Founder Weekly (Issue 715 January 21 2026)

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Welcome to issue 715 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

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General

Gusto’s Path to Product-Market Fit — How Listening to Customers Built a $9.6B Company

Cold-calling from a walk-in closet taught Tomer London how to recognize what PMF really feels like.

The Problem with Most Problems

Most problems make you a commodity. The right one makes you a monopoly.

LLMs vs. Marketplaces

Which marketplaces will probably win the battle with LLMs, which will probably lose, and what any marketplace can do to improve its odds.

The physical AI deployment gap

The gap between the frontier of robotics research and the deployment of robots in production settings, and why it matters.

The State of AI in the Enterprise

Wing VC’s 2026 report reveals that enterprise AI has pivoted from experimental "toy" phases to a competitive mandate, with 56% of large organizations already moving AI agents into production. The findings highlight a "50% conversion" benchmark where half of all AI pilots are expected to scale, signaling that 2026 is the year enterprises demand measurable ROI and deep integration over simple chat interfaces.

Marketing, Sales and PR

Marketing lessons learned from two decades of building startups

Kyle Tibbitts shares an in-depth article on the four stages of startup marketing, stressing the importance of not outsourcing core marketing elements to build internal capabilities and avoid long-term setbacks. Key insights include the early marketer's role in establishing customer feedback loops pre-traction, prioritizing problem-solving over product features, and adapting strategies as the company scales.

How you package is how you sell

This article argues that SaaS packaging, meaning how you group features into plans, is a more powerful lever for growth than the actual price point because it dictates your entire sales motion and customer segments. It highlights that effective packaging must align with value metrics that scale with the customer’s success, ensuring that your most valuable features are gated to drive upgrades without creating friction for new users.

Money and Finance

The AI Trap That Is Quietly Wiping Out Angel Investors

Most “AI-first” startups are being priced like software and built like infrastructure. There is one number that exposes the difference instantly, and most angels never ask for it.

Residencies will eat early-stage VC

Nick Linck's hot take posits that in three years, the best pre-seed investors will run residencies rather than traditional funds, as they better discover talent, allocate capital, and support founders by automating life logistics and building community.