In this episode, Rich breaks down the wild story of Fathom's launch. He reveals how they secured a prime spot on the Zoom Marketplace and generated 100,000 signups in 30 days—only to realize 99.9% of them were useless.

He discusses the pivot to monetization when the market crashed, how to design a product for viral loops, and why staying in private beta for 10 months was the best decision he ever made.

Why You Should Listen

• Why getting 100,000 signups in a single month nearly killed the company.
• How to use the "Iceberg Strategy" to build a defensible moat.
• Why you should attack the "800-pound gorilla" incumbent.
• How to hit $100k ARR by selling a roadmap that doesn't exist yet.
• The "Visible Feature" mechanic that drives zero-cost viral growth in B2B.

Keywords

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, viral growth, product market fit, AI startup, freemium strategy, Zoom marketplace, PLG, B2B sales, Fathom

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:14 Why Sales Reps Hated Gong
00:07:54 Betting on Transcription Costs Going to Zero
00:11:52 The 10 Month Private Beta Strategy
00:17:46 The Zoom Marketplace Launch
00:19:52 100k Signups and Zero Growth
00:26:39 Selling a Roadmap to Hit 100k ARR
00:33:53 The Viral Loop of Visible Bots
00:36:12 Why Enterprise Sales Was a Trap
00:39:51 The Moment of True Product Market Fit

Send me a message to let me know what you think!