23 JAN 2023 · LaunchDarkly is a pioneer in the feature management space. Founded in 2014, while the agile and cloud movements were still relatively nascent, LaunchDarkly was ahead of its time. They have now scaled to a $3 billion company, serving over 4,000 customers. In this episode, LaunchDarkly Co-Founder and CEO Edith Harbaugh takes us back to her initial insight as an engineering manager and product leader at TripIt, deeply versed in the value of systematic feature flagging, and keenly aware of how underutilized it was by many other dev teams. She shares the conviction required to build a product that most buyers in Silicon Valley weren’t yet looking for, and how she engaged her network to gain initial design partners for the product that would come to define the feature management space. Join us as we discuss: - Honing a founder insight and being early vs late to an emerging sector - Hypothesis testing and building with design partners - Community-building and marketing a movement - Fundraising when VCs are skeptical of a new sector About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: - Identifying initial customers — https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/ideal-customer-profile-and-personas - Early-stage pricing — https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pricing-your-product - TOOL: Founder prioritization heatmap — https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/ceo-founder-prioritization - Building a self-serve motion  — https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/self-serve-user-buyer-journey

9 JAN 2023 · Jasper is a leading AI-driven content platform with over 80,000 customers. Going from launch to unicorn status in 18 months, they have been one of the fastest companies to cross $1M in MRR with a new product. In this episode, Jasper Co-Founder Dave Rogenmoser shares his story of persistence, pivots, and market validation as he and his co-founders went from building a digital marketing agency to a hypergrowth AI unicorn. Join us as we discuss: - External and internal signals that it’s time to pivot - Validating startup ideas and how to let the user shape product decisions - Product-led GTM and getting users to buy a product before it exists - Building AI products and how to partner with foundation AI companies About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/).

5 DEC 2022 · Aurora Solar is a solar design platform that has accelerated small business growth in the solar energy industry. Through it, vendors and homeowners have instant access to crucial data about home solar projects. In this episode, Co-founder at Aurora Solar Chris Hopper shares how he went from installing solar panels to managing a $4B climate tech unicorn that has powered over 10 million solar projects. Join us as we discuss: Building a product around ignored customer needs Bootstrapping growth with SMBs for momentum Expanding up-market in a concentrated enterprise segment About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: How to raise Seed and Series A capital: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/fundraising-milestones-valuations Building a product roadmap: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-product-roadmap Unusual Ventures video series: the guide to fundraising: https://www.unusual.vc/post/unusual-founders-video-series-the-guide-to-fundraising

28 NOV 2022 · Before Webflow, creating a website required both a designer and a coder. Now, designers can build websites without code or sacrificing their artistic vision. Listen, as Co-Founder of Webflow, Bryant Chou talks about his journey turning a simple idea of simplifying website-creation into a $4 billion dollar company. Join us as we discuss: Webflow’s organic marketing strategies Lessons learned from Webflow’s private beta How Bryant discovered the product-market fit for Webflow Webflow’s product roadmap positioning Building a team that amplified Webflow’s vision   About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya ) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/).  Further reading: Creating a product roadmap: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-creating-product-roadmap  Fixing Seed-Stage sales for enterprise businesses: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/sales-fixing-seed-stage-sales  Define your ideal customer profile (ICP) and personas: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/sales-intro-to-icp 

21 NOV 2022 · SOC2 certification is a daunting process for startup founders but increasingly necessary to land customers. Our guest today was among the first to understand how startup founders thought about security and compliance and set out to create the automated compliance category. Listen in as Christina Cacioppo, CEO and co-found er of Vanta talks about her journey to creating the leading automated security and compliance platform that is valued at $1.6B today. Join us as we discuss: How Christina approached finding product-market fit for Vanta What productivity looks like for the sales team at Vanta with $10-20k ACVs How Christina has invested in her own evolution as a leader and CEO Christina’s best advice for seed stage founders just starting out on their journey   About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/).  Further reading: CEO/Founder prioritization tool: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/leadership-ceo-and-founder-prioritization Modern GTM: Scale your sales team to win the early majority: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/the-modern-gtm-scaling-your-sales-team-to-win-the-early-majority  Product testing process: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/product-testing-overview 

14 NOV 2022 · The SQL database that sits under most applications in the world is old technology that was not built with the Cloud in mind. Now we live in a Cloud-Native world and it's important for developers to have a database that offers the same guarantees as legacy SQL database technology while also taking advantage of life in the cloud. Listen in as Peter Mattis Co-founder and CTO at Cockroach Labs talks about the cloud-native, distributed SQL database that provides next-level consistency, ultra-resilience, data locality, and massive scale to modern cloud applications. Join us as we discuss: What were the unique insights that Peter and his team felt that drove them to creating a new database Why open source was a sensible approach for Peter and his team to take in terms of strategy Who were the early adopters of the open source project and Peter's advice to first time founders to be able to engage and foster a small community of users How Peter built his team early on to answer the technical problems that came with building a database     About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/).  Further reading: How to stand out in an established open-source community: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/stand-out-in-an-open-source-community  How to pick the right GTM motion to reach $100M ARR: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/picking-a-gtm-motion  How Cockroach Labs leveraged open source to find product-market fit: https://www.unusual.vc/post/cockroach-event  Free plan vs. free trial in PLG: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/free-plan-vs-free-trial 

31 OCT 2022 · In today's episode, we hear from Andy Rachleff, who coined the term “product-market fit” which served as the inspiration for this podcast. Andy Rachleff is a legendary Venture Capitalist who originally coined the term "product-market fit." Andy has had an incredibly accomplished career in the tech industry, co-founding Benchmark Capital in 1995 and Wealthfront in 2008. Andy has mentored and guided hundreds of founders and investors, and in this episode talks about why understanding product-market fit is the only thing that matters and all the pitfalls founders face along the way. Join us as we discuss: How Andy got into venture capital and ended up starting Benchmark Who and what inspired Andy to coin the term product-market fit The core concepts behind product-market fit and why it’s the only things that matters for founders and investors What truly defines an MVP and how it should test the desperation hypothesis About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, 
and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: Building conviction in a startup: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/building-conviction Customer validation: going from idea to sellable product: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-customer-validation What are design partners, and how do you acquire the right ones? https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/picking-design-partners 12 tips to improve your MVP with early adopters: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/shape-your-mvp-with-design-partners

17 OCT 2022 · Early revenue can sometimes fool you into thinking that you have product-market fit. Startups begin to focus on growth without having solved the core problem their customers are playing them to address. In this episode, we are joined by Lars Albright, a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, where he leads investments in vertical SaaS and fintech startups. Lars is a three-time founder of enterprise software companies, having sold two of his companies to Apple and Mastercard. Today, Lars joins us to talk about his last startup SessionM, a pioneer in mobile loyalty, and even today, powers the loyalty infrastructure for Fortune 1000 brands. Join us as we discuss: How SessionM needed to find product-market fit with 3 different customer stakeholders The launch of mPlus Rewards and early traction Why Lars and his team decided to pivot from coalition loyalty programs to enterprise software despite the revenue traction The challenges of working with fortune 500 companies as a small startup and the lessons Lars took from that time Lars’ advice to founders who have revenue but not product-market fit   About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, 
and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: Customer validation: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-customer-validation Lars’ core fintech themes and advice for founders in today's market: https://www.unusual.vc/post/core-fintech-themes-and-advice-for-founders-in-todays-market Loyalty 3.0: Where consumers become owners: https://www.unusual.vc/post/loyalty-in-a-web3-world

10 OCT 2022 · Successful startups need to solve a problem, but there is a big difference between a founder knowing a problem exists in the abstract and a founder experiencing the pain points firsthand and developing ways to solve it. Laura Behrens Wu is the Founder and CEO of Shippo, a shipping platform designed to give every merchant access to the best-in-class tools and technology reserved for retail giants. Over 100k brands trust Shippo to ensure their customers love how their products are delivered. In this episode, Laura takes us through the product-market fit journey of Shippo and her journey of evolving as its CEO. Join us as we discuss: The origin story of Shippo when Laura first launched the company in 2014 How Laura approached the path to find product-market fit Shopify app vs API company - solving the chicken and egg shipping problem How the pandemic affected Shippo and what it was like making decisions amid all the chaos happening in the logistics and supply chain industry How Laura invested in herself as a founder and CEO About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services. Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, 
and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: Customer validation: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/pmf-customer-validation The Unusual Guide to pre-seed: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/building-conviction CEO/founder prioritization template: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/leadership-ceo-and-founder-prioritization Leading through uncertainty: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/leadership-through-crisis

26 SEP 2022 · Since the rise of COVID-19, every company has adopted remote work, and our guest's mission is to create a more equal world by making it possible for talented professionals to work from any country they choose to. Tony Jamous is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Oyster, a global employment unicorn that helps companies hire employees and contractors anywhere in the world. Before Oyster, Tony was the founder of Nexmo (2010), a Twilio competitor that was acquired by Vonage in 2016 for $230M. In this episode, Tony takes us through the product-market fit journey of Oyster. Join us as we discuss: The origins of Oyster in April 2020 as world implemented lockdowns Tony's approach to product-market fit and the milestones and key metrics that gave them confidence that they found it The learnings that Tony took from his first company Nexmo, to help him build Oyster The challenges of creating connection across a remote team and how Oyster uses Kona Tony's best advice for seed stage founders just starting out on their journey  About Unusual Ventures — Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building infrastructure software and application-level companies. Unusual was founded in 2018 with the mission to reinvent the venture capital engagement model by serving entrepreneurs with an unprecedented level of hands-on services.  Described as a partner versus a top-down stakeholder by its portfolio companies, Unusual is laser-focused on serving exceptional founders and teams building innovative products. With offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, and Boston, Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, Harness, 
and Vivun. About Sandhya Hegde — Sandhya is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise SaaS companies. Previously an early employee and executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sandhya) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/). Further reading: Managing remote teams: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/leadership-managing-remote-teams Key metrics for product-led SaaS (from SaaStr 2022): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CT34wM2QSVhNErZ_5tB-VMv_OCREwM4vdJ20PfbLIIo/edit#slide=id.g13acbf38164_0_86  Leading through uncertainty: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/leadership-through-crisis