesses, partly his business.
00:20:24.560 --> 00:20:28.039
He was an owner.
00:20:28.040 --> 00:20:35.660
We were at a point in the journey of the company where we were still really early.
00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:43.339
He really brought a dynamic to the team and a dynamic to what we were trying to do.
00:20:43.340 --> 00:20:45.109
That really is part of our founding story.
00:20:45.111 --> 00:20:57.549
So, it was the most natural thing for him to be co-founder, and he is our COO now, he's kind of fit all of the places in the business that he's needed to be because he's very, very skilled across many different things.
00:20:57.550 --> 00:21:01.569
Ultimately, I think co-founders means sharing the business.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.029
If this business is your baby, there's three parents.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:07.599
Got it.
00:21:09.009 --> 00:21:09.339
That's really helpful.
00:21:09.580 --> 00:21:12.880
Now you got the three co-founders, that's all solved, things are going well.
00:21:12.881 --> 00:21:27.099
Maybe one question to end it all on is, at this point you've raised a series B you're more in scale mode, but when did you- this is the product-market fit show, so I just have to ask- when did you feel like you had product-market fit, and what are some of the indications?
00:21:30.190 --> 00:21:33.250
It is such a big topic, and it always evolves, right?
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.690
Even when you have it, the market is still moving, so you're constantly evolving.
00:21:37.121 --> 00:21:50.140
For us, the whole reason I started this business was because of a problem I found when I was consulting and had conceived of the solution and is this going to work?
00:21:50.141 --> 00:21:53.680
So, we finally launched it, and it did, and it worked really well.
00:21:53.980 --> 00:22:06.309
And when we started to see the traction, not only from the customer side, but from the user side, just wild, viral uptake on the user side, really great adoption, really great engagement, we really knew we were onto something.
00:22:06.310 --> 00:22:16.180
But we had a couple of moments early on where an employee would go to another organization and ask the organization, where's Nudge, and why don't we have that?
00:22:16.181 --> 00:22:19.630
And that kind of worked its way up the chain and got us some of our customers.
00:22:19.631 --> 00:22:29.740
And so, some of that word of notes and advocacy was a really big sign to us that was showing there's a need for this, people are using it.
00:22:29.890 --> 00:22:34.690
But not only are they using it, they're loving it at an employee level, but also at the buyer level.
00:22:34.691 --> 00:22:47.230
Even just earlier this week, one of our customers posted this amazing thing on LinkedIn about the impact that Nudge just had on their frontline team.
00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:55.359
And I think when people are so happy and proud to use your software, and they're willing to share that with the world, you know you're really on the right track.
00:22:57.670 --> 00:22:58.180
Perfect.
00:22:58.931 --> 00:23:00.730
All right, Lindsey, we'll end it there.
00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:23.019
Just to recap, you started off with an idea, with a problem really that you wanted to solve, and you were alone with, as you said, no or not much business experience, no technical experience, and you figured out a way to find a great technical co-founder, an amazing experience founder as a third co-founder and built Nudge into what it is today.
00:23:23.020 --> 00:23:27.880
As we said, 70 employees, many, many customers and scaling really fast.
00:23:27.910 --> 00:23:30.730
And so appreciate you sharing that story with us today.
00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:33.940
I'm sure founders listening will learn a lot from it.
00:23:33.941 --> 00:23:34.150
Thanks a lot.
00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:36.369
Yeah, my pleasure and good luck.
00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:37.900
Don't compromise.
00:23:38.980 --> 00:23:40.720
Thank you so much for listening all the way through.
00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:42.009
It's been a pleasure having you here.
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.710
Make sure to subscribe so, you don't miss the next episode.
00:00:00.089 --> 00:00:02.910
00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:10.589
00:00:10.291 --> 00:00:18.570
00:00:18.571 --> 00:00:21.449
00:00:21.451 --> 00:00:22.410
00:00:24.870 --> 00:00:29.519
00:00:29.521 --> 00:00:31.980
00:00:31.981 --> 00:00:35.399
00:00:35.970 --> 00:00:42.299
00:00:42.301 --> 00:00:46.170
00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:47.549
00:00:47.551 --> 00:00:51.149
00:00:51.149 --> 00:00:52.799
00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:54.179
00:00:54.270 --> 00:01:00.689
00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:16.620
00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:17.489
00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:26.010
00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:26.989
00:01:26.990 --> 00:01:28.799
00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:44.819
00:01:44.820 --> 00:01:48.569
00:01:48.570 --> 00:01:49.319
00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:50.280
00:01:50.281 --> 00:01:52.950
00:01:54.120 --> 00:02:01.439
00:02:01.441 --> 00:02:10.800
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:19.229
00:02:19.230 --> 00:02:24.150
00:02:24.151 --> 00:02:24.659
00:02:24.661 --> 00:02:26.849
00:02:26.850 --> 00:02:37.530
00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:38.610
00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:41.039
00:02:41.161 --> 00:02:43.889
00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:53.189
00:02:53.191 --> 00:02:57.930
00:02:57.931 --> 00:03:04.240
00:03:04.241 --> 00:03:17.050
00:03:17.050 --> 00:03:21.879
00:03:21.881 --> 00:03:25.419
00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:27.449
00:03:27.100 --> 00:03:39.849
00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:51.699
00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.319
00:03:53.320 --> 00:03:56.590
00:03:56.591 --> 00:04:07.330
00:04:07.389 --> 00:04:20.589
00:04:20.591 --> 00:04:30.069
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:35.529
00:04:35.531 --> 00:04:41.079
00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:44.920
00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:53.009
00:04:53.011 --> 00:04:59.680
00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.829
00:05:02.831 --> 00:05:10.420
00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:18.759
00:05:18.940 --> 00:05:21.699
00:05:22.391 --> 00:05:29.230
00:05:29.230 --> 00:05:31.720
00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:32.920
00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:46.540
00:05:46.569 --> 00:05:51.519
00:05:51.521 --> 00:06:03.019
00:06:03.050 --> 00:06:09.709
00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:16.459
00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:23.660
00:06:23.661 --> 00:06:27.920
00:06:29.151 --> 00:06:36.829
00:06:36.831 --> 00:06:44.689
00:06:44.690 --> 00:06:47.089
00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:48.980
00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:52.879
00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:58.790
00:06:58.401 --> 00:07:02.810
00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:15.649
00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:22.879
00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:30.769
00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:43.040
00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.579
00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:53.449
00:07:53.451 --> 00:07:55.639
00:07:55.641 --> 00:08:01.759
00:08:01.761 --> 00:08:04.730
00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:11.060
00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:17.930
00:08:17.930 --> 00:08:23.389
00:08:24.589 --> 00:08:24.920
00:08:32.211 --> 00:08:33.980
00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:44.929
00:08:44.931 --> 00:08:47.659
00:08:47.660 --> 00:08:51.139
00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:58.049
00:08:58.051 --> 00:09:05.970
00:09:05.971 --> 00:09:12.179
00:09:12.181 --> 00:09:32.940
00:09:33.210 --> 00:09:40.200
00:09:40.201 --> 00:09:40.799
00:09:40.801 --> 00:09:45.179
00:09:45.181 --> 00:09:55.769
00:09:55.770 --> 00:10:03.629
00:10:03.630 --> 00:10:12.600
00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:23.669
00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:38.190
00:10:38.191 --> 00:10:44.580
00:10:44.581 --> 00:10:53.399
00:10:53.400 --> 00:11:03.690
00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:13.529
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:18.360
00:11:18.541 --> 00:11:21.299
00:11:21.301 --> 00:11:22.710
00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:37.049
00:11:37.051 --> 00:11:57.039
00:11:58.000 --> 00:11:59.649
00:11:59.650 --> 00:12:03.039
00:12:03.041 --> 00:12:13.240
00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:14.590
00:12:14.591 --> 00:12:17.679
00:12:17.681 --> 00:12:24.700
00:12:24.701 --> 00:12:26.620
00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:34.179
00:12:34.181 --> 00:12:40.149
00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:42.759
00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:46.570
00:12:46.571 --> 00:12:55.690
00:12:56.769 --> 00:13:24.519
00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:31.210
00:13:31.211 --> 00:13:32.080
00:13:32.081 --> 00:13:36.759
00:13:36.760 --> 00:13:45.879
00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:53.440
00:13:53.441 --> 00:13:54.730
00:13:54.730 --> 00:13:55.929
00:13:55.931 --> 00:14:03.820
00:14:03.821 --> 00:14:05.830
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:15.759
00:14:16.301 --> 00:14:17.649
00:14:17.650 --> 00:14:21.549
00:14:21.551 --> 00:14:30.759
00:14:30.760 --> 00:14:39.879
00:14:39.880 --> 00:14:49.330
00:14:49.331 --> 00:14:56.419
00:14:56.690 --> 00:15:04.429
00:15:05.541 --> 00:15:09.049
00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:20.419
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:21.830
00:15:24.921 --> 00:15:30.350
00:15:30.650 --> 00:15:35.750
00:15:35.750 --> 00:15:42.440
00:15:42.441 --> 00:15:47.149
00:15:47.150 --> 00:15:55.669
00:15:55.671 --> 00:16:07.309
00:16:07.431 --> 00:16:12.919
00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:18.200
00:16:18.201 --> 00:16:25.250
00:16:25.250 --> 00:16:51.019
00:16:51.740 --> 00:17:02.330
00:17:02.331 --> 00:17:04.640
00:17:04.641 --> 00:17:12.950
00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:15.710
00:17:15.471 --> 00:17:20.420
00:17:20.750 --> 00:17:22.640
00:17:22.641 --> 00:17:23.869
00:17:23.871 --> 00:17:27.589
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:38.539
00:17:38.540 --> 00:17:45.920
00:17:45.921 --> 00:17:51.359
00:17:51.361 --> 00:18:05.069
00:18:05.070 --> 00:18:11.339
00:18:11.340 --> 00:18:17.039
00:18:17.040 --> 00:18:23.309
00:18:23.310 --> 00:18:25.740
00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:27.240
00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:28.259
00:18:28.410 --> 00:18:37.799
00:18:39.680 --> 00:19:00.470
00:19:00.471 --> 00:19:17.240
00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:29.869
00:19:29.871 --> 00:19:41.839
00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:50.539
00:19:53.089 --> 00:20:02.509
00:20:02.510 --> 00:20:04.190
00:20:04.191 --> 00:20:07.190
00:20:07.520 --> 00:20:08.359
00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:25.009
00:20:24.560 --> 00:20:28.039
00:20:28.040 --> 00:20:35.660
00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:43.339
00:20:43.340 --> 00:20:45.109
00:20:45.111 --> 00:20:57.549
00:20:57.550 --> 00:21:01.569
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.029
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:07.599
00:21:09.009 --> 00:21:09.339
00:21:09.580 --> 00:21:12.880
00:21:12.881 --> 00:21:27.099
00:21:30.190 --> 00:21:33.250
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.690
00:21:37.121 --> 00:21:50.140
00:21:50.141 --> 00:21:53.680
00:21:53.980 --> 00:22:06.309
00:22:06.310 --> 00:22:16.180
00:22:16.181 --> 00:22:19.630
00:22:19.631 --> 00:22:29.740
00:22:29.890 --> 00:22:34.690
00:22:34.691 --> 00:22:47.230
00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:55.359
00:22:57.670 --> 00:22:58.180
00:22:58.931 --> 00:23:00.730
00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:23.019
00:23:23.020 --> 00:23:27.880
00:23:27.910 --> 00:23:30.730
00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:33.940
00:23:33.941 --> 00:23:34.150
00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:36.369
00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:37.900
00:23:38.980 --> 00:23:40.720
00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:42.009
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.710