How Convex Found Product-Market Fit in 6 Months

TL;DR

Convex reached early product-market fit by combining structured customer research with rapid prototyping, including wireframes and hard-coded demonstrations that prospects could evaluate. The founders spent six months bootstrapping from a garage, aggressively seeking conversations through referrals, cold calls, and office visits before entering Y Combinator and broadening their vision for the company.

Transcript

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Key Insights

• Convex grew from Warren’s familiarity with industrial businesses and buildings. His family operated companies in wiring, HVAC, and plumbing, which gave him empathy for the industries, their economic importance, and the people working in them, qualities he considers essential for building vertical software.
• The commercial-services market was estimated by Warren at one to two trillion dollars globally and roughly four hundred to five hundred billion dollars in the United States. Convex targets customers that sell, install, and service products associated with physical structures.
• The founding process began with a decisive commitment. Warren quit his Goldman Sachs job on a Sunday night, gave colleague Blake Milmaster roughly three weeks to decide whether to join him, and then bootstrapped the company with Milmaster for six months in a San Mateo garage.
• Early product discovery combined structured research with prototyping. The founders spoke with carefully selected industry participants, wrote some code, and rapidly developed wireframes and hard-coded demonstrations that gave prospective customers something concrete to assess, discuss, and potentially buy.
• Customer access required persistent outreach. The founders called on professional contacts, cold-called prospects, walked into customer offices without appointments, and knocked on doors, using every available route to secure conversations and prevent product development from becoming detached from genuine market needs.
• Product-market fit emerged through approximately six months to a year of prototyping and listening to customers. Warren describes this period as difficult early-stage work that occurred before the company had anything resembling product-market fit and before its acceptance into Y Combinator.
• Y Combinator emphasized clear goals and accountability. During the in-person program, founders gathered in Mountain View and were challenged when they missed goals, while Convex also benefited from YC’s prior association with PlanGrid when investors questioned whether Convex addressed a sufficiently large market.
• Convex’s product vision expanded gradually rather than through a fixed multi-year roadmap. YC encouraged the team to consider how large the business could become, and Kevin Spain of Emergence later urged Warren to envision a broader suite of products and services for the market.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Convex find product-market fit in six months?

Convex pursued product-market fit by pairing structured customer research with rapid prototyping. The founders sought conversations with relevant industry participants, created wireframes and a hard-coded demonstration, and showed prospects something they might eventually buy. They used the resulting feedback to refine their thinking instead of developing the product in isolation. This intensive process lasted roughly six months to a year before the company reached anything resembling product-market fit.

Q: What customer research methods did the Convex founders use?

The founders used persistent, direct outreach to reach appropriate customers and industry participants. They called in favors across their professional networks, cold-called prospects, walked into customer offices, and knocked on doors to ask for conversations. Warren describes this as structured research because selecting and reaching the right people mattered as much as simply conducting interviews. The approach helped connect product decisions to actual customer reactions.

Q: What did Convex build before it had a complete product?

Convex built a limited product prototype while relying heavily on rapidly developed wireframes. Its early demonstration was largely hard-coded and visually simple, but it gave prospective customers a concrete representation of what the founders hoped to offer. Customers could react to the proposed workflows and indicate whether they might buy the eventual product, allowing the team to test assumptions before completing extensive software development.

Q: Why did Charlie Warren start Convex?

Charlie Warren wanted to build a company and repeatedly returned to the commercial-services market because of his background. His family had operated industrial businesses involving wiring, HVAC, and plumbing, while his later work covered energy markets, buildings, finance, and electricity market design. Experience examining successful SaaS companies at Goldman Sachs further shaped his thinking, eventually turning his interest in physical structures and commercial services into an obsession.

Q: How was Convex founded and initially financed?

Warren invited Goldman Sachs colleague Blake Milmaster to become his co-founder, then quit his job and gave Milmaster roughly three weeks to make a decision. After Milmaster joined, they worked from his garage in San Mateo and bootstrapped the company for six months. They raised no money during that period, including from friends and family. Software engineer Brandon Dema later joined as the third co-founder before the team entered Y Combinator.

Q: What did Convex gain from Y Combinator?

Y Combinator taught the Convex team to establish clear goals and remain accountable for meeting them. The in-person program also encouraged the founders to widen their view of how large the company could become by placing them alongside ventures such as DoorDash, Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase. YC’s previous backing of PlanGrid additionally helped Convex address doubts that its market was too small or insufficiently interesting.

Q: How large did Convex believe its target market was?

Warren estimated the relevant market at one to two trillion dollars globally and approximately four hundred to five hundred billion dollars within the United States. Convex focused on commercial-services companies whose work involves selling, installing, and servicing products for physical structures. Although the founders recognized the market’s scale early, they did not begin with a detailed multi-year product roadmap and continued expanding their view as they learned.

Q: How did Convex’s product strategy expand after its early stage?

Convex gradually widened its strategic aperture as the founders discovered additional opportunities in the market. Y Combinator encouraged them to compare their ambitions with large venture-scale companies and consider how big Convex might become. In 2019, Kevin Spain of Emergence advised Warren to think more broadly about the suite of products and services Convex could offer. The company adopted that broader direction while continuing to use an annual roadmap.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Charlie Warren’s path to Convex began with family exposure to industrial companies, followed by work in energy markets, studies involving finance and electricity market design, and experience examining successful SaaS businesses at Goldman Sachs. These experiences gave him both industry empathy and a strong desire to build a company serving commercial services.

• Warren and co-founder Blake Milmaster left their jobs, worked from a San Mateo garage, and bootstrapped Convex for six months without outside funding. They conducted structured customer research while testing wireframes and a basic product prototype. Cold calls, professional favors, and unannounced office visits helped them obtain the feedback needed to refine their direction.

• After software engineer Brandon Dema joined as the third co-founder, Convex entered Y Combinator in fall 2019. YC reinforced disciplined goal-setting and encouraged the founders to view their market as venture-scale. Later guidance from investor Kevin Spain pushed them to consider a wider suite of products and services within the commercial-services market.