Ilai Szpiezak

How We Built Kroolo So Fast: 5 Do’s and Don’ts from My Journey as a Founder Over the past few months, many people have asked how we managed to build Kroolo so quickly. While I wish there was some hidden secret sauce, a few key principles have stood out—both in what works and what didn't! Here are my top 5 Do's ✅ and Don'ts ❌ for building fast and delivering real value. The Do’s ✅: 1. Learn from Competition / Depth in Clarity (CR= Competitive Research) Speed doesn’t mean shortcuts. From the very start, we had to be crystal clear about the vision, digging into every detail. Check competition like a chess game. Clarity fuels momentum. 2. Detailed Mockups (PX = Product Experience) We didn’t just jump into code. Every feature started as a detailed mockup. Visualizing the product early on helped us avoid missteps, not just what we thought was cool. 3. Role Play ICP in Design (CX = Customer Experience) Our mantra? Always role-play your ICP in product design. When users will navigate the flow, how would they feel? Ask those hard ques.. 4. Product, and Engineering as One Function (DX= Delivery Experience) This was a game-changer for us. We made sure that product, design, and engineering weren't just separate silos but one cohesive function. 5. Make Testing a Culture (TX = Testing Experience) Testing isn’t something you bolt on at the end; it’s part of the DNA. Every assumption, every feature, every experience. It’s not just about catching bugs; it’s about cultivating a mindset of continuous improvement. The Don’ts ❌: 1. Don’t Start Making Assumptions Every time we guessed without data or customer feedback, we stumbled. Trust the process, and always verify. 2. Don’t Be a Manager, Be a Leader Moment you slip into “managing” mode, you lose the agility that’s so crucial. Build a culture where everyone leads, and results will follow. 3.Don’t Analyze Too Much Yes, data is important, but analysis paralysis can kill momentum. We had to learn when to stop analyzing and start executing. Sometimes you need to trust your gut and take the leap. 4. Don’t Wait for Updates Waiting for something to happen is not a strategy. If we needed something done, we didn’t wait for an update—we made it happen. 5. Don’t Avoid Responsibility Everyone at Kroolo owns their outcomes. Responsibility isn’t a burden; it’s the key to moving fast. There's no room for "it's your role!". This journey has been a wild ride—challenging, humbling, and deeply rewarding. Building Kroolo fast wasn’t about shortcuts or hacks; it was about being relentless in our clarity and discipline in what we allowed ourselves to focus on. In the end, it’s not just about speed—it’s about building the right thing, for the right people, the right way. Let’s keep pushing boundaries, together. 🚀

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I am particularly proud of our partnership with Notion, a tool that thousands of startups use as their connected workspace for everything from fundraising to onboarding. We are working with them on SO MANY COOL THINGS, but one of them is a killer deal on their new AI features (unlimited AI free - link below). Notion ships features and functionality faster than anybody else. They take it seriously. It is arguably one of the most important pieces of software we run our entire company on for three reasons: 1. Easy to use 2. Easy to get started with, and 3. Made for growth The same values we prioritize at Puzzle and deliver for our customers. Exclusive for Puzzle startups: Get the Notion Plus plan and unlimited AI free for 6 months. Follow the link below for details.Access the limitless power of AI, right inside Notion, to build and scale your startup and team with one tool! https://lnkd.in/gWYexFin

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Some myths that Zuora's acquisition of Togai debunked: 💵 You need previous experience in the problem you're solving. None of our Founders or team have previously worked in a Billing company. You don't need to have previous experience in what you're building but the the intent to learn and grow your expertise exponentially is what matters. 🚀You need a huge following on LinkedIn. Our Founders do not have a huge following on Linkedin or any social media platform. You don't need to have a following to sell. 👨🏽‍💻You need previous SaaS experience to start a SaaS business. Our Founders have no previous (business) SaaS experience 🛩️You need a huge marketing team to compete in a crowded market. We're a 3 Member Marketing Team that took on companies with over 30+ in Marketing 🎡You can't win deals against companies in the industry that have raised huge funding. We're a 2 Member Sales team that were able to fight tooth and nail with competitors who have raised $70M+ in funding 👩🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼You need to have friends who are your potential customers. No you don't! We don't have a single acquaintance that is a customer of Togai. 🪜 It is impossible to compete with other companies that have been doing SEO for many years. This really isn't the case - You can still start from zero and beat various competitors when it comes to SEO This is not to gloat of the things that we have achieved but it is just to drive the fact that a small team from India can still compete with companies from across the world. And ofcourse, don't believe everything that you read on Social Media. #GTM #SaaS #Founder #Startupstories #ZerotoOne

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Want to fundraise? 💵 Then make more friends. Especially founder friends. And be friendly with investors and experts... get on their radar, and get their input, as EARLY as you can. In others words, be relational. We think it's about having the exact right template, running a tight process, etc. but don't forget the grease that moves the wheel: personal connection > transaction. If you've ever seen a founder raise quickly, I'm betting it's because their personal connections were strong. And it doesn't mean they were born with that network - most of these networks can be built. This webinar with the wildly generous and candid Rebecca Sholiton Kahnweiler gets into this and the nitty-gritty how-tos about how to set yourself up for success. And speaking of friends...Rebecca and her crew have catalyzed 42% of the pre-seed and angel deals that've been completed by founders of color in Chicago. 🔥 https://lnkd.in/eUSyPeZZ

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The Founder’s Journey: I am not going to sugarcoat this: You are never fully prepared  It’s harder than you expect It’s challenging BUT It’s rewarding  I don’t regret starting this journey  AND - It’s going to push you so much out of your comfort zone  That you will start researching “What is a comfort zone?” If, like me, you are all about continuous improvement and growth, you are a learned and problem solver - starting your gig is the 'Job' you were looking for. This is NOT a story of how I made $100K in the first eight months. But I am sharing some insights that are going to be helpful for those who are like me – just getting started and figuring out their success framework. 1.        It’s still OK to fail (even if social media is covered with success stories). Principle:  I would rather look stupid, learn, and grow than pretend to be successful and fail in the long run.  Solution: Prioritization is key. Focus on what brings the most value to your customers and your business.  Lesson: For a few months, I was all over the place. I started many small and big projects, but I realized I needed to stop and focus on the essential and long-term goals.  2.        You are a Business Owner (you and your business colleagues have the same pain points, challenges and probably make the same mistakes. Think about the basics and build a strong foundation (e.g., I am still learning about marketing, sales, SEO, etc.; I am helping my business colleagues be cyber and risk-aware) Principle: It’s not about what you do but how you do it.  Solution: Think Business Magic Quadrant (Time, Money, Resources, Expertise).  Lesson: I needed to learn that I was not selling solutions but solving one or more of these challenges. 3.        Scaling and Complexity Principle: If you think you can do it alone, don’t Solution: Find trusted partners, outsource when needed, scale as the business grows, and manage complexity. Lesson: Thinking that I could do everything by myself was a big mistake. For that very reason, I partnered with leaders in the industry – so I can do things right and the right thing every single time. Find the right partner. What are some of the lessons you needed to learn the hard way? What is the ONE THING that made you successful? How did you overcome challenges?

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I had the pleasure of talking with Olga Pogozheva about everything startup owners need to know about making their products successful. We dove into essential strategies for product marketing, positioning, and much more. If you're a startup founder looking to boost your product's success, this interview is for you! Check it out and share your thoughts! 😊👇 #Startups #ProductMarketing #Entrepreneurship #Interview https://lnkd.in/eZPKa_8S

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Someone asked me: "As a founder, what do you do to mitigate the mental load" The most effective for me is to meet other founders. And one I like is Arnaud Rubeck. We go back 5 years and catch-up every now and then. Every time we chat we go right into some challenges we have and try to help each other. Yesterday was on sales overall and more specifically the challenges to nail your ICP. Many gurus will tell you "just experiment" - which is exactly how you know they don't know sh#t. In our Glorious industry it's certainly a lot of work to really know them, but that will be for another post. My point here is, only founders understand what it means to be a founder - and Arnaud is the best cockroach I know. Always bouncing back, always doing the work, you never see him but he's always there. Seriously, the stories he has to tell are a mix of absurd setbacks, timely miracles, and ridiculous persistence and grit. Our real, open, transparent chats as founders is priceless. PS: He's not really on Linkedin so let me help him out a bit: check out his new venture SansDebt, fresh out of the previous Iterative batch 💪🏻.

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Connecting Product lovers in intimate gatherings. That's what I'm doing at Product Weekend, in just 6 words 🧡 One thing I didn't expect from Sidebar, was having access to amazing workshops and masterclasses like the one I had with Larry Smith and Lauren English, where I came up with this 6-words pitch. Another thing I didn't expect from an online international community, was meeting amazing people in person in my hometown. In the last 2 weeks, I had the chance to have incredible chats with Alia Pialtos and Mike Korenugin in Lisbon. What an experience! Meeting these brilliant minds face-to-face was extremely valuable 💎 Besides these, getting feedback from accomplished executive like Jon Wolheim, who has been through an IPO, has been invaluable. His advice has made me rethink investment and growth options for Product Weekend. All of this within a little over a month 🙌 When I first heard about Sidebar, I thought it was too expensive. But now, I realize it's a bargain for the value it brings. If you're interested in knowing more about my experience, feel free to drop me a text, and if we cross paths this week at PRODUCTIZED, I'll be happy to tell you more about it. I want more ambitious people to leverage this incredible growth opportunity 📈 Thank you Jeremy Barton for helping me take the leap 🙏🏻 #productmanagement #career #networking #product #growth

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Just wrapped up a wonderful Celebration Week with the ULTRA.VC team and the inspirational founders from the most recent accelerator cohort. The best thing about working with pre-seed companies is that no one's arguing about Agile or what product managers do or which process is best. In many ways, it's the pure essence of what product management should be: 1) Find a big, painful problem and some people that are ill-served by current solutions 2) Build deep customer empathy 3) Create a differentiated solution and get it in their hands 4) Be responsive to feedback and iterate fast There are many reasons why this starts to break down as companies get larger but I think it's always worth some introspection, however large the company, and making sure you're focusing on the product and your customers, not process for process' sake.

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What do Red Seagulls, Golden Geese, and White Elephants have in common for a Product Leader and Founder? Jon Grover, Head of Product at Halda.AI, has been a mentor and friend of mine for many years! He has deep wisdom from being in the product trenches. He recently shared with me a powerful model for product leaders to identify their most profitable customer segment! So I invited Jon to share it with you all on Sembrar's next webinar! What will you learn - Revenue Secrets: Jon will share a straightforward formula for finding profitable customer segments. Beyond the Noise: Strategies to truly gauge Product Market Fit. Targeting Excellence: Key insights to focus on your most valuable customers. The Takeaway - A guide for leaders to create impactful and lasting revenue streams. Who Should Join? Product Managers and Founders seeking to refine their customer targeting. Join Us! Check the comments for the registration link. #ProductLeaders #Productmanagement #PMF

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Reminder: we've got hyper-growth startups in the UK too. Last week I joined Attio's event on "Scaling sales and success from 0 → 1". My notes and how Dolphin fits in this new B2B era 👇 💬 In the very beginning, there are no processes. It's a Founder-led everything. Especially a Founder-led sales and CS process. Do anything and everything that helps move that needle. 💬 As a founder, you need to rebuild what you were doing initially (kind of improvised) to share it with your team. It becomes a playbook of what you were doing, but now with a bunch of people AND yourself. 💬 It takes longer than you think to get people to understand your product to sell it, it's not always a "plug & play" process. 💬 "When is the right time to move away from Founder-led? When you have an idea of what sales look for you, and when people cannot book any more calls in your calendar because it's full". 💬 Even as a horizontal tool (both Attio and Plain solve a horizontal pain), it's a mistake to try to sell to everyone. You go niche, even if you go wide. (Dolphin AI sits in a similar place solving a BIG-wide problem). 💬 Doing "things that don't scale" actually work (It's not just me...) See people in person. Message them on Slack. Ship fast and let them know it’s for them. Or even take a plane to LA to meet them in 2 days time. ("We're in Santa Monica, shall we meet on Thursday?") 😉 💬 My favourite one: Sales is not a distraction from the product. It is a product in itself and you need to fall in love with it. I'm obsessed with beautiful, powerful software... There's a new wave of B2B tools, that are sexy as B2C. And chaotic in their own way. I've always described my mind as an "organised mess". I guess we're in the right moment to build Dolphin AI to be the world's next-gen CX Insights Platform and power those customer-obsessed teams. Connecting CX with Product. Check out Dolphin if you care about your customer feedback. (I still have space in my calendar... for now 🙊). --- Thanks Nicolas and Simon - great panel. Awesome to see Rob in person finally - coffee is on me next time. 👏 for Heather - a great event. The Highlight: our product chat with Jamie, here's to more 🪵 and 🍃. Dolphin demo the next time.

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if you want to learn about how we built the company and what makes it unique, https://lnkd.in/eQS2VRKf is a really really well written article about us by Bill Kerr - better than what I have managed to put together so far!

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How early-stage startups are raising capital and takeaways for the future. HubSpot for Startups surveyed 500+ early-stage startup founders across Europe and the US to share their real-world experiences with fundraising. The data and insights include: ▪ Investor criteria detailing what investors are looking for in startups ▪ Successful strategies used by startup founders to connect with, track, and manage investor relationships ▪ Top tech stacks used by startups to manage investor relations ▪ Data on leading funding sources based on funding stage ▪ Most impactful metrics used by investors when making investment decisions based on funding stage ▪ Fundraising benchmarks by stage ▪ Insights from in-depth interviews with VCs, independent investors, and startup founders #stateoffundraising #techentrepreneurs #business #startup #techstartups #saasstartups #aistartups #startupfounders #entrepreneurs #funding #startupchallenge #startupgrowth #fundingstrategies #startupsuccess #earlystagestartups #scaleups #techfounders #fundraisingchallenge #startupjourney #startupfunding #venturecapital #vc #investors #fundraising #seedinvestment #seriesa #seedfunding #seedround #seedcapital #angelinvestors #investmentstrategies #stateofthemarket #investmentopportunities #investorawareness #venturefunding #venturecapitalists #angelinvestment #bridgeloans #2024trends #2025outlook #preseed #seed #marketsnapshot #fundingnews #fundingoptions #foundersadvice #foundersinsights #venture #vcinsights #marketstats #startupworld #capitalraising #vcfunding #globalvc #venturestats #vctrends #hubspot #researchreport #2024report #startupecosystem #techstack #startupfinancing #privateequity #scalingbusiness #scalingup #scaleups #keymetrics #gtm #gotomarket #gtmstrategy #benchmarks #investorpitch #investorrelationships #surveyreport #businessandmanagement #foundersjourney #venturemarket #startupcapital #annualreport

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Ida as an entrepreneur in femtech, I feel your rage. In my gut. Were we all just sucker-punched? I want to acknowledge your vision, your work, and your effort. You are extraordinary, and we are cheering for you. Raising capital for technology impacting women is grim. The constant uphill battle is exhausting, tiring the best of us to the point of wanting to quit. I encourage you to hold on to small glimmers of hope. The big lights don't come on often. I also encourage advocates and allies to shine a light on female innovators and visionaries and use the hell out of their products. As women gain control of financial resources we must focus our investments on tech that will benefit our girlfriends, daughters, sisters, and mothers because the current model refuses to make room for us. Gradually, perhaps in my grandchildren's lifetime, we may see a different game. One that is more equitable and that we are invited to play. Sending you lots of Light. 😡 🤕 #sendingcluelove

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Being a tech founder is tough 🥴 You might find yourself being spread thin across the business… 👉 Speaking to partners as a route to market 👉 Setting up meetings with angel investors or VCs 👉 Discussing ideas and processes with your CTO 👉 Hiring and choosing the right developers 👉 Piecing together your investor pitch deck 👉 Researching your competitors and landscape 👉 Forecasting and looking at your budgets It’s exhausting. In addition, you’re frantically trying to learn Figma, haphazardly clubbing together borrowed flows from other apps and adapting other UI resources you’ve found online. So, when it comes to UX and design, you can’t throw something together and expect a successful product with thousands of paying customers. Luckily, you can get help with… ✅ Defining your UX vision and strategy ✅ Evolving your visual identity and brand language ✅ Diverging on lo-fi ideas and solutions ✅ Conducting user tests and interviews ✅ Working feedback loops into your prototypes ✅ Iterating and learning from users and data ✅ Designing new features and user flows There’s no need to struggle. And there’s no need to max out your budget. Bring on the right expertise so you can sleep better at night. #ux #design #ui #product

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