Chaz has founded 3 companies. The first sold for over $40M. The second sold to GoPuff for even more. Now, he’s on his third act with Model ML, having just raised $75M Series A <2 years in.

In this episode, Chaz breaks down the playbook behind his successes. He reveals how he raised his first million by pitching strangers on LinkedIn, why his delivery startup was just a text message system on the backend, and why speed is the only defensive moat left.

Why You Should Listen

• How to pitch strangers on LinkedIn for angel checks.
• Why you should always say you're raising "a bit more" than you actually are.
• Why "Product Market Fit" is no longer static in the age of AI.
• How to launch a massive consumer business.
• Why getting a paid design partner isn't enough.

Keywords

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, serial entrepreneur, fundraising strategy, product market fit, rapid scaling, AI startup, exit strategy, MVP, fintech

00:00:00 Intro
00:04:46 Pitching Strangers for Angel Checks
00:07:51 The "Fake" Fundraising Strategy
00:23:28 Why MVPs are Dead in the AI Era
00:25:01 Selling to GoPuff While Running Out of Cash
00:32:25 The Origin of ModelML
00:38:30 The Design Partner Playbook
00:46:13 From $5k to $100k MRR in 3 Months

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Jay was running a respectable AI startup with $3M ARR. But he knew it wasn't a venture-scale rocket ship. So, he decided to fire all his customers, pivot the entire company, and bet everything on a new vertical: legal AI for plaintiff attorneys.

Eve went from zero to unicorn status in under two years, raising $100M at a $1B valuation.

In this episode, Jay breaks down the brutal reality of pivoting a revenue-generating company, how to achieve "demo shock" in an antiquated industry, and why 4-hour user sessions were the first sign that he had struck gold.

Why You Should Listen

• How threatening to shut down your product can reveal PMF.
• Why firing all your existing customers might be the only way to scale.
• How to achieve a 40% conversion rate from cold outreach to demo.
• Why you should target mid market instead of enterprise if you want to deploy AI fast.

Keywords
startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, pivot, legal tech, AI startup, B2B sales, unicorn startup, Jay Madheswaran, Eve

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:27 From VC to Founder
00:08:42 The First Idea: RPA for NLP
00:16:52 The Hard Decision to Pivot at 3M ARR
00:24:26 Product Discovery While Still Supporting Old Customers
00:33:56 40 Percent Conversion from Cold Outreach
00:39:56 Firing Customers to Find True PMF
00:41:06 The 4-Hour User Session Signal
00:46:05 From 1M to 10M ARR in One Year
00:49:11 The Moment of True Product Market Fit

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Bassem took Briq from a failed data idea to a Series B leader in construction financial automation.But the path wasn't linear.

In this episode, Bassem reveals how he pivoted to RPA bots, why he killed a high-growth fintech product to survive the 2023 cash crunch, and how he uses a relentless "Go-to-Market" strategy. He breaks down his exact ABM playbook, why he hates trade shows, and why he believes AI orchestration is a bigger shift than the cloud.

Why You Should Listen

• How to identify the "Challenger" who will kill your deal.
• Why trade shows are a waste of money (and what to do instead).
• The "1-Person Webinar" hack to close high-value accounts.
• The brutal reality of cutting 50% of staff to survive.
• Why selling "risk reduction" beats selling "time saved."

Keywords

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, account based marketing, construction tech, go to market strategy, enterprise sales, finding pmf, robotic process automation, ai orchestration

00:00:00 Intro
00:06:23 The RPA "Aha" Moment with a Tech Giant
00:11:52 Selling Risk vs. Selling Time Saved
00:13:27 The "New CFO" Signal in Account Based Marketing
00:17:06 Identifying the "Challenger" in Enterprise Sales
00:23:22 The 1-Person Webinar Strategy
00:29:19 Killing the Fintech Product to Survive 2023
00:36:20 Why You Never Truly Have Product Market Fit

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