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Most people describe finding PMF as an art, not a science. We're here to change that. Introducing PMF Method. After 20 years and 500+ investments in pre-product-market fit companies, we've drawn on our data and worked with some of the world's most iconic enterprise founders, distilling what they did in their first 6 months into a free 14-week intensive experience that helps sales-led B2B founders build epic companies. In tactical sessions, we help early founders discover what customers really want, build the right v1 product, and close your first sales — all while keeping 100% of your equity. You'll work alongside a tight group of other builders at your same stage, and get to learn from the hard-earned insights from founders of $1B+ B2B companies, like Vanta's Christina Cacioppo, Looker's lloyd tabb, Plaid's Zachary Perret, Ironclad's Jason Boehmig, Lattice's Jack Altman, and Verkada's Filip Kaliszan. The Summer 2024 session of PMF Method runs from 5/29 to 8/28. Any early founder working on a new B2B SaaS company is welcome to apply — just get your application in by 5/7 (or tag a founder friend below!) More details, FAQs, and application link in the comments below 👇

“I’d probably lose an arm before I lose design partners,” says Eilon Reshef, CPO and co-founder of Gong. He’s not just talking about the early stages of company-building. To this day, at the thousand-person Series E startup, Gong PMs work with anywhere between half a dozen to a dozen design partners at any given time. These are the two profiles that Gong looks for in design partners:

It’s hard to believe now in the post-ChatGPT era, but back in 2015, businesses were still AI-shy. But that wasn’t a blocker for Eilon Reshef, who had a hunch that AI could help sales teams better understand their interactions with customers. So when he and his co-founder first launched the early version of Gong, they led with what the tool could do, not the tech itself — and customers were hooked. “It wasn't about AI at the time. We didn't even use the term ‘AI’ because people were scared of AI. So we framed it around sales efficiency,” says Reshef. Read our latest on The Review about how Gong found traction with an AI product long before it was cool.

Gong is a Series E category leader with over 4,000 customers and a $7B valuation. But the unsung heroes of that breakout success, according to CPO and co-founder Eilon Reshef? Their design partners. In the latest installment of our Paths to PMF series, Reshef walks us through how he’s worked with design partners at every stage of the company, from the earliest days of launching the beta to scaling its suite of products in the present day. Reshef is full of wisdom as a long-time product leader and second-time founder, but perhaps his most unique advice for founders is this: 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭-𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐭. To this day, Gong’s 20+ PMs each work with up to a dozen design partners, helping them refine new products and features. Read more about how Gong worked with design partners to find product-market fit and build a multi-billion-dollar business at the link in the comments.

A founder's fundraising journey starts with 1:1 pitches, but stepping into a VC firm's partner meeting is a different ball game. To paint a clearer picture of how they differ, First Round partner Liz Wessel lays out exactly what founders can expect on The Review:

When pitching in front of a room full of investors, it can be tempting to try to read off each slide and hit every point that you think a founder should cover in a pitch. But ultimately, what resonates with investors is different for every company. Trying to figure that out and make it the centerpiece of your pitch is usually the better path. On the Review, Jake Stauch recounts learning this lesson as a second-time founder. “When I think about early partner meetings for my first startup, I made the mistake of treating a pitch like a school assignment, trying to ‘complete’ my deck with all the right parts. In retrospect, we focused too much on the founding team in our pitch when it ended up being the mission and TAM — helping kids with ADHD — that got investors excited and led us to close round,” he says. “When pitching my second company, Serval, more recently, it was very much about the experience of the team, so we leaned on that aspect more this time around.”