About this episode
Mateo had already built a successful food company in Argentina. But he wanted more. So he moved to New York with no network, no credibility, and a dream to build the "Spotify for Food."The first two years were messy. He nearly ran out of money multiple times, relied on corporate expense accounts to keep the lights on, and failed a major expansion into LA. But then, he noticed a strange behavior: some customers were ordering 10 meals at a time. That single insight led to a massive pivot, a partnership with world-class chefs, and eventually, a $750M run rate.In this episode, Mateo breaks down the gritty reality of building a marketplace from scratch, how to survive the "messy middle," and why sometimes you have to kill your revenue to save your company.Why You Should ListenWhy he shut down a $2M revenue stream to pivot to a model with $0 ARR.How identifying the small group of users who would be "very disappointed" unlocked massive scale.Why he failed at expanding the first time, but succeeded the second time by changing just one variable.Keywordsstartup podcast, startup podcast for founders, product market fit, food tech, marketplace startups, pivot, founder story, CookUnity, scaling a startup, immigrant founder00:00:00 Intro00:02:50 Moving from Argentina to New York00:07:43 Why Leave a Successful Business?00:13:37 The "Airbnb for Food" Vision00:22:44 Faking Traction with Corporate Stipends00:28:41 The $2M Pivot: Shutting Down On-Demand00:34:54 Why Unit Economics Mattered More Than Revenue00:42:14 The COVID Inflection Point & Chef Partnerships00:48:09 Failing Fast in LA vs. Succeeding Later00:51:54 The Moment of True Product Market FitSend me a message to let me know what you think!
