{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"focal podcast","title":"The Design Partner Playbook for AI Products | Why Skeptics Make the Best Early Users | Why You Should Fire Your First Customers | How Charging Too Early Kills Startups | Alexa Grabell, Co-founder & CEO of Pocus","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/8ea1733e\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2654,"description":"From cold LinkedIn DMs to nailing customer discovery and design partnerships to eventually raising $23M from Tier 1 venture firms.Learn why most startups do customer discovery so poorly, why they fail at design partnerships and how Pocus CEO Alexa Grabell cracked the code by embracing skeptics over enthusiasts. Learn the counterintuitive approach that led to building a category-defining product in the crowded sales tech space.Alexa Grabell is co-founder and CEO of Pocus, a revenue acceleration platform that helps go-to-market teams at companies like Asana, Canva, and Amiiro save 10+ hours weekly by turning data into pipeline. She's raised over $23M from First Round Capital, Coatue, Pear, and angels including Scott Belsky and Lenny Rachitsky.In Today's Episode We Discuss:01:46 - How to structure discovery calls to validate hypotheses in 2-3 week sprints03:12 - The art of sending hundreds of LinkedIn messages to get 10 meetings per week06:27 - Why leading with curiosity beats leading the witness in customer interviews08:33 - How pretending to be a competitor's sales rep validates product ideas10:52 - Converting skeptical prospects into your best design partners13:49 - The #1 mistake that kills the transition from design partner to paying customer15:09 - Why charging $6K when you should charge $30K destroys early retention18:44 - How a founder learns enterprise sales by failing at every step22:26 - Why early churn from wrong-fit customers is a feature, not a bug24:14 - Using design partnerships again after raising Series A for AI products28:05 - The power of building with skeptics who think AI can't solve their problems33:12 - How to navigate pricing conversations when you don't know your price35:02 - Why design partnerships require 70% of founder time to succeed37:27 - Building a 4,000-person Slack community through valuable AMAs41:20 - The contrarian approach to hiring marketing as your first GTM hire42:20 - Why the best startup advice is to ignore all startup advice","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/my7KgVcEQnLNwqL4F-8_lpRk6UA6mDb7bNK4EyzKfe4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zOTYw/YzMxMzc0MjQ2MTM2/MjE4ZDFhMDIzNDUx/NWE2ZS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}