Tank Talks
Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures
The 5 Steps to Product Market Fit with Pablo Srugo of Mistral VC
0:00
-46:34

The 5 Steps to Product Market Fit with Pablo Srugo of Mistral VC

Episode 171

The journey to Product Market Fit (PMF) and the common pitfalls for first-time founders are abundant, and finding a trusted guide to help you on your startup journey can be just as difficult. Our guest today is Pablo Srugo from Mistral VC. With his roots in co-founding Gymtrack and transitioning to venture capital, Pablo has seen or experienced many of the challenges of being a founder.

In our discussion, Pablo highlights the importance of solving real problems and valuing customer feedback. He also dives into the importance of pivoting for startup survival, sharing real-world examples from his investment career. He wraps up by advising founders on balancing the long-term vision with the immediate quest for PMF, emphasizing the integration of customer feedback and market insights into their strategies.

About Pablo Srugo:
Pablo Srugo is a Partner at Mistral, based in Toronto. Prior to Mistral, Pablo was the co-founder and COO of Gymtrack, a VC-backed startup in the FitTech space. Pablo also co-founded an online tutoring platform, which was acquired in 2014.

He also is the host of The Product Market Fit Show.

(01:20) Pablo discusses his transition from founding a tutoring marketplace and Gymtrack to venture capital at Mistral VC

(04:19) The importance of empathy in venture capital and how his founder experience helps him understand the challenges of reaching milestones like 10K or 50K MRR

(06:26) His time as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Invest Ottawa, noting the common challenge startups face in achieving product market fit due to focusing on less significant problems

(08:56) Choosing the right early customers and focusing on core business values.

(10:57) Pablo’s experience with Gymtrack, discussing the challenges of finding product market fit and how revenue is not the only indicator of success

(13:02) The struggle of gaining significant traction and the realization that their solution was not a top priority for their customer

(23:35) Founder’s responsibility for achieving product market fit with VCs playing a supportive role

(28:12) ADA’s challenges with customer service quality as its user base grew

(30:24) The importance for founders to understand customer pain points and get real-time feedback, rather than delegating key roles too early

(31:07) The balance of patience and urgency in venture capital, especially when a portfolio company is struggling to find product market fit

(33:50) The tendency of founders, especially first-timers, to rush into building products without fully understanding the market or customer needs.

(35:39) Why Minimum Viable Products (MVP) should deliver real value rather than being a half-finished product

(41:16) Pablo shares his love for learning about the origin stories of companies like DuPont and FedEx, and the importance of understanding the journey to product market fit

(42:00) The power of being a resilient “founder cockroach”

Fast Favorites:

  1. 🎙- Favorite Podcast: My First Million

  2. 📰- Favorite Newsletter / Blog: Stratechery

  3. 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Airpods

  4. 📈-  Favorite New Trend: AR and AI

  5. 📚- Favorite Book: Man's Search for Meaning

  6. 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: The only thing that matters is meaningful work and meaningful relationships plus good health

Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!

Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai

Discussion about this podcast

Tank Talks
Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures
Join your host, Matt Cohen, Founder & Managing Partner at Ripple Ventures for weekly conversations with leaders in the startup ecosystem discussing the truth about investing, building and running startups.