The Founder Initiative

[$25M Raised] Getting Into YC, Top Fundraising Learnings & Hitting PMF, Matthew Watts, Co-Founder, Lendflow

Episode Summary

🤔 VCs not responding to you? I’ll review your deck & send you a detailed video with my actionable recommendations: Submit here: https://airtable.com/appBXetKIMsy5r3bE/pagQlrExmVx38bk6W/form =================== GUEST INFO Matthew Watts https://www.linkedin.com/in/wattswolf/ Lendflow https://www.lendflow.com/ TIMESTAMPS 03:00 – Why “CTO” isn’t a real title early on → A candid take on what technical leadership really means pre–product-market fit. 04:00 – The real YC mantra: Make things people want → Not just a slogan—how they actually applied it and found user pull. 06:00 – How they chose the right market → A framework for evaluating whether a problem is worth solving. 09:00 – Identifying the right signals for product-market fit → What traction looked like for them, and how they knew it was working. 11:00 – Why storytelling beats numbers in early pitches → A masterclass in how to raise when you don’t have metrics yet.