Hey, Builders!
Welcome back to The PMF Playbook, where we unpack the founder moves that drive startups to product-market fit.
This week’s edition comes straight from one of the early episodes of my podcast, Inside the Silicon Mind, where I sat down with Surag Patel, Co-Founder & CEO of Pixee. His journey is a masterclass in conviction, culture, and learning by doing. Here are the key takes founders can apply on the road to PMF.
From Operator to Founder: The Mentor Nudge
Surag didn’t start Pixee because of a lightning bolt idea. After years inside high-growth startups, he asked 17 mentors what was next. All 17 told him the same thing: “Why aren’t you starting your own thing?”
The founder lesson? Sometimes PMF starts with founder-market fit. When experience and opportunity converge, you’re ready.
Learn by Doing (Literally)
Cal Poly, Surag’s alma mater, has a motto: Learn by Doing. Pixee baked that ethos into its DNA:
380+ developer interviews before building a product.
A company principles document before a pitch deck.
Remote-first design anchored by intentional culture.
Founders, take note: don’t wait for perfect plans. Start doing, validate fast, adjust often.
Flipping the Script on Security
Most security tools dump vulnerabilities on developers. Pixee automates the fix. Think of it as a virtual product security engineer: contextualizing, rewriting, and handing devs a solution to approve.
The key PMF move: solve the real pain, not just the visible problem.
Trust Your Gut (Sooner)
Early on, Pixee went SaaS-only. Customers pushed back - they didn’t want to send source code to the cloud. Once Pixee offered self-hosted, adoption spiked.
The lesson: when multiple customers give the same signal, act. In startups, time is oxygen.
Culture Before Capital
Before fundraising, Pixee’s founders wrote down their guiding principles - how they’d hire, pay, and operate. Every offer letter still includes it.
The takeaway: your first 20-30 hires set the trajectory more than your first 20-30 slides.
The AI Tailwind
Pixee isn’t “an AI company,” but it’s built on AI. With 40-50% of new code at Google now AI-generated, risk has doubled. Automated fixes aren’t optional - they’re critical.
Here’s the PMF framing: find where hard pain meets unstoppable tailwinds.
The Rollercoaster Truth
Surag’s honest about the founder ride: impostor syndrome, blinders, and the grind. What gets him through? Conviction, balance, and occasionally tinkering with old Cisco switches for fun.
The reminder: PMF is a marathon of obsession - but perspective keeps you sharp.
The PMF Takeaways
From Surag’s story, here are the key takeaways:
Validate with volume.
Codify culture early.
Listen hard, act fast.
Solve pain, not symptoms.
Or as Surag puts it: “It’s not a destination. It’s a journey of learning by doing.”
Until next time,
Firas Sozan
Your Cloud, Data & AI Search & Venture Partner
Find me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/firassozan/
Personal website: https://firassozan.com/
Company website: https://www.harrisonclarke.com/
Venture capital fund: https://harrisonclarkeventures.com/
‘Inside the Silicon Mind’ podcast: https://insidethesiliconmind.com/