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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Jacob Moshenko, CEO & Co-Founder of Authzed, a permission systems platform that has raised $15.9 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Strategic Timing for Launching: Authzed was founded during the early months of the pandemic, a time Jacob saw as ideal for going heads-down and building without distractions.
- Category Creation Challenge: The market had no established category for authorization platforms, making it necessary to educate developers and decision-makers on why they should consider a third-party solution for authorization.
- Early Market Validation: Authzed quickly built a prototype to validate their solution, focusing on delivering value through a scalable, secure, and delightful user experience.
- Enterprise-First GTM Shift: Initially unsure of their market, Authzed quickly pivoted to focus on enterprise sales after seeing significant demand from large organizations with complex authorization needs.
- Marketing Through Iteration: With a strong engineering background, Jacob applied a data-driven, experimental approach to marketing, testing hypotheses and iterating rapidly to find what works.
- Overcoming Fundraising Challenges: Fundraising during a tough economic climate required adaptability, including exploring options like extension rounds to keep the business on track.
Actionable
Takeaways
Leverage Unpredictable Times:
Consider launching a company during periods of uncertainty when competitors might be distracted. Less competition for attention can allow you to build focus and momentum.
Educate to Create a Category:
When entering a market with no established category, focus on education and thought leadership. Help potential customers understand why your solution addresses a previously unmet need.
Rapid Prototyping for Market Fit:
Build and test prototypes quickly to validate your market hypothesis. Early feedback can guide the development process and ensure you're solving real customer problems.
Be Ready to Pivot Your GTM Strategy:
Stay flexible with your go-to-market approach. Authzed’s pivot to an enterprise-focused model was driven by the realization that large organizations were their primary customers.
Data-Driven Marketing:
Apply an engineering mindset to marketing. Run small, data-driven experiments to guide your marketing strategy, and be prepared to pivot based on what the data reveals.
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