Dan's first app made over $1M in two months. Then Facebook sent a cease and desist and killed it. His next company, Mode Mobile, grew revenue 32,481% in three years and ranked #1 on the Deloitte Fast 500. Then his crypto advertisers went bankrupt, revenue fell from $25M to $8M, and he cut half his staff. No VC wanted a declining Series B. So he raised $5M from his own users in three months—then $75M more.

In this episode, Dan breaks down how paying people to use their phone actually makes money, why revenue concentration and not growth is what nearly killed Mode, and how to run a creator-led marketing campaign at $30 a video.

Why You Should Listen

• Why the product market fit that feels insane is often the kind that dies fastest.
• How building on someone else's API cost him two different companies.
• Why extending your payback period is the fastest way to run out of cash.
• How to know within $20K to $30K whether creator-led marketing works for you.

Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Mode Mobile, Dan Novaes, crowdfunding, Reg A, consumer apps, rewards apps, creator-led marketing, UGC creators, user acquisition, revenue concentration, Android apps

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:03:09 The App He Built In A Week
• 00:06:38 $1M In Two Months
• 00:08:25 Facebook Shuts It Down
• 00:15:39 The Pivots Before Mode
• 00:20:42 32,481% Growth To The Fast 500
• 00:26:26 Revenue Concentration Nearly Kills It
• 00:31:50 How Paying People To Play Works
• 00:37:53 Creator-Led Growth For $30 A Video
• 00:47:09 What Makes A Crowdfund Work

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Keith raised a $43M Series B for Tome. The product had 20 million users. But retention was terrible and nobody cared enough to complain. So he turned it off before he knew what he'd build next, went from 70 people to 7, and started over. Lightfield just closed a $47M Series A.

In this episode, Keith breaks down how he knew Tome would never grow up, why customers lighting up your Slack at 3am is the signal you actually want, and the exact playbook he used to sell an AI-native CRM to YC founders before he charged them a dollar.

Why You Should Listen

• Why angry customers are a better signal than 20 million happy ones.
• How to know when optimizing metrics will never re-inflect your business.
• Why you have to kill the old product before you can find the new one.
• How to win founders with free software and events instead of cold email.

Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Lightfield, Keith Peiris, Tome, pivoting a startup, AI native CRM, agentic system of record, cutting burn, go-to-market, selling to YC founders, launch videos, B2B SaaS

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:27 The Customers Who Were Hopping Mad
• 00:07:41 20M Users, Almost No Retention
• 00:09:27 When Your Business Works But Won't Inflect
• 00:11:24 Why His Board Said Burn the Boats
• 00:18:29 Turning Off the Product Before Knowing What's Next
• 00:22:13 Reinventing the System of Record
• 00:30:25 How to Sell to YC Founders
• 00:36:04 Making a Launch Video Hit a Million Views
• 00:44:08 The One Piece of Advice

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Aaron started Vestwell in 2016. Two years in, he had $500K in ARR and an investor asking if it would ever make money. During the 2021 bull market, VCs told him 401ks were too boring—they were busy chasing crypto. Then Morgan Stanley signed. Today Vestwell has 2.5 million people saving on the platform, over $200M in ARR, and just raised $385M at a $2B valuation.

In this episode, Aaron breaks down why he white-labeled everything instead of building his own brand, how losing the JP Morgan bid as a 40-person startup still turned into one of his largest partnerships, and how a methodical cap table let him raise a Series A on a couple hundred thousand in revenue.

Why You Should Listen

• Why letting your customers keep their brand beats competing with them.
• How to raise a Series A with only a few hundred thousand in ARR.
• Why losing an enterprise deal is the start of the sale, not the end.
• Why you never regret firing someone too soon.

Keywords startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, Vestwell, Aaron Schumm, fintech, 401k, retirement savings, enterprise sales, channel partnerships, white label software, Series A fundraising, Morgan Stanley

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:05 The Morgan Stanley Deal That Proved PMF
• 00:08:32 A 401k So Bad It Started a Company
• 00:10:23 Building V1 in a Regulated Industry
• 00:17:07 Turning Advisors Into a Sales Channel
• 00:23:57 Raising an A on $200K of Revenue
• 00:31:16 Too Boring for the Crypto Bull Market
• 00:38:45 Losing JP Morgan, Then Winning It Back
• 00:43:23 Never Regret Firing Too Soon

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