Join me as I interview Vlada Bortnik, co-founder and CEO of Marco Polo, who shares how she and her husband built a purpose-driven video messaging app that's helping people forge deeper connections in our distraction-filled digital world.
🧠 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
- The inspiring 9-iteration journey to find product-market fit
- How Marco Polo achieved profitability in 2024 with NO advertising
- Powerful strategies for gathering honest user feedback that actually works
- Building a business model that puts user wellbeing first
- Creating company culture that makes employees stay for 5+ years
- Expanding from consumer to B2B to combat workplace loneliness
🕒 TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Highlight and Introduction
01:15 - The Marco Polo approach to deeper connection
04:41 - A different business model: no ads, no data selling
09:40 - Nine iterations before finding product-market fit
15:11 - Making "contact with reality" in product development
16:40 - The power of user research and testing
22:10 - Switching CEO roles with her husband
26:53 - Leadership
30:20 - Building an authentic company culture
37:00 - Marco Polo's expansion into B2B
Try Marco Polo yourself: https://www.marcopolo.me/
Join our Founder Coco community: https://www.foundercoho.com/
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