How Weights & Biases found product-market fit: Lukas Biewald on dev-focused ML ops

Weights & Biases is a developer-focused MLOps platform last valued at over $1 billion. Their platform helps developers streamline their ML workflow from end to end. Weights & Biases currently has over 700 customers using their product to manage their ML models. 

In this episode, Sandhya Hegde chats with Lukas Biewald, the CEO and co-founder of Weights & Biases about the company’s path to product-market fit.

Join us as we discuss:

(2:09) Lukas’s inspiration for starting the company

(8:02) Early design partners for Weights & Biases

(13:32) Early use cases for the Weights & Biases platform

(16:13) The founders’ early strategies for finding users and getting feedback

(22:47) Finding product-market fit by focusing on a specific user persona (ML practitioner)

(29:14) Growth tactics to increase awareness and expand their user base

(34:13) Positive surprises in user feedback, and how it informed the company’s product roadmap

(40:14) Lukas’s approach to leadership and building a strong, connected culture

(43:16) Advice for aspiring founders building AI-native products

Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at [email protected] and 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/sandhya

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyahegde/

Lukas Biewald is the CEO and the co-founder of Weights & Biases. Previously, Biewald was the founder and CEO of Figure Eight Inc. (formerly CrowdFlower).

Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.

Further reading from the Startup Field Guide:

Define your Ideal Customer Profile: https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/ideal-customer-profile-and-personas

Introduction to product-led growth:https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/introduction-to-plg

Introduction to design partners:https://www.field-guide.unusual.vc/field-guide-enterprise/what-are-design-partners