He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel

Kevin was building a successful startup in the NFT space. They'd hit $1M ARR. But he looked at the market and realized it wasn't big enough. So he made the terrifying choice to pivot the entire company into cybersecurity.

In this episode, Kevin breaks down how he navigated that transition without killing the business. He reveals how he sold his first $5k/month contract with no product, why he raised a massive seed round he didn't need, and how he convinced Andreessen Horowitz to lead his Series A in the middle of a strategic shift.

Why You Should Listen

• How to pivot from a bad market to a unicorn opportunity.
• Why he sold a $5k/month contract with zero product.
• How to raise a Series A from a16z during a pivot.
• Why you never truly "find" Product Market Fit.
• The danger of building for a niche market (and how to escape).

Keywords

startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, finding pmf, pivot, cybersecurity, crypto startup, a16z, raising series a, Kevin Tian

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:17 Meeting at Uber and the "Glass Eating" Phase
00:07:21 The First Idea
00:11:52 Selling the First $5k/Month Contract with No Product
00:16:52 The Decision to Pivot at $1M ARR
00:29:43 Network Selling to Enterprise Cybersecurity
00:32:03 Raising Series A from a16z During a Pivot
00:33:36 Why Product Market Fit is Not a One-Time Event
00:35:10 Action Produces Insights

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