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We just hit 275 registrants. And the pitch decks? They are excellent.

Our next event at Entrepreneurs First in SF on Tuesday, May 12, promises to be the best one to date. Why? Not only will we have 5 amazing startup pitches, but we will also have 10 different startups with demo stations.

Plus, the SaaStr conference kicks off in San Mateo on the same day, and we are an unofficial SaaStr partner, and if you bring your SaaStr badge, you’re in!

For speakers, we have Chris Farmer, the founder and CEO of Signal Fire, who will do a fireside chat, along with Kyle Lui, General Partner at Bling Capital, who will also do a fireside chat interview with my co-host, Arjun Dev Arora.

How can this get any better? We will have a guest judge.

I am excited to announce our guest judge, Sean Byrnes. He is a founder, coach, and long-time startup investor. I couldn’t be happier to have him on board.

Now, if you’re a founder, investor, have significant startup experience, or work at a highly regarded high-tech company, you know what to do. Apply here to attend.

Sponsorship opportunities are always available. Reply for details.

Co-founder and CEO: Aakanksha Upadhyay
Location: Mountain View, California
Stage: Early
Website: heynavii.ai
Social: LinkedIn

Navii replaces resumes with personal AI agents that represent you. Each user gets an agent that understands their goals, experience, and values. Instead of applying everywhere, your agent connects you to the right opportunities.

Users talk to Navii, which learns their background and career direction. The agent matches them with roles, teams, and people that fit. On the hiring side, companies meet pre-aligned candidates instead of sorting resumes. 

Job search is still high-volume and low-signal for both sides. Navii flips the model from search to representation and alignment. That could change how people get hired and how teams find talent.

A dreamy spring night soundtrack for soft light, wet streets, and the glow that lingers after sunset. It starts tender, slips into neon motion, and fades out somewhere warm, nostalgic, and a little unreal.

Most GTM problems look the same from the outside.

The pipeline is growing too slowly. Your content does not land the way you expect. Deals feel like they are moving, and then they stall.

The underlying issue is often very different, and that is why so many founders apply the wrong fix.

Here is the simple matrix I developed and keep referring founders to:

This is the first challenge that most early companies hit.

You built something cool. You know it matters. But the market doesn’t know about it. Not because your product is bad, but because attention is a scarce commodity that is hard to get. Content still matters. But posting more only helps when the right people are already paying attention. If they are not, more posts usually just mean more missed shots.

At this stage, the real problem is distribution.

How do you solve this?

Go where your buyers already are. Borrow distribution. Show up in the right communities. Build partnerships. Put founder-led content to work. Get in front of existing demand rather than waiting for people to discover you.

People are seeing your content. This is good. They may even click. This is even better. But nothing seems to stick. There is no real engagement, no pull, and no sense that the message is landing.

This is where many founders get confused, because on the surface, it can look like progress. You have some visibility, but it alone does not mean the market cares.

If people are not responding, the issue is almost never a lack of effort. It is usually that the positioning is too generic, too safe, or too vague.

How do you solve this?

Sharpen your message by being specific about the problem you solve. Find one pain point to focus on and go deep. You have to get good at articulating the pain and positioning your product as the solution they need.

Now you are getting somewhere. People understand the problem. They agree that you solve a problem that matters to them. They may even be interested in what you are building. But interest alone is not enough. They still are not moving.

It’s easy to get tripped up here. You think that because the message is landing, and the hard part is done. It is not. Getting someone to agree with you is easy. But, getting them to believe you can deliver? Much harder.

The challenge is getting them to believe you.

How do you solve this?

You have to prove it. You do this by showing results. You need proof points that show who it worked for and what they achieved with it. You must give people something concrete; if all they have is your word, they will hesitate.

Finally, there are people who believe you. They are interested, and they at least say they want it. But they are slow to buy. You get a few signups. Maybe a demo request. But there are no next steps. This is where most founders misread the situation and assume the market is not ready.

This is where you start telling yourself the market is not ready. Or that people are just slow. Or that you need to follow up more.

The problem is almost always that taking the next step feels like work.

How do you solve it?

Simplify everything and remove unnecessary friction. Is your integration process cumbersome? Are you able to provide a free trial or demo account to make onboarding easier? Can you follow up more quickly? Aim to reduce cognitive load at every step. Interest is fragile, and if acting feels hard, people drift.

Congratulations, you now have a real sales pipeline. Deals are in motion. People are evaluating your product. But closing is hard. You get a lot of:

“Circle back next quarter.”
“Need to get internal buy-in.”
“Priorities changed.”

You start hearing the same lines over and over. You tell yourself the deal is close. It just needs time. It usually does not. The problem is that there is nothing to force a decision. Right now, doing nothing still seems preferable to your buyer.

At this stage, the problem is conversion.

How do you solve it?

You have to create pressure to move. Tighten your qualification process. Make sure that they have a real problem that you can solve. Do not take calls to satisfy someone’s curiosity. Show the cost of waiting. Make the outcome of saying yes obvious, and the cost of saying no uncomfortable.

This is the one that a lot of founders struggle with. You closed the deal. The customer said yes. BOOM, it’s a huge win. But then not much happens. Usage is sparse. Adoption is slow and doesn’t spread. Nobody upgrades you, introduces you to a second team, or has a “let’s increase the budget” conversation.

You tell yourself you need more customers.

Maybe. But maybe the real problem is that your existing customers aren't getting enough value to drive growth.

How do you solve it?

You need to make the product more valuable after the sale. Get the first users to value fast. Help them build processes around your product. Even better, help them build on top of your product. Show them what broader adoption looks like inside their organization. Give them a reason to grow.

The fix is almost always a better strategy. Once you diagnose the real issue, the right move becomes much easier to see.

🎙️ 041 Gregory and Paul Show – AI Convergence, Claude Mythos, Space Economy

This episode covers a major shift in how software is being built and used. Gregory and Paul break down why every AI product is starting to look the same, what that means for differentiation, and where real value might move next. They get into Beehiv’s MCP release, the rise of AI memory systems, and the controversy around Claude Mythos. The back half moves into macro bets, SpaceX, Artemis, Apple’s stagnation, and the future of devices. It closes with a sponsor and meme

I'm a former creative director, 3x head of marketing, and founder of Vibe Your SaaS. After 20 years in Silicon Valley, devising new ways to get people to click on things, I now help early-stage B2B SaaS companies scale their businesses through strategic sales and marketing consulting.

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