Hey y’all — would you have dropped out of Stanford, Harvard, and MIT to build startups?
That’s what Pujun Bhatnagar did.
His latest company, Kinstugi is growing so quickly that as we hopped on the call to record this podcast, 8 new customers signed up before we hit record.
But his ambition doesn’t end there — he told me he’s explicitly trying to build a trillion dollar company.
We sat down to chat about how he managed to double Kintsugi’s valuation to $75M so quickly after raising the previous round, why he’s focused on solving unsexy problems, and went deep on founder psychology.
If you want to be inspired, stick around for the second half of the episode. Pujun’s ruminations on why we build startups and what motivates him is worth a listen — he presents his views with honest self-awareness and reflection.
Listen now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your podcast platform of choice.
As a reminder, each Thursday I interview a world-class founder about their unique paths to uncover tactical insights they've learned about how to fundraise, grow, validate, hire, scale, and lead teams.
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In our chat we discuss:
Kintsugi
(00:00) — Intro
(00:57) — What Kintsugi does & why it's successful
(14:22) — What Kintsugi means
Founder Mode
(03:15) — Why Pujun did an "unsexy" business
(09:40) — AM frequency vs. Pujun's FM frequency
(12:29) — What happens to ambition when success comes
(26:20) — Pujun's mindset shifts over time
(32:20) — Pujun's toughest situation with co-founders
(59:10) — Dropping out of academia 3x
(1:07:20) — What Pujun does when not performing at his best
(1:10:00) — Pujun's spices
AI & Technology
(05:36) — What problems AI can solve
(19:44) — Successfully building AI PLG
(21:44) — The future of AI models
(51:14) — Differences between the ML & LLM gold rush
(54:46) — How to identify AI snake oil
Growth & Strategy
(17:06) — Focusing on building good software
(24:31) — Tradeoffs that come with scale
(34:51) — Having conviction & discipline
(36:11) — Who Pujun & Kintsugi looks for in teammates
(38:09) — Doubling valuation in 3 months time
(42:04) — Optimizing for minimal dilution
(43:53) — Ruthless prioritization when scaling
Rapid Fire
(1:12:09) — Who is one investor you’d recommend?
(1:13:33) — One thing you'd change about startups?
(1:16:22) — Advice for first-time founders?
(1:16:55) — Something you believe that most disagree with?
Listen now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your podcast platform of choice.
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