In this episode of the PHX FWD Founder Podcast, Gregg Scoresby sits down with Naru, founder of STAX AI, to talk about the long and often messy journey to product market fit.
STAX didn’t start in retirement software. The company originally built an AI document processing platform designed to work across multiple industries. But having too many potential customers turned out to be a major problem.
Naru shares how the company struggled to scale until they made a difficult decision: focus on one niche and walk away from other customers. That decision changed everything.
In this conversation, Naru explains how focusing on retirement plan administrators helped STAX find traction, why founders often underestimate the power of niche markets, and what he learned from building multiple startups before finding the right direction.
The episode also explores how AI is transforming software development, why curiosity matters for founders, and how customer conversations drive the best product decisions.
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 fire customers to grow
- How talking directly to customers shapes better products
- Why small niche markets can become big opportunities
- How AI is changing software development and automation
- Why curiosity and customer obsession are key founder traits
STAX AI builds software for retirement plan administrators, helping them manage compliance, workflows, and client relationships more efficiently.
Connect with PHX FWD