The key idea of the video is that Gobble, a 15-minute pan dinner delivery company, achieved success through a focus on product market fit, proving their concept early on, keeping burn low, prioritizing employee motivation and transparency, and hard work and perseverance.

• 🍴
  00:00

  Gobble, a 15-minute pan dinner delivery company, has grown to $100 million in revenue per week since its founding in 2011.

  • Gobble, a company that creates and delivers 15-minute pan dinners, has grown to around $100 million in revenue per week since its founding in 2011.
  • The speaker discusses the evolution of the guest's food business and her expertise in grit and determination.
  • The speaker started his first company, New Client Got, while he was a student at Stanford, but it didn't work out and he moved on to start Cobble.
  • Founder created a recruiting website for students, but learned the hard lesson that whoever pays you determines how your product evolves.
  • Sold initial business to a recruiting company called Law Works and started Gobble due to loneliness and belief in the idea.
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  06:02

  Neglecting their health while working on their business, the speaker's father inspired the creation of Gobble, a personalized dinner service with various business models and effective marketing strategies.

  • The speaker became very insular while working on their business, neglecting their physical and mental health, until a visit from their father, a nutrition expert, made them realize the importance of taking care of themselves.
  • The speaker's father brought home-cooked Indian food to their dingy studio apartment, inspiring the creation of Gobble, a marketplace for home-cooked meals that eventually evolved into a personalized dinner service.
  • The speaker describes four business models including a marketplace for personal chefs, catering for home-cooked food, personalized dinner service, and a meal prep service with 15-minute one pan cooking.
  • The speaker met one of their first users, a Stanford student named Sheltie, who provided extensive feedback and was a canonical early adopter.
  • To reach micro groups, creating promo cards with free dinner offers for favorite shops and restaurants worked better than unscalable methods like Facebook ads or talking to individuals.
  • Effective marketing strategies for a coffee shop include offering promotions at the register and targeting specific groups with tested offers.
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  14:01

  After four iterations and a pivot, a startup focused on personalized dinner service to crack personalization in food and achieve long-term sustainable advantage.

  • The speaker's business had four iterations over three and a half years to find product market fit, and while they didn't pivot, they iterated and built on previous learnings.
  • The marketplace model for small-batch home-cooked food from authentic chefs was not scalable due to quality, time, and capacity constraints.
  • The startup pivoted to catering to make money and showed growth, but investors were hesitant to fund them because the majority of their revenue came from enterprise instead of the model they were pitching.
  • The speaker raised a bridge round and wound down the catering business to focus on a personalized dinner service that utilized technology to match people's tastes and believes that the company that cracks personalization in food will have a long-term sustainable advantage.
  • Taking the risk of changing a business model for future success can be scary, as investors may criticize and pressure you to stick with the current model.
  • Trust your gut and follow your instincts, even if it means ignoring external noise and distractions.
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  21:25

  To succeed in business, focus on product market fit, prove your concept early on, keep burn low, and prioritize employee motivation and transparency.

  • Don't put too much weight on meetings as people only think about you 1% of the year, and use logic and the framework from Blue Ocean Strategy to guide your company.
  • Product market fit is the center of the Venn diagram of ability to grow and retention, and to achieve it, one must do something that is materially better than the market.
  • Proving your concept is key in the first few months of starting a business, and it can be done through sales or code, even if you don't have technical skills.
  • The speaker struggled to raise funds for their business over three years, but kept their monthly burn low and raised two bridge rounds, eventually turning to Y Combinator for support.
  • The speaker received funding from YC and eventually developed a successful product, and kept employees motivated by sharing challenges and values and being transparent about difficult times.
  • Gobble's CEO turned down acquisition offers to focus on the heart problem and believes that the company's cost-starved approach led to innovation and meaningful growth.
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  32:03

  Hard work and perseverance lead to success, but it takes time.

  • The speaker wanted to attend an all-girls school since kindergarten but didn't get in until seventh grade, which ultimately changed her life.
  • Life is about hard work and lead bullets, and overnight success is often ten years in the making.
  • Quit only if what you're doing lacks impact or fulfillment, but if the environment evolves and you can't keep up, it's important to constantly iterate and not get comfortable.
  • Hiring a diverse team with different perspectives and expertise, such as an executive chef, was critical to Netflix's success and ability to innovate.
  • Success came from innovating in food and personalization, and partnering with Adora helped to develop the meal kit idea.
  • Shutting down a personalized dinner service and launching a prep kit within 30 days was the best decision for the business, emphasizing the importance of execution and finding supportive people.
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  39:31

  Kabul will grow even bigger in the next 50-100 years.

  • In 50 to 100 years, Kabul will be even bigger than it is today.
  • Gobble aims to create magical experiences at home that are easy and fit into busy lives, not just limited to food, but also education and learning.
  • Environmental and legal constraints, such as immigration and H-1B visas, can prevent people from being where they want to be with their customers, but there are tactical solutions such as establishing a shell company and seeking sponsorship from a board member.
  • Gobble's pricing strategy evolved through email experimentation with different clusters of people and offering different sets of three plans to determine the best price for their products.
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  45:15

  As a single founder, find a supportive network, care about the customer experience, target the right advisors, and be organized when seeking advice.

  • The speaker started their company without a co-founder, but it was a unique and organic process, and they believe it is hard to be a single founder long-term.
  • As a single founder, it's important to find a group of supportive friends and fellow founders to act as a "net buoy system" for support and advice.
  • The CEO's role has changed from constantly innovating in the early days to now being filled with meetings and dinners, with the lows being when nobody cared and the highs being the current success.
  • Caring about the customer experience long-term will bring in the money, and getting to know customers without pestering them is key.
  • Target the right advisors and wait until they finish speaking to others, then walk them to their car to show respect and only ask questions in their area of expertise to find the right mentors.
  • Be organized and prepared when seeking advice, keep track of progress and challenges, take notes, and ask specific questions to make the most of your time with mentors.
• 💰
  52:47

  Fundraising requires grit and perfecting your pitch, with a focus on potential returns rather than safety nets for investors.

  • Getting investors is tough and requires grit, testing, perfecting your pitch, and practicing in front of friends, but even if someone has an easy fundraising round now, it doesn't mean it will always be that way.
  • When pitching to investors, founders should focus on the potential for a big return and avoid mentioning the safety net for investors.