A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Mistral.vc
  • 5.0 (86)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Semiweekly

Every founder has 1 goal: find product-market fit. We interview the world's most successful startup founders on the 0 to 1 part of their journeys. We've had the founders of Reddit, Gusto, Rappi, Glean, Cohere, Huntress, ID.me and many more. We go deep with entrepreneurs & VCs to provide detailed examples you can steal.  Our goal is to understand product-market fit better than anyone on the planet. Rated one of the world's top startup podcasts.

  1. 6d ago

    He spent $150K on brand before he had a product—then closed $1.5M ARR in 1 month. | Niklas Lindgren, Co-Founder & CEO of Endra

    Niklas quit law school to install CCTV cameras in iPhone repair shops. Eight years later he sold that business to private equity at 26. Then he went after the most boring software in the world: the 1997 tool engineers use to design the wiring and plumbing inside buildings. He spent $150K on a website before he had a product and DM'd engineers on Reddit to find his first users. His first month of sales was $1.5M, all enterprise. Endra has now raised $75M, including a $50M Series A led by a16z. In this episode, Niklas breaks down why he spent $150K on brand before there was a product, how DMs in Reddit engineering threads turned into $300K enterprise contracts, and the hiring principles he used to screen the first 50 employees. Why You Should Listen Why spending $150K on brand before you have a product can be the right call.How DMs in Reddit threads turned into $300K enterprise contracts.Why your customer's competitors are your best sales channel.How to know when 80% output is actually enough to sell.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Endra, Niklas Lindgren, MEP engineering, AI for construction, vertical AI, enterprise sales, brand building, Reddit marketing, hiring principles, agentic design software Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:02:23 $1.5M of Enterprise Revenue in One Month00:04:22 Why Enterprises Couldn't Say No00:06:04 What Endra Actually Does00:08:27 Law School to CCTV Cameras00:12:06 Recruiting Two Goldman Engineers00:17:11 Finding Users in Reddit Threads00:26:02 $4M, $20M, Then $50M From a16z00:35:00 Spending $150K on Brand Before a Product00:40:11 The Hiring Principles ManualSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He spent $150K on brand before he had a product—then closed $1.5M ARR in 1 month. | Niklas Lindgren, Co-Founder & CEO of Endra

  2. Aug 10

    He lost all 5 of his first deals—then built the next Looker and raised $250M. | Colin Zima, Co-Founder of Omni

    Colin spent eight years building Looker into a $2.7B Google acquisition. Then he left to compete with his own product. He thought traction would take a month—it took nine. A hundred demos got him five verbally-committed customers, and he lost all five. So he spent two months killing bugs, went on one podcast, and won every single trial that came out of it. Omni just raised over $250M. In this episode, Colin breaks down how to tell the difference between a product that's genuinely better and one the market just doesn't want, why founding with $30M didn't stop them from staying stingy, and the LinkedIn playbook that turned 6,000 connections into a 90% response rate. Why You Should Listen Why losing every deal doesn't mean the idea is wrong—and how to know the difference.Why real differentiation shows up as "wow" moments in demos, not signed contracts.The LinkedIn social-selling playbook that built Omni's first pipeline.Why hiring sellers from your old industry hands you their Rolodex on day one.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Omni, Colin Zima, Looker, business intelligence, BI tools, enterprise SaaS, AI analytics, social selling, LinkedIn outbound, founder-led sales, innovator's dilemma Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:01:58 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:06:16 Losing All Five Deals and Doubling Down00:10:43 Leaving Looker to Compete With Looker00:17:39 Founding With $30M and Staying Stingy00:22:09 A Hundred Demos Before the Flywheel00:32:15 No Silver Bullet—Just Do More of Everything00:38:32 The LinkedIn Social-Selling Playbook00:46:07 Hiring the Best People You've Worked WithSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He lost all 5 of his first deals—then built the next Looker and raised $250M. | Colin Zima, Co-Founder of Omni

  3. Aug 3

    He fired almost everyone, kept 2 engineers—then grew 12x and raised a $30M Series A. | Rafael Broshi, Co-Founder of Notch

    Rafael launched a crypto insurance product in 47 states, backed by a real carrier. Everyone told him it was genius. Nobody needed it. He shut it down with $2M left in the bank, fired almost everyone, and rebuilt with two engineers on $20K a month. Notch just raised $30M. In this episode, Rafael breaks down how a POC he entered through the back door turned into a seven-figure contract, why "isn't everyone doing this?" is the feedback you actually want, and how to tell whether an enterprise deal makes you a real company or just their dev shop. Why You Should Listen Why "that idea is genius" is a warning sign, not a compliment.How entering a POC last still made them the front runner.Why the enterprise deals that scale need zero customization.How to stop hiding your idea and go straight to your dream customers.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Notch, Rafael Broshi, AI agents, insurance technology, customer experience automation, regulated industries, enterprise sales, POC strategy, pivoting a startup, on-prem deployment Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:02:00 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:10:07 One Enterprise Deal or Ten00:15:24 A Genius Idea Nobody Needed00:24:33 Picking the Right Wave to Ride00:34:37 Down to $2M, Firing Almost Everyone00:41:48 Getting Enterprise to Take Your Call00:48:07 The POCs That Aren't Real POCsSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He fired almost everyone, kept 2 engineers—then grew 12x and raised a $30M Series A. | Rafael Broshi, Co-Founder of Notch

  4. Jul 27

    He worked out of a police department for free for a year—then built a $6.8B company. | Ben Rudolph, Co-Founder of Peregrine

    Ben and his co-founder had no product, no law enforcement background, and no pitch—just an offer to help detectives solve cases. One commander took a chance, handed them background checks, and said "let's see what you can do." They worked out of that police department every day for 18 months. Peregrine just raised $250M at a $6.8B valuation. In this episode, Ben breaks down how researching every police captain in the Bay Area landed their first design partner, why working as free crime analysts for 18 months was "the purest form of method acting," how forward-deployed engineers drove them from $1M to $3M to $10M ARR, and the 120% RFP prep that won a contract written for a billion-dollar competitor. Why You Should Listen Why doing your customer's job is the fastest path to product market fit.How two founders with no product convinced a police department to let them in.Why over-investing in deployment became a growth engine, not a margin problem.How obsessive research wins enterprise deals when you have zero credibility.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Peregrine, govtech, public safety technology, forward deployed engineers, selling to government, enterprise sales, data integration, design partners, Ben Rudolph Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:01:07 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:11:51 Getting a Police Department to Say Yes00:16:45 Slow Growth and Word of Mouth00:19:49 Forward-Deployed Engineers Before They Were Cool00:27:34 Cracking Government Go-To-Market00:34:08 Winning an RFP Written for Someone ElseSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He worked out of a police department for free for a year—then built a $6.8B company. | Ben Rudolph, Co-Founder of Peregrine

  5. Jul 20

    1st-time solo founder does 90 interviews in 90 days—closes a $25M Series A 2 years in. | Damien Lewke, Founder of Nebulock

    Damien left his job to start a startup solo. Two years later, Nebulock closed a $25M Series A. In between: 90 customer interviews in 90 days, a year of design partners, and a Fortune 500 deal that closed in 6 weeks. In this episode, Damien breaks down how his 90-in-90 customer discovery sprint killed his original architecture before he wasted money building it, how his design partner program converted 100% into paying customers, and how a POC playbook needing just 2 hours of customer time closed a Fortune 500 in 6 weeks. Why You Should Listen How 90 customer interviews in 90 days saved him from building the wrong product.Why every single design partner converted into a paying customer.How a 2-hour POC playbook closed a Fortune 500 in just 6 weeks.Why procurement—not your champion—decides how fast your deal closes.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, cybersecurity startup, solo founder, customer discovery, mom test, design partners, enterprise sales, POC process, AI security, Nebulock, Damien Lewke Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:01:20 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:11:33 Going Cold Turkey as a Solo Founder00:23:07 90 Interviews in 90 Days00:36:44 Raising $8.5M Off a Manifesto, Not a Deck00:39:36 Every Design Partner Converted to Paid00:44:00 Building a Repeatable POC Playbook00:48:20 The Procurement Black HoleSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    1st-time solo founder does 90 interviews in 90 days—closes a $25M Series A 2 years in. | Damien Lewke, Founder of Nebulock

  6. Jul 13

    He tries 1,000 ideas a decade & kills nearly all—that's how X built Waymo & Google Brain. | Astro Teller, CEO of Moonshots at X (Alphabet)

    Astro has run X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory, for 16 years. His teams created Waymo, Wing, and Google Brain—by testing over 1,000 ideas a decade and killing nearly all of them. His whole system rests on one uncomfortable rule: celebrate the people who kill their own projects. In this episode, Astro breaks down why you should do the hard thing first, how pre-written kill criteria force intellectual honesty, and why X maximizes learning per dollar instead of progress—and never tracks whose idea it was. Why You Should Listen Why working on the riskiest part first is the key to testing new ideasHow writing kill criteria a year in advance stops you from running a zombie startup.Why progress doesn't matter when launching a new startup.How to come up with big ideas like Waymo and Wing.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Astro Teller, Google X, moonshot factory, Alphabet, Waymo, innovation process, kill criteria, idea validation, deep tech Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:04:15 Inside Alphabet's Moonshot Factory00:07:22 The Card Counters of Innovation00:14:00 Learning per Dollar, Not Progress00:23:04 Killing Ideas with Testable Hypotheses00:26:34 Train the Monkey First00:35:16 Kill Criteria: A Message to Your Future Self00:41:59 The Moment of True Product Market FitSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He tries 1,000 ideas a decade & kills nearly all—that's how X built Waymo & Google Brain. | Astro Teller, CEO of Moonshots at X (Alphabet)

  7. Jul 6

    He raised $75M—but kept his team to 21 people & pays everyone the same salary. | Cos Nicolaescu, Co-Founder of Accrual

    Cos was the CTO of Brex, which he helped scale from 40 people to over 1,000. Before that, he led engineering at Stripe. When he finally left, he had no startup idea—just a co-founder he trusted and one rule: whatever they built had to have massive impact. Six months of brainstorming later, they landed on accounting. In this episode, Cos breaks down why he capped the company at 21 people after raising $75M, why everyone—engineers and salespeople alike—earns the exact same salary, how he hit a 100% pilot-to-production conversion rate with top accounting firms, and the counterintuitive process he used to pick accounting over every other industry. Why You Should Listen Why the only reason to join an early-stage company should be the equity, never the cash.How Accrual hit a 100% pilot-to-production conversion rate selling to the largest accounting firms.Why he raised $75M but refuses to grow past 21 people.How to tell real product market fit from the "just one more feature" trap.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, AI accounting, vertical AI, enterprise sales, pilot to production, Brex, Stripe, Cosmin Nicolaescu, Accrual, lean team Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:01:56 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:09:46 Collapsing 6+ Tools Into One Platform00:18:07 Leaving Brex to Start From Scratch00:31:41 Landing H&R Block and Armanino00:34:57 A 100% Pilot-to-Production Playbook00:43:26 A 21-Person Company by Design00:51:38 One Salary for EveryoneSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He raised $75M—but kept his team to 21 people & pays everyone the same salary. | Cos Nicolaescu, Co-Founder of Accrual

  8. Jun 29

    He quit Stripe and hit $10M ARR in 4 years—with $0 marketing spend. | Anurag Goel, Founder of Render

    Anurag was employee #8 at Stripe, set for life and free to do anything next. Instead he spent a year and a half hunting for a problem worth decades of his life. He chose to build a product to make it simple for developers to ship apps, going head-to-head with AWS. In this episode, Anurag breaks down how he hit $10M ARR in 4 years with zero marketing spend, why refusing to launch a free tier was his most expensive mistake, and how putting engineers on customer support rotations quietly shaped the entire product roadmap. Why You Should Listen Why you don't have real product market fit until your users sell the product for you.How a sub-2-minute setup turned developers into a word-of-mouth machine.Why skipping a free tier for years was his most expensive mistake.How engineers doing support on rotation built the roadmap—and 6M+ developers.Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, developer tools, cloud infrastructure, PaaS, Render, word of mouth growth, product-led growth, AI infrastructure, Stripe Chapters 00:00:00 Intro00:01:44 The Moment of True Product Market Fit00:04:14 The #1 Driver of Word of Mouth00:13:25 Why He Left Stripe to Build Render00:23:48 Why AWS Would Never Build This00:30:33 $10M ARR With No Marketing Spend00:36:43 Engineers as the Support Team00:42:19 Riding the AI BoomSend me a message to let me know what you think!

    He quit Stripe and hit $10M ARR in 4 years—with $0 marketing spend. | Anurag Goel, Founder of Render
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About

Every founder has 1 goal: find product-market fit. We interview the world's most successful startup founders on the 0 to 1 part of their journeys. We've had the founders of Reddit, Gusto, Rappi, Glean, Cohere, Huntress, ID.me and many more. We go deep with entrepreneurs & VCs to provide detailed examples you can steal.  Our goal is to understand product-market fit better than anyone on the planet. Rated one of the world's top startup podcasts.

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