When VC experts talk about a sustainable business, they mean a business that effectively makes money from day one. A good company should aim to become independent of VC money at some point. The ideal pitch is: “I'm not far from profitability. I'm not profitable now because I'm spending on marketing and have a slightly larger team, but I'm not burning millions a day. If I don't find the money, I will increase my revenue by 20%, optimize the business, and be profitable.”

If a company could be independent of VC money, why does it need it? According to Alexey Bulygin, it’s about mutual benefit: “Let’s sit down and look at what we can do for each other. How can you help me? What value can you bring? Why will you make more money?” VC can accelerate growth with resources, networks, and added value. However, decisions must be based on data analysis. The company needs to understand why taking the money might be beneficial, such as having more budget to scale and experiment, potentially growing faster and increasing valuation. Yet, Bulygin emphasizes that a good business should be viable on its own. VCs should be partners, not just passive investors.

What does product-market fit mean for VCs as late Seed to Series A investors, and what metrics do they look for? In both B2C and B2B cases, product-market fit means having several customers and generating some revenue. The question of whether it's better to have one large client or several small clients depends on various factors. It's essential to demonstrate that your pricing model and product work as expected.

How many clients are ideal? For larger enterprises, it depends on the product and the sales cycle. It's unrealistic for a VC to expect hundreds of clients at a late Seed or Series A stage if each client takes six months to acquire. For smaller clients, having 10-15 SME customers might be ideal. Freemium models don’t count as product-market fit because there's a significant gap between offering something for free and selling it.

It's a common mistake for founders to chase one large client early on. For example, if Nvidia is interested in your product, you face a challenging choice: try to sell them your core product or adjust your product to their needs. Often, founders choose the latter because it's Nvidia. However, if you approach VCs with just one contract with Nvidia, they’ll be concerned that you built a product for Nvidia rather than for a general market.

According to Alexey Bulygin, product-market fit is a test of the entire supply chain of your business from start to finish. It's crucial not to deviate too much from your product's core. Take customer feedback on board, but don’t constantly adjust your product for specific clients.

To achieve product-market fit, you need to define your core customers and focus on them. Don’t constantly change your product; instead, solve real problems for your customers. It’s a mistake to create a product thinking everyone will love it without basing it on customer feedback. Balance is key between taking feedback and maintaining your product’s integrity.

Commercialize as early as possible. You don’t need millions from day one, but be creative with pricing and discounts. Selling early provides valuable data for analysis and decision-making. Consider early customers as testers who also pay. Conducting customer interviews at an early stage is crucial. Collect feedback to understand and build your product effectively. Balance feedback from multiple sources to avoid creating a product tailored to just one customer.

In summary, Bulygin advises that a good business must be viable on its own, and VCs should be partners who actively contribute to growth. Product-market fit is about having a working product with real customers and revenue, not just one-off deals with big names. Prioritize customer feedback, but maintain your product’s core integrity.

Conducting customer interviews at an early stage is crucial. In the first year, gather customer feedback to understand and refine your product effectively. Start by understanding customer needs and developing the first iteration of your product. Then, collect feedback to ensure you have correctly identified and addressed their pain points. Encourage customers to use and pay for your platform, which will provide more meaningful feedback.

The challenging part is balancing the feedback you receive. To make informed decisions, you need a sufficient amount of feedback. Relying on feedback from just one large customer is risky; aim to gather insights from three to five enterprise customers. This diversity prevents you from building a product tailored to one customer’s needs, which might not appeal to a broader market.

From the very early stages, collect as much data as possible. Many free tools are available to help gather and analyze customer feedback. This approach ensures your product meets market demands and has the potential to attract VC investment.