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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries, the show that explores the future of tech with innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Andrew Wolfe, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Bloomfilter, an AI-driven process mining platform that has raised $7 million in funding.
- Andrew’s journey from a disadvantaged youth learning to code at the library to becoming a serial entrepreneur and technical leader.
- The staggering problem of software project failures, with 78% of projects being late, over budget, or not shipping at all, resulting in billions of dollars in waste.
- Bloomfilter’s solution: using AI and process mining techniques to sit on top of existing systems, stitch data together, and identify issues in the software development process.
- The importance of focusing on a specific customer profile (30-300 engineers, agile development, cloud-based tools) rather than trying to serve everyone with the problem.
- The challenge of navigating analyst categories and resisting the temptation to conform to existing categories that don’t accurately reflect the product’s value proposition.
- The benefits and challenges of a co-CEO structure, with Andrew leading the technical side and his co-founder leading sales and marketing.
- The lessons learned from fundraising, including the importance of taking the best money, not just the first money, and being selective about investors.
- Andrew’s vision for Bloomfilter to become a publicly-traded company and reduce the industry-wide failure rate of software projects.
Actionable
Takeaways
Identify the Root Problem, Not Just the Symptoms:
Andrew and his team dug deep to understand the fundamental issues behind software project failures, rather than simply building a tool to make the existing problems easier to deal with. By focusing on the root cause, they were able to develop a more impactful solution.
Iterate Your Positioning Based on Customer Feedback:
Bloomfilter's messaging evolved from a process coach to an operating system for software development to a process mining platform as the team gained a deeper understanding of how customers perceived and described their challenges. Don't be afraid to test and refine your positioning based on market input.
Fight for Your Category, But Recognize When to Adapt:
While it's important to advocate for your unique value proposition and resist being lumped into ill-fitting categories, founders must also be willing to adapt their vision based on customer needs and market realities. Strike a balance between staying true to your mission and being responsive to feedback.
Trust Your Gut and Ship Early:
Andrew regrets not trusting his instincts on certain strategic decisions and waiting too long to release the initial product. He advises founders to listen to their intuition and get their product in front of customers as soon as possible to accelerate learning and iteration.
Embrace Rejection as a Learning Opportunity:
Founders will face countless rejections from investors, customers, and other stakeholders. Rather than getting discouraged, view each "no" as a chance to gather valuable feedback and improve your offering. The more quickly you can learn from rejection, the faster you'll get to "yes."
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