Scrappy tactics and a huge post-COVID pivot | Owner’s unconventional journey to product-market fit | Adam Guild (Co-founder and CEO of Owner)
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Show Notes
Adam Guild is the co-founder and CEO at Owner, an online food ordering system for independent restaurants. Within a year, Owner went from being about to run out of money to having hundreds of customers. Last year, they raised a $33M Series B.
Adam’s entrepreneurial journey began as a teenager when he built a successful Minecraft server, which led him to drop out of high school to become a founder. His passion for helping small businesses was sparked by his mom’s struggles running a dog grooming shop, which led him to launch the early iteration of Owner.
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In today’s episode, we discuss:
- How working with a small business kickstarted Owner
- Adam’s unusual outbound strategy
- Why the pandemic accelerated Owner’s success
- How Owner’s pivot led to “hyperbolic” product-market fit
- The two qualities Adam looks for in new hires
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Referenced:
- Alex Bard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexbard/
- Dean Bloembergen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanbloembergen/
- Guisados: https://www.guisados.la/
- HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/
- Jack Altman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackealtman/
- Kimbal Musk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimbalmusk/
- Modern Restaurant Management: https://modernrestaurantmanagement.com/
- Naval Ravikant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navalr/
- Neil Patel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/
- Peter Thiel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterthiel/
- P.F. Chang's: https://www.pfchangs.com/
- Sean Rad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrad/
- Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/
- Tim Ferriss: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timferriss/
- Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
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Where to find Adam:
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Where to find Brett:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson
Where to find First Round Capital:
- Website: https://firstround.com/
- First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
- This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:29) Adam’s first business
(04:15) The transition from Minecraft to Owner
(05:58) The dark side of the gaming industry
(14:20 Adam’s scrappy strategy to landing his first customers
(16:52) The COVID pivot
(21:31) The quest to find product-market fit
(30:53) What actually worked to get new customers
(36:03) Inside Owner’s explosive growth
(46:41) How Owner secured its crucial first round of funding
(53:34) The bet on going multi-product
(64:28) What Adam wishes he knew at 17
(76:22) Sales-led vs. product-led growth