This is one of the wildest founder journeys you’ll ever hear. Dmitry Gurski went from growing potatoes and picking mushrooms on a farm in Belarus to building Flo—a billion-dollar company with 75M monthly users that dominates the health and fitness category worldwide. He started Flo in a market already controlled by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin’s startup, which had $30M in funding from a16z. Today, Flo is 100x bigger than its once-dominant rival.
Dmitry shares raw, unfiltered startup truths—like why he got rejected by 200+ VCs, why 90% of startup failures are team-related, and why most founders are delusional about product-market fit. He breaks down how simplicity beats complexity in product, why retention is everything, and how deleting features can actually boost revenue.
If you’re a founder, this episode will fundamentally change how you think about perseverance, pivots, and building something that lasts. Listen now—you’ll be referencing this one for years.
Why you should listen:
- Why big market beats niche – How Flo won because it targeted all women’s health while competitors focused only on fertility.
- How Retention is the real test – A product with natural recurring use cases (like periods) has built-in retention, unlike fitness or productivity apps.
- Why simple wins – The first version of Flo was less complex than competitors but had far better predictions—accuracy mattered more than features.
- Fundraising is brutal – Flo got 300+ investor rejections before raising $300M. Many VCs just didn’t “get” the space.
Keywords
startup, entrepreneurship, product design, user retention, Flow app, health and fitness, early stage founders, product market fit, simplicity, user engagement, retention, user case, app development, entrepreneurship, product market fit, mobile apps, business strategy, team dynamics, failure, success, risk, uncertainty, decision making, market demand, competition, product-market fit, fundraising, entrepreneurship, startup success, female health
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:09:10) Why you Need to Keep it Simple
(00:13:10) Why B2C is All About Retention
(00:19:05) Why you Need to Delete Features
(00:24:14) PMF is about the Shape of the Curve
(00:39:17) When to Persevere, When to Pivot, and When to Quit
(00:42:22) More attempts = more success
(00:51:34) The Idea for Flo
(00:59:05) Finding Product Market Fit
(01:02:07) Advice for An Early Stage Founder
(01:10:22) A Potato Story
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