As 2025 comes to a close, the GFR Fund team sat down to reflect on the most valuable lessons our founders taught us this year, from navigating a turbulent fundraising market, building products users genuinely love, to surprising consumer behaviors we didn’t expect.
This conversation features insights from our General Partners, Teppei Tsutsui, Yasushi Komori, and Patrick Montague.
1. What was the biggest lesson our founders taught us this year?
Yasushi:
The biggest takeaway is don’t be overly optimistic in this market. The fundraising environment remains tough, similar to 2022, and still very different from the boom years before. What's clear is that scaling fast before hitting real product-market fit no longer works. Today, you get one shot with your early capital. If you raise $2–3M at seed, you must find PMF with that round because there may not be another chance.
Founders who were conservative with cash flow management, stayed close to customers, and only scaled after securing PMF were the ones who thrived.
Teppei:
For me, it was about focus: focus on product, focus on revenue, and tune out market noise. This year rewarded founders who stayed close to customers rather than sentiment.
Patrick:
I’d add that founders who centered their core community, not the macro environment, not investor chatter, were the most resilient. Despite unpredictable venture markets, the best founders doubled down on what they could control: product, users, and community.
2. What’s one pattern we consistently saw in high-performing teams?
Yasushi:
Two of our strongest performers, Final Boss Sour and Alinea, share a defining trait: They obsess over their audience and constantly adapt their UX/UI to what their communities want.
It’s not about having the most advanced technology. Final Boss Sour, for example, isn’t building deep tech, but their user experience is perfectly tuned to their audience, especially in gaming and CCG communities.
Founders who ignore their audience and focus only on technology tend to struggle. Those who iterate directly with users win.
Patrick:
High performers also ran extremely lean, efficient, and close to profitability. In a world where fundraising uncertainty persists, founders who preserved optionality through cash discipline, efficient operations, and smart hiring kept control of their destiny.
3. Where did founders struggle most, and what does that reveal about today’s startup environment?
Patrick:
Teams that raised too much, too quickly, based on reputation rather than traction, struggled this year. In the previous cycle, “growth story” was enough to raise. That era is over. Investors now distinguish sharply between true PMF and “PMF-like” signals (e.g., revenue driven purely by paid marketing rather than retention or love for the product).
Founders who didn’t adjust to this mindset shift hit the hardest walls.
Yasushi:
There are two main reasons startups get into trouble:
1. No real PMF
2. Running out of cash
Before 2022, founders sometimes got a second chance even without PMF. Today, they don’t. You must achieve genuine PMF with your first round.
Another key lesson: revenue matters more than ever. Alinea taught us that customers are often willing to pay more than founders expect if the value story is clear.
Some companies delayed monetization for too long, burning capital under the assumption that revenue could come later. When fundraising fell through, they were forced into late, rushed monetization efforts.
Alinea’s confidence in charging ~$100 early in the onboarding experience proved that you can trust your customers and that pricing courage is a strategic advantage.
Teppei:
The biggest struggle was a mindset gap. Many founders still operated with a 2021 mentality, expecting easy extensions or follow-on rounds. But investors now prioritize revenue quality and a clear path to profitability. Founders who didn’t evolve their thinking found it difficult to adapt.
4. What did our founders teach us about building products users genuinely love?
Yasushi:
Three top examples, Alinea, Final Boss Sour, and RTFKT, all show that the foundation of product love is constant, high-quality communication with users.
You can’t build beloved products without living inside your community.
Failure cases often share the opposite trait: teams stop engaging with customers, losing touch with what their audience wants or how user needs are evolving.
Patrick:
This applies even outside B2C apps. Spread, which serves major publishers, is a great B2B example. Stu spent the entire year embedding himself with journalists—talking to them daily, learning their workflows, and refining the product in lockstep with their needs. That level of empathy is what drives retention.
5. Were there any surprising customer behaviors this year?
Yasushi:
A major one: Customers often are willing to pay far more than founders expect.
When we invested in Alinea, I wasn’t sure their onboarding-stage $100 annual price point would work, but it did. And it continues to work. If your community loves the product, pricing power is real.
This also reflects a broader lesson from gaming: Never cap your upside. Always offer a range of price points.
In mobile gaming, successful titles sell items from $3 to over $1,000. Founders shouldn’t assume users only want the cheapest option.
Someone out there will choose premium if the value is clear.
Teppei:
Another fascinating example comes from a community app where users buy premium subscriptions not for themselves but as gifts for other users. One user purchased nearly 100 gifts purely because they love the community. That level of generosity and fandom isn’t common, but when it happens, it’s powerful.
6. Which company taught you the most about building strong, loyal communities?
Patrick:
One unexpected standout is Wally, a dental-care company. Dental care isn’t considered “fun,” yet Wally created an enthusiastic community by delivering an experience so positive that people talk about it online. It’s a reminder that even unglamorous categories can inspire loyalty when the experience is thoughtfully designed.
Yasushi:
On the other side, STAN showed how powerful offline community building can be. Their annual creator festival brings fans and creators together in person, deepening loyalty beyond digital channels. Combining online and offline engagement accelerates community strength.
7. How did our founders uniquely leverage AI this year?
Patrick:
What stood out is how early-stage founders used AI to stay extremely lean while searching for PMF. Instead of over-hiring too soon, teams used AI tools to accelerate iteration, automate workflows, and test ideas faster.
This helped them experiment broadly without burning runway.
Yasushi:
A good example is teams using AI to automate what previously required manual validation. For instance, marketplace transactions or content workflows. These founders aren't scaling headcount prematurely; they're using AI to scale learning velocity.
AI became a tool for experimental scale, not operational bloat.
8. Any final reflections or messages to founders as we head into the new year?
Yasushi:
To all founders, portfolio and beyond, you worked extremely hard in 2025. You deserve a real break this holiday season. Rest, recharge, and prepare for 2026.
We’re excited to stand alongside you in the new year.
Closing Thoughts
2025 was a year of discipline, clarity, and rediscovery of fundamentals. Our founders taught us:
- True PMF is non-negotiable.
- Community beats market noise.
- Lean teams can move faster with AI.
- Communication is at the heart of beloved products.
- Pricing courage unlocks surprising revenue.
- And most of all: great companies are built one loyal user at a time.
Here’s to an even stronger 2026, with resilience, creativity, and community leading the way.
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