Episode

Ahmad Sadeddin, founder of Corgea: you don't need to raise (much) to find PMF

Podcast: Scaling DevTools
Published: Feb 27, 2026
Duration seconds: 2712
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Summary

Founders don't need massive seed rounds to achieve product-market fit; staying lean is a stronger signal of profitability. Ahmad Sadeddin shares how Corgea used a small team and targeted customer pain points to navigate the pivot from an initial idea to a functional security tool.

Topics

Product Market Fit
Cybersecurity
Startup Fundraising
AppSec
Venture Capital
Lean Startup
Software Development Tools
Entrepreneurship

Highlights

Main idea: Large seed rounds can become vanity metrics that incentivize over-hiring and inefficient growth
Practical takeaway: Aim to find early signs of product-market fit with a team of under ten people to maintain agility
Failure mode: Relying on 'design partnerships' rather than seeking direct customer pain and willingness to pay
Practical takeaway: Use 'no' from customers and investors as data points to iterate quickly rather than seeking 'maybe'
Main idea: Product-market fit is an ongoing evolution of your product definition, not a one-time destination

Chapters

1:00 The Myth of Massive Seed Rounds: Critique of modern cybersecurity seed rounds reaching $30M and why excessive capital can hinder the search for PMF.
4:30 The Power of Lean Teams: Why maintaining a small, local team of 3-5 people provides a stronger signal of scalability and efficiency.
11:30 Pivoting Toward Corgea: The transition from an initial concept to the current manifestation of Corgea by identifying a specific market wedge.
14:45 Defining Product-Market Fit: Why the simplest metric for PMF is finding a customer who is actively willing to pay for your solution.
18:05 Identifying Systematic Failures: How observing widespread complaints in existing AppSec tooling led to a novel approach for Corgea.
28:10 Overcoming Sales Objections: Navigating budget constraints and competitive threats when pitching new security technologies.
34:45 The Importance of Execution: Why no amount of startup advice can substitute for the necessity of rapid execution and high-volume experimentation.