Mike Adams

Mike Adams started Grain with a solution looking for a problem. His first year of SaaS product validation was brutal - the ideal customer profile was literally "anyone who thinks it's cool." After running blind customer research, he threw away the entire codebase and rebuilt around a single feature. If you are struggling with finding product-market fit or unclear on your ICP, this episode reveals how rigorous SaaS product validation can save years of building the wrong thing. Mike shares how pretending the product was built by someone else unlocked honest feedback, why launching during COVID invited seven copycat competitors, and how qualitative customer research with 15 top accounts completely overturned his assumptions about who uses the product. Mike Adams is the co-founder and CEO of Grain, serving 1,300 customers including Slack, Zapier, and Webflow. Grain has raised $21 million including a $16M Series A from Tiger Global. 🔑 Key Lessons SaaS product validation requires brutal honesty from users - Mike pretended Grain was someone else's product so testers gave genuinely honest feedback instead of protecting the founders' feelings. Starting with a solution instead of a problem delays finding product-market fit - Grain spent a year with no clear ideal customer profile because they built technology first. Continuous customer research reveals what metrics cannot - qualitative interviews with Grain's top 15 accounts overturned the core assumption about how customers entered the product. Trusting founder instincts beats following advisor playbooks - Mike followed an independent board member's enterprise strategy that generated zero ROI. SaaS product validation in horizontal tools needs a T-shaped strategy - build the 80/20 solution for everyone but go deep on one persona to drive adoption. Chapters Introduction Favorite quote and the power of teamwork What Grain does - shareable highlights from video meetings Mike's background - Degreed, MissionU, and the path to Grain Business metrics - $1M ARR, 1,300 customers, $21M raised How the idea for Grain originated Starting with a solution instead of a problem The pivot - throwing away a year of code Why Grain's first-year ideal customer profile was "anyone who thinks it's cool" The counterintuitive insight from SaaS product validation Using userinterviews.com to find first customers Why launching during COVID was a mistake Herd mentality and trusting instincts Why founders should never outsource strategic thinking Lightning round Resources Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/348 Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email

The legendary Mike Adams joins us to help understand different swing types by walking us through some screens to better understand your golf swing.

AI has recently become hugely popular with the likes of ChatGPT becoming a staple in day to day life, and it looks like it is here to stay. Could it replace the job of a researcher completely? Mike Adams, CEO and Founder of Grain doesn’t think so. Join the conversation as they discuss the potential perks and limitations of utilizing AI in research and product development, tips for getting started in the world of AI, and an insight into the current shift in the roadmap for research products.In this episode we discuss:[00:02:37] The potential of AI for automating away the monotonous [00:14:23] Utilizing AI: building versus buying[00:18:05] Tips for getting started with AI applications[00:25:55] A shift in the roadmap of potential research products[00:31:43] How utilizing AI could go wrong for researchersSources mentioned in the episode:userinterviews.com/awkwardgrain.comAbout Our GuestMike Adams is the CEO and Co-Founder of Grain, a communication platform for teams that helps capture video snippets with ease. Self-describing as a three-time founder with over ten years of experience building skills for job education software programs, Mike is a pioneer for fully immersive cohort-based education. His current mission with Grain is to help teams to share more understanding with each other and the people they work together to serve, thus creating a more cohesive working environment. Mike has authored several useful articles, including “The Founder’s Guide to Actually Understanding Users”. 

Experts on Texas border issues and conflict zones discuss weaponized migration and the potential breakup of the United States, Texas' efforts to counter illegal immigration and potential secession, the Supreme Court decision and the potential balkanization of the United States, sentiment in Texas towards the border situation, concerns over funding foreign wars over border security, crime rate in El Salvador and presence of criminal elements in Venezuela, and various concerning issues including potential civil war and Texas secession.

Mike Adams, an experienced venture founder, shares his learnings including AI and stepping down as a CEO. He discusses challenges in the tech industry, antitrust issues in AI, competing in different markets, achieving viral growth, and the difficulties of achieving viral network effect growth in an overfunded environment.