He raised $1.5M, hit $400K ARR in 9 months— but had to Exit Early. Here’s the top 3 lessons he learned | Rob Palumbo, Co-Founder of Outpoint

A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Rob founded Outpoint in 2020 to help marketers optimize their ad spend. He was a growth marketer and his founder a data scientist. He had team-market fit, a solid thesis, and paying customers. But when the recession hit and ad spend dropped, growth ground to a halt. Nothing he did could revitalize growth. Ultimately, he decreased expenses and exited. He was able to return some cash to investors, find a home for his team and keep the product going.

You tend to hear about what happens to the best 1% of startups. Here’s what tends to happen to the other 99%.

Keywords

Outpoint, product market fit, startup journey, acquisition, growth marketing, venture capital, business strategy, lessons learned, entrepreneurship, market dynamics

Why you should listen

• Why a great team and thesis won’t always lead to success
• How things out of your control can completely change your trajectory
• Why you should build something that works in both up and down markets
• How to find an acquisition when things aren’t going well.

Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:13) The origin of Outpoint
(00:04:40) Medium Mixed Modeling
(00:10:12) Speaking to Customers When their Revenue is Declining
(00:14:49) Outpoint's Runway in 2022
(00:19:21) Hunting to be Acquired
(00:26:07) Lessons Learned
(00:28:53) Almost Finding Product Market Fit
(00:30:23) Planning a Startup vs the Serendipity of Staring One
(00:34:30) Closing Thoughts
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1. He raised $1.5M, hit $400K ARR in 9 months— but had to Exit Early. Here’s the top 3 lessons he learned | Rob Palumbo, Co-Founder of Outpoint (00:00:00)

2. The origin of Outpoint (00:01:13)

3. Medium Mixed Modeling (00:04:40)

4. Speaking to Customers When their Revenue is Declining (00:10:12)

5. Outpoint's Runway in 2022 (00:14:49)

6. Hunting to be Acquired (00:19:21)

7. Lessons Learned (00:26:07)

8. Almost Finding Product Market Fit (00:28:53)

9. Planning a Startup vs the Serendipity of Staring One (00:30:23)

10. Closing Thoughts (00:34:30)