Podcast Episode Details

He walked away from $5M ARR—then built a $50M company. | Russ Fradin, Founder of Larridin

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Season 4 Episode 90

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Russ has started and sold multiple companies over 30 years, but his Dynamic Signal journey will change how you think about product-market fit. They had $5M ARR selling influencer marketing software. 

Then Russ told investors to pretend the $5M didn't exist and bet on a $200K pipeline instead. That pivot led to 600 Fortune 2000 customers and an exit at $50M ARR. 

Now building his AI measurement startup Larridin, Russ shares why being a repeat founder creates a different problem—everyone tells you your idea is great even when it's not. His solution? Don't believe anything until someone writes a check.

Why You Should Listen:

• Why he walked away from $5M ARR to pursue a $200K pipeline.
• How emergent user behavior revealed a $50M business.
• Why "everyone loving your idea" means nothing.
• Why finding product-market fit is only step 1.

Keywords:

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Dynamic Signal, Russ Glass, product-market fit, enterprise sales, employee advocacy, pivot strategy, B2B SaaS, influencer marketing

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:36 30 years of Silicon Valley startups

00:03:05 Dynamic Signal's original idea

00:07:29 The emergent behavior that changed everything

00:15:38 Walking away from $5M ARR to pursue a $200K opportunity

00:18:23 Why product-market fit is never final

00:22:14 Selling Dynamic Signal 

00:24:30 Starting Laridin

00:36:34 Raising $17M as a repeat founder—why everyone says yes

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

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Published on 2 weeks ago