Pablo Srugo

Yesterday, ChatGPT launched a store for custom AI agents. The launch of ChatGPT a year ago was AI's iPhone moment. This is the AppStore moment. The impact on founders is enormous—it's the big unlock we were waiting for. A new door has opened: access to ChatGPT's 100M weekly active users. A user base that's guaranteed to grow for many, many months. It's what led to Uber, WhatsApp, Snapchat and dozens of other multi-billion dollar companies. It's an entirely new ecosystem. A 0 to 1 event. We are in 2008 and Steve Jobs just launched the App Store. Now, it's time to build.

Pitching VCs is a numbers game. An average VC meets 300 companies per year and invests in 3. Your odds of getting a cheque is 1%. So don't take it personally. Go in assuming that you will have to meet dozens of VCs to get a 'yes'. The reason is simple: no one knows which startups will be the next Uber. No one has a crystal ball. It's a guessing game. So even if your start is the next Uber, many VCs will say 'no'. My honest advice... ignore it. As Nike CEO Phil Knight was fond of saying after he kept getting shut down by bank after bank: "Just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop."

I spoke with a founder just last week who said his first move was “literally opening up Yellow Pages and calling customers”. He’s now doing over $10M in recurring revenue. The first thing you should do when you have a startup idea is start interviewing customers. The goal isn’t to sell, it’s to understand. Naturally through that process you will find your best-fit customers. Those are warm leads who believe in you and who have the problem you are solving. If you ask them to pay upfront, they will.

When you’re going from 0 to 1. Treat everything as either a 0 or a 1. It’s either must-do, mission-critical. Or it’s just noise. The list of to-dos is nearly infinite and you have no resources. You cannot get it all done. But on that list, at any given time, there are 1, 2 or 3 things that must get done. If they don't get done, your startup is stuck. If they do get done, you unlock the next phase of growth. The best founders are maniacally focused for a reason. They hone in on those top 3 things. And they simply ignore the rest.

Every founder wants to find #ProductMarketFit. But it's hard to know when you have it. So we came up with a 10-point test. 1. The customer reaches out. 2. They're driving the conversation. 3. They're driving the timeline. 4. They purchase quickly. 5. There's very little negotiation. 6. They don’t hesitate on pricing. 7. They start implementing immediately. 8. They can't seem to live without it. 9. They quickly become cheerleaders. 10. They tell others about your product. The higher a customer's score, the more likely you have PMF with that customer. Try it for yourself.

Although startup culture tells us to embrace failure, the reality is failing sucks. Spending $5M+ and returning $0 back is neither fun nor cool. I know because unfortunately, I’ve done it. I also know because I’ve worked with 100+ idea-stage cos over the past few years. 90%+ failed for one reason: they leap from Research Mode to Startup Mode too quickly. Founders start selling too quickly. Unfortunately, they're solving a problem that's just not that important. By the time that becomes clear, they’ve built an entire company with a team, a product, and a balance sheet. Stopping means layoffs. It means giving up. Don’t start a startup, work on a research project. Until customers start begging, stick to Research Mode.