He quit his cozy Google job & ignored lean startup advice— then grew to $3M in 1 year. | Arvind Jain, Founder of Glean

A Product Market Fit Show | Startups & Founders

Arvind founded 2 billion-dollar startups—by doing everything lean startup tells you not to do.
- He didn’t focus on launching an MVP.
- He ignored early market feedback.
- He didn’t charge beta users anything— for 2 years.
And it worked.
He went from $0 to $3M in revenue the year he launched publicly. He tripled to about $9M the year after. And tripled every year since.
Two months ago, Glean raised $200M at a $2B valuation.
Why you should listen:
- Learn exactly how outlier founder Arvind Jain does things differently at the 0 to 1 stage.
- Why he thinks conviction and persistence are the most important qualities founders need.
- When you should follow playbooks and when to write your own.
- Why it might not matter that most people don't "get" your idea in the early days.
Timestamps:
(2:02) Leaving Google
(3:39) Coming up with Glean
(7:47) Building a Product in a Neglected Space
(11:38) Skipping Lean Startup
(14:11) Using design partners
(16:13) Building for 2 years, with 0 revenue
(20:13) When it's time to launch
(21:12) Why AI was a key tailwind
(26:25) Finding Product Market Fit on Day One
(27:32) One Piece of Advice
Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Chapters

1. He quit his cozy Google job & ignored lean startup advice— then grew to $3M in 1 year. | Arvind Jain, Founder of Glean (00:00:00)

2. Leaving Google (00:02:02)

3. Coming up with Glean (00:03:39)

4. Building a Product in a Neglected Space (00:07:47)

5. Skipping Lean Startup (00:11:38)

6. Using design partners (00:14:11)

7. Building for 2 years, with 0 revenue (00:16:13)

8. When it's time to launch (00:20:13)

9. Why AI was a key tailwind (00:21:12)

10. Finding Product Market Fit on Day One (00:26:25)

11. One Piece of Advice (00:27:32)