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PHX Founders
We sit down with remarkable founders who are making Phoenix a top software city. In these interviews, we dig in to the highs and lows of company building, and get a little vulnerable to find out what makes these founders keep going.
The PHX Founders Podcast is a production of PHX FWD.
PHX FWD is on a mission to prove Phoenix a top city for sustainable, high growth software companies to start, scale, and succeed. We've seen firsthand how software ventures can be a force for good for individuals, families, and communities.
We believe Phoenix is the best city to start a company, with the best talent, and without a doubt the very best company builders. Watch us prove it.
PHX Founders
Focus Wins: How STAX AI Found Product Market Fit
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In this episode of the PHX FWD Founder Podcast, Gregg Scoresby sits down with Naru, founder of STAX AI, to discuss the real journey to product-market fit.
STAX AI didn’t originally start in the retirement industry. The company began as a broader AI document processing platform designed to serve multiple industries. But having too many potential customers turned out to be a major problem.
Everything changed when the team made a difficult decision: focus on a single niche market and walk away from other opportunities.
Naru shares how narrowing their market helped STAX AI find traction, why founders often struggle with focus, and how talking directly with customers shaped the company’s product strategy.
The conversation also explores lessons from early startup experiments, the venture studio model, and how AI is transforming the way software products are built.
What you'll learn:
- Why having too many customers can slow down a startup
- How focusing on one niche helped STAX AI find product-market fit
- Why founders sometimes need to walk away from customers to grow
- Lessons from building early startups and venture studios
- How customer conversations shape better products
- Why niche markets can become large opportunities
- How AI is changing the way modern software products are built
Listen to more episodes, watch video interviews, and subscribe at phxfounders.com.