Startup Field Guide by Unusual Ventures: The Product Market Fit Podcast

Jyoti Bansal is the CEO of  @Harnessio  and  @TraceableAI . He is also a co-founder of Unusual Ventures.In a special episode of the Startup Field Guide podcast, Jyoti sits down with John Vrionis – his co-founder and friend of 20 years — to discuss the recent merger of Harness and Traceable. This merger positions Harness + Traceable to create the most advanced AI-native DevSecOps platform in the world!Join us as we discuss:00:00 Product market-fit is a journey1:38 The recent merger between Harness and Traceable3:09 The insight that led to Traceable’s founding4:37 The technical inflection that Jyoti saw in 20197:46 The initial idea for Traceable11:39 Figuring out the right customer14:12 Iterating on Traceable’s GTM approach16:34 Advice for early-stage founders21:54 The big vision for Traceable + Harness25:56 One book all founders should read26:26 Jyoti’s advice on team-building27:55 Essential soft skill for founders28:55 Perspective on leadershipJohn Vrionis is the co-founder and CEO of Unusual Ventures.Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Samantha Mckenna is the founder of SamSales and a leader in building go-to-market strategies. She has spent her nearly 15+ year career in enterprise sales doing two things: breaking over 13 sales records and doing so by leading with a buyer-first approach to sales. In this episode of the Startup Field Guide podcast, she shares why early stage founders should focus on solving challenges for buyers rather than selling, the need for thorough research and personalization in outbound prospecting, and the effectiveness of LinkedIn as a marketing platform. Some topics we covered with Sam include: 00:00 Preview: Importance of solving customer challenges first 00:18 Sam’s early journey into sales and GTM 02:20 Common mistakes in enterprise sales process for startups 02:37 Challenges and misconceptions about enterprise sales 04:10 How technical founders can get started in sales 9:26: How founders can start doing outbound sales while building their product 14:26 Tips for effective outbound messaging 18:18 Selling to engineers 19:57 Why founders should be using LinkedIn 22:25: Strategies for marketing on LinkedIn 38:15 AI tools for outbound sales and marketing 43:01 Hiring the right sales leaders for early stage startups Samantha Mckenna is the founder and CEO of SamSales. Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Relyance AI is a global privacy compliance and data governance platform that allows enterprises to protect customer data, avoid expensive fines, and build customer trust. It provides visibility and control over all enterprise data processing. In this episode, we chat with Abhi Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Relyance about the early days of the company, and how Relyance has recently completely transformed its sales culture. Join us as we discuss: 00:00 Preview: Culture is about what you do day-to-day 1:28 The insight behind Relyance 6:20 Early feedback from design partners 9:17 Abhi’s learnings as a second-time founder 11:10 Transforming Relyance’s sales culture and strategy 15:30 How Unreasonable Hospitality influence Abhi’s thinking about company culture 18:18 What the hospitality industry can teach software founders 24:18 How Abhi coached his team into changing their mindsets 30:06 How Relyance’s customers and team have responded to the shift in the sales culture 35:51 Advice for early-stage founders on building strong company culture Abhi Sharma is the CEO and co-founder of Relyance. Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Clay is an AI-powered platform for sales prospecting that gathers data from over 75 sources to build lists and help growth teams send personalized outreach messages. Recently valued at over $500M, Clay has several high-profile enterprise customers, including go-to-market teams at Intercom, Ramp, Notion, Anthropic, Verkada, Vanta, and more. In this episode, Sandhya Hegde chats with Kareem Amin, CEO and co-founder of Clay. Join us as we discuss:  00:00 Preview: Picking the right customer 1:53 Lessons learned from Kareem’s first startup, Frame 4:54 Decision behind choosing acquisition for Frame 7:10 The founding insight behind Clay 9:20 Fundraising for Clay 11:52 Narrowing down the ICP for Clay 17:21 Clay’s decision to focus on growth marketers 21:12 Product feedback from early adopters 22:27 Picking the right strategy to monetize 28:37 Building the early team 32:14 Integrating GPT-3 into the product  34:38 Clay’s product roadmap 37:00 Advice for new founders Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at [email protected]. Kareem Amin is the CEO and co-founder of Clay. Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Scribe makes it easy to share how you do your work by creating automated documentation. Scribe raised a Series B recently and has grown to millions of users with enterprise customers like Gong, LinkedIn, and Shopify. In this episode, Scribe’s co-founder and CEO, Jennifer Smith chats with Sandhya Hegde about Scribe’s early days. Join us as we discuss: 00:00 Preview — capturing institutional knowledge 1:46 The insight for starting scribe 5:40 Building the Founding Team 8:10 Product Launch and Early Adopters 12:40 Launching the GA Product 15:08 Analyzing User Feedback and Customer Profiles 16:42 Early go-to-market strategy 20:18 The evolution of Scribe’s GTM strategy 22:50 Leveraging AI Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at ⁠[email protected]⁠. Jennifer Smith is the CEO and co-founder of Scribe. Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at ⁠https://www.unusual.vc/⁠.