Key Takeaways

• Advaith himself went through the problem of a poor product market fit. His own journey in the pet care business started on the hardware side with building and selling GPS and fitness trackers for pets. Even though he and his co-founders raised funding, the venture faced setbacks during COVID in terms of demand and manufacturing. Funds started depleting and the founders decided to pivot but within the petcare market.


• They decided to go online with a petcare veterinary service, which also had a larger market. They raised funds for WAGR and then grew from there. Advaith’s advice was that if and when you pivot, you should have conviction in the market that you pivot to, make sure there is a market, and you need investor support, ensuring their comfort with the strategic transition


• Advaith said that at the pre-seed or seed stage, the main problem that founders should spend enough time addressing is validating the market fit and ensuring that they are the right person to solve it, their solution is solving a real problem that the customer is willing to pay for, which in turn will help them build a sustainable growth model without burning a lot of money. He added that, if the founder has the resources, it is worth hiring a market research firm to understand the market and customers. Else feet on the ground to interact with customers through surveys or meetings.


• He emphasized the necessity of ensuring that the Total Addressable Market (TAM) is substantial and gauging customers' willingness to pay for the product. He highlighted the importance of asking the right questions to get the real answers vs. what founders want to hear. It is also key to focus on customer retention and use the right metrics to track it based on the product/solution. For e.g. is a SaaS product, usage may be a better metric than revenue.


• Advaith said that founders do need to bring the right advisor on board, and not having a mentor/advisor up front can also lead to failure, as founders more often than not need guidance. He highlighted the value of building the right network and said that often your inner circle is the place to start. Their present advisor is a co-founder's uncle.


• Stressing the significance of nurturing such relationships, he introduced the "Rule of Two Steps Above," advocating for entrepreneurs at the seed level to engage with mentors who have traversed the Series A or B stages, drawing from their comparable experiences. He also emphasizes that moving from a tight-knit team to a more organized setup brings both cultural and operational challenges. Getting advice from founders who've been through similar growth helps a lot.


• Advaith spoke about the need for synergy between product and growth, leveraging tools such as SEO, YouTube, and community engagement. Recognizing the evolving landscape, he positioned GPT as the next generation of distribution channels and acknowledged the shift towards GPT-powered searches.


• Advaith learned the hard way that consensus decision-making among three founders is a mistake. Stressing the importance of swift choices for low-impact decisions and careful consideration for high-impact ones, he highlights the critical role of sound decision-making structure and, promotes a culture of "try fast, fail fast" mentality.


• In concluding the session, he spoke about the often overlooked aspect of founders' mental and physical well-being and how exercising and meditating regularly have positively impacted him. He also encourages not taking things personally in the entrepreneurial journey.