It took him 4 years to launch—then he hit $1M ARR in 30 days. | Siqi Chen, Founder of Runway

Episode notes

Siqi was the CEO of a hot startup doing $20M a year. Then COVID hit. Overnight, revenue went to zero. He had to lay off 95% of his staff. In the chaos of trying to save the company using broken spreadsheets, he found his next big idea: Runway. But the path wasn't a straight line. Siqi spent four years building the product before fully launching. In this episode, he breaks down why product taste matters more than A/B testing, and the insane viral launch strategy that overwhelmed his sales team and generated $1M ARR in a single month. Why You Should Listen How a viral marketing campaign added $1M ARR in just 30 days. Why "user love" is a trap. Why it took 4 years of building in the dark to create the "Figma for Finance." How to mentally survive losing 95% of your revenue and staff overnight. Why startups are a test of stamina, not intelligence.