#405 – Burak Karakan, CEO of Bruin - On the cost of trying to please everyone

Episode notes

A story about an opinionated founder, the customers he turns away, and the ones who stay. This episode is for SaaS founders quietly wondering whether trying to be a fit for every buyer is what's slowing them down. Most founders think the goal is to be a fit for as many buyers as possible. Burak Karakan, Co-founder and CEO of Bruin, runs his company on the opposite belief. A former engineering manager at HelloFresh, he built an opinionated product — and he's at peace with the buyers who walk away because of it. And this inspired me to invite Burak to my podcast. We explore why being opinionated on purpose creates focus, speed, and the right kind of customer base. Burak shares his thinking on the question that qualifies a buyer in five minutes, why he hires juniors over seniors right now, and what happened when his team stopped tracking competitors altogether. You'll discover why he turns down deals that other founders would take.