A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders
00:15:38 · Pablo Srugo
[00:15:38] S0: The next one, only insanely focused . Survive . I mean, that one yeah, is a little, you know, hard to argue against, I think because it's a little bit like kind of obvious. I mean, everybody talks, but I , I will say this, everybody talks about focus, everybody preaches focus. And I'll tell you like very few founders are truly insanely focused because the way I like to think about it is another thing I, I realized running Gym Track was like, you, you, like, no matter what, this is different than being a vc, frankly. Like I always , I always laugh at VCs that are like, oh man, I'm so busy. I'm like, dude, whatcha you so busy with? Like, all you gotta do is invest in like, you know, a startup a month at most. Like you're probably doing like three year , like just, that's it, <laugh> like the rest is just, but as a founder, you actually have that many things to do. And so if you put 'em in a list, like you got 50 things, you got a hundred things. And what inevitably happens is you're like, you get into this like, you know, checklist mode where you're like, okay, I got 50 things to do. Like, let's cross 'em off. And guess what Rise is quickly. When you're in that mode where Rise is top of the list is the things that can get done, like making a logo that can get done, like filing a trademark that can get done, designing a website that can get done, you know, what can't get done, find product market fit, you know, it's hard to do, like sell sell your product, right? Like, and those are the things that find your first kind of fall off. And so what I started thinking about is, okay, you know what, like it's easy enough for me to say here are the most important things and , and prioritize them . But I want , I want something that's like kind of more intense than that for me. It's just ones and zeros. Like a thing is either must do critical, it's a one or it's not, and it's a zero. And and there are , there are a few things on your list today where you're like, if I don't get these done this quarter, this year, whatever, I will not survive. And there are other things that you're like, even if I didn't get them done, I'll still be fine, I'll still survive an exam . Like, here's an example of this to me, it was just so funny. Uh, the founder of Form AI is a series B stage startup in , uh, in Toronto, the founder Nabil .
00:17:33 · Pablo Srugo
And he told me, he's like, you know, when we started like you , you incorporate and usually like a numbered corporation, and then most founders will spend like a good amount of time trying to come up with a name. He's like, I was so focused on just like pleasing customers. Like I had one customer that I was trying to kind of, I had a relationship with them before. And so we were really just building the product and trying to deploy it that we just didn't name the company and, and <laugh> . And they asked me like, I , this doesn't have a name. It got to the point we hired a few employees on no company name, and then my CTO was like, dude, like I need a company name because it's getting to the point where I can't hire <laugh> because people are like, man, I'm not working for like a no <laugh> , you guys don't even have a name. What's wrong with you? Right? So he is like, fine. So we named it, right? But that's the level of insane focus. It's almost like he didn't do that thing until it , it became an actual blocker, right? Versus okay, presents itself. So you get it done at the expense of something else because there's always trade offs and there's always so many things to do. And that I tell that story because, and that's why I use the word insane. It's like, that's actually insane to not, you know, take the time to name your own company. But it's that, that level of focus that I think just gets things done.
00:18:43 · Rob
[00:18:43] S1: There's no, I don't think there's a better example of that. Like , uh, the first thing I've done with every one of my companies is name 'em dude , logo, business card, slogan, like every like, and then I'm like, okay, what do we do <laugh> ? Like , okay , I
00:18:57 · Pablo Srugo
[00:18:57] S0: Named every company, man , I remember we told, we talked with Lee about the one that was like, it was supposed to be a skip the dishes, like start delivering.ca , man, we even had a website. We had it all. We had it all. And then Gym track , man, oh, we went back so many times on Gym Track . But you know, it's like everybody knows what that does. Gym track , we track gyms. That's it simple. So we actually, it was so, it was so descriptive we couldn't get a trademark. Honestly , the only thing that I, that I think like if we're playing, you know, devil's advocate you on all these trying to , because reality's so messy, right? And that , that's really what we're trying to do here is like, there are examples where it was, it was like, I forget who it was that told me, it was like, you know , do you have to be focused? And yet you also have to be like, open to opportunity because it's true that like, well , I find that right ? Like , wait, wait , how do you square that story ? Right ? Wait , stop, stop that . <laugh> , I think you're just saying words like <laugh> , I'm just saying words. They don't, but, but, but , but wait, bear with me, right? Like , uh, <laugh> , um, 'cause here's the thing, like on the one hand, if you're not, like, you are such a small team, you have so many things to do. If you're not focused, you're actually not, you're just not gonna get the important things on . But the other side is like, it's true that the best founders are opportunistic because you really don't know what's gonna happen and you can't predict all this stuff. You can't strategize your way to success. And so you do have to have enough of an ear on the ground to see when things are worth paying attention to, especially when you're pre-product market fit. Like you have a thesis that this is the thing you need to do because this is the thing that's gonna get me to product market fit. And it turns out there's actually a bigger opportunity over here and you didn't listen to it. And that's a tough balance. Like , um, there , there's a few, there's a , there's, you know, a few examples. I think maybe Bolt , like that's one of the better ones. Mark, mark , uh, bull , right ? They're doing like a hundred million dollars today. And what they do today is like, not at all , uh, what they used to do, right?
00:20:53 · Pablo Srugo
Today, they actually are effectively like a , a warehouse for some really big name companies, big brand name companies like Ikea or, you know, enterprise , uh, enterprise customers. But they started off by storing students things over the summer, right? And like, how do you go from there to, to there? And , and it's because Mark was like constantly willing to listen to indications that , uh, that there could be a bigger opportunity. The other, the owner , actually, here's an , here's a really interesting one. Uh , Rodolph , who's the founder of Potluck, they're doing over eight figures in AR today. They, they pivoted like, you know, five different times, but at one point they were selling research. What they're doing is localized research and they were selling it to malls. And so the idea was like, you're a mall and you wanna know, like you wanna effectively survey the people that visit the mall. And so they have this like infrastructure that uses Facebook and Instagram and these different, different platforms to understand like who might have visited the mall and just survey them. And this is before covid, they're doing this, they're actually gaining real traction. They're getting pretty close to eight figures in a RR on the side. They start getting hit up by like actual research agencies like, like Gartner , these sort of, these sort of players that just want generic research and for whatever reason, and this is the , the difference, like focus would tell you just do malls , like forget this other stuff, right? Opportunity tells you like you're doing malls, it's going well, but here's something that you should at least maybe listen to, right? And so he did listen to it and he serviced them in a small way. Covid happens. Malls shut down <laugh> , his business literally goes to zero. He luckily has this other thing on the side with the gardeners of the world. And it turns out everybody needs surveys now because nobody knows what the hell's going on. The best founders, I will say are insanely focused on what they need to get done. And at the same time, they somehow are opportunistic enough to not have full blinders on to see where opportunities might lead them because the future's just, it's not predictable.
00:22:47 · Rob
[00:22:47] S1: The , the big focus for me is that you can be focused on the moon and you can be off by, you know, a half a degree in your trajectory and miss the moon and never come back to earth, right? Like it's just small things that deviate and they move you a little bit off and then you're never gonna be recovering. That original idea is gone, now you're heading to Mars, you're dead. Like , and that's, that's the challenge with, with focus is that if you don't take it seriously and if you don't believe in the idea, that's the other thing here is that if, if your idea, you don't have the deep belief in the idea or of the business, your focus will wane. If you're not interested in the idea or you have an expertise in the idea, your focus will wane. And that, that leads to destruction in my mind.