His AI Voice Startup grew to $10M ARR in 1 Year—after 3 Years Stuck at $500K | Jordan Dearsley, Founder of Vapi

A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

Jordan Dearsley spent 3 years building a startup stuck at $500K in revenue—then he burned it all down and moved to San Francisco. A year later, he was at $10M ARR. This episode walks through Jordan’s decision to abandon a profitable business, why solving a painful customer problem was the key to explosive growth, and how finding product-market fit is as simple—and as brutally difficult—as discovering a 10/10 burning pain.

If you’re a founder struggling to find breakout growth, this episode is your blueprint.

Why You Should Listen

• How to pivot from a dead-end idea to $10M ARR in one year.
• The power of solving a 10/10 burning pain.
• When customer anger becomes your biggest growth signal.
• Why chasing local maxima can trap your startup.
• How true conviction unlocks explosive growth.

Keywords

product-market fit, startup pivot, explosive growth, voice AI, founder stories, SaaS startups, early-stage startups, customer pain points, San Francisco startups, developer tools

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:35 Stuck at $500K ARR & Burning the Boats

00:07:15 Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

00:08:49 The Side Project that Became Vapi

00:16:28 Early Growth and Finding First Customers

00:23:32 The Product Hunt Launch that 3X’d Growth

00:27:57 Surviving Explosive Growth

00:35:17 Competing Against OpenAI and Big Tech

00:41:26 How to Identify a True 10/10 Pain

00:48:53 The Moment of Real Product-Market Fit

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Stuck at $500K ARR & Burning the Boats (00:02:35)

3. Knowing When It’s Time to Quit (00:07:15)

4. The Side Project that Became Vapi (00:08:49)

5. Early Growth and Finding First Customers (00:16:28)

6. The Product Hunt Launch that 3X’d Growth (00:23:32)

7. Surviving Explosive Growth (00:27:57)

8. Competing Against OpenAI and Big Tech (00:35:17)

9. How to Identify a True 10/10 Pain (00:41:26)

10. The Moment of Real Product-Market Fit (00:48:53)