Discover/The PMF Show/He grew his startup to $150M ARR & an IP...

The funny little part of the origin story on this is we basically teamed up with Apple to effectively kill BlackBerry.

The PMF Show · He grew his startup to $150M ARR & an IPO. Now he's back...

“The the funny little part of the origin story on this is we basically teamed up with Apple to effectively kill BlackBerry.”

2:54 / 3:23

about iPhone and then about Android. So, yeah, exactly. BlackBerry started it, and then it just sort of went from there. The the funny little part of the origin story on this is we basically teamed up with Apple to effectively kill BlackBerry.

Interesting. Well, we'll we'll get we'll get deeper on that, but maybe tell me a little bit more about okay. So it's, like, it's 2007, smartphones are happening. Where are you in this? Like, what what are you doing at that time? My last company had been bought by Cisco, and I had spent a couple years at Cisco. And one of my cofounders

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Why this clip

A provocative hook about partnering with Apple to kill BlackBerry during the smartphone revolution. The David vs Goliath narrative combined with the specific timeline creates intrigue about how a startup could impact such major players.

2:54 - 3:2329sOrigin Story

LinkedIn X

What they said next

MobileIron started in 2007. Smartphones were brand new. The iPhone was brand new. Android wasn't even born yet. But what we saw was that smartphones were crashing into the enterprise, and it was driving IT and security organizations absolutely berserk.

2:21 - 25s · Origin Story

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The PMF Show

Practical Framework

Before you write a line of code or raise a dollar of venture capital, go talk to customers. AJ spent six months talking to customers before we wrote a line of code or raised a dollar of venture capital, and that allowed us to really point at a problem that was relevant, point at a problem that wasn't solved.

This is a perfect actionable framework that directly contradicts the common startup approach of building first, asking later. The specific timeframe (6 months) and clear process makes it immediately implementable advice.

3:33 - 4:0431s

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Business Mechanics

Founders have this magic pixie dust. They can get meetings that regular salespeople can't get. They could say things in meetings that regular salespeople can't say. It's totally, totally not repeatable. That's sort of this big transition from founder led selling to a repeatable sales playbook.

Explains a critical business transition that every scaling startup faces. The 'magic pixie dust' metaphor is memorable and the insight about non-repeatability addresses a common founder blind spot.

17:56 - 18:3135s

The PMF Show

Business Mechanics

I translated that in my head was, oh, we just need a better PowerPoint pitch. Turns out that was not it at all. It was about step one, step two, step three, step four. Once he built that and put it down on one page, the reps literally pinned it up on the wall over their computers.

Contrasts the wrong solution (better PowerPoint) with the right one (systematic process). The visual of reps pinning the playbook to their walls is a powerful proof point that resonates with founders struggling with sales scale.

23:16 - 24:0045s

The PMF Show

Origin Story

MobileIron started in 2007. Smartphones were brand new. The iPhone was brand new. Android wasn't even born yet. But what we saw was that smartphones were crashing into the enterprise, and it was driving IT and security organizations absolutely berserk.

Sets up the market timing context with vivid language ('crashing into,' 'absolutely berserk'). The historical perspective of pre-Android times gives weight to their early market insight and positions them as true pioneers.

2:21 - 2:4625s

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The funny little part of the origin story on this is we basically teamed up with Apple to effectively kill BlackBerry.

Transcript

Why this clip

More from this episode

Founders have this magic pixie dust. They can get meetings that regular salespeople can't get. They could say things in meetings that regular salespeople can't say. It's totally, totally not repeatable. That's sort of this big transition from founder led selling to a repeatable sales playbook.

I translated that in my head was, oh, we just need a better PowerPoint pitch. Turns out that was not it at all. It was about step one, step two, step three, step four. Once he built that and put it down on one page, the reps literally pinned it up on the wall over their computers.

MobileIron started in 2007. Smartphones were brand new. The iPhone was brand new. Android wasn't even born yet. But what we saw was that smartphones were crashing into the enterprise, and it was driving IT and security organizations absolutely berserk.

From the blog