EP48: Why $1–5M ARR Is the Most Dangerous (and Fun) Stage with Kanika Pandey

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro: Meet Kanika Pandey, Sales Leader & Author
01:22 – Discovering Startups: From Discontent to Purpose
05:16 – Scaling at Loadmill vs HyperTest: Lessons in PMF
08:38 – Why $1–5M ARR is the Most Dangerous (and Fun) Stage
12:32 – How Self-Awareness Transformed Her Career
15:14 – Losing Her Mother & Rebuilding Through Work
16:17 – The Mini-Stroke That Changed Everything
20:44 – How Weightlifting Built Unshakable Discipline
25:32 – Why Early-Stage Selling is Perfect for Women
29:24 – Founders: Stop Falling in Love with Your Product
31:12 – Final Message: Build Boldly, Lead with Conviction

About Kanika Pandey

Kanika Pandey is the VP of Global Sales at Loadmill, a Generative AI platform for the full lifecycle of test automation. She specialises in building early stage start-ups in the $1M-$5M ARR phase, transitioning from founder-led sales to building a GTM team. Kanika is a weight lifter, an Author and a student of life with plenty to teach and inspire us.

"I never thought I’d be here. Not “here” as in on this podcast, but here in my career — living in the land of startups, helping take companies from $1M to $5M ARR, building teams from scratch, and dodging more curveballs than an MLB pitcher.

It wasn’t a straight line. It started with a nagging dissatisfaction. I wasn’t happy with what I was doing, and I had this itch — almost a compulsion — to keep getting better. That itch took me from Google, to AWS, to my own startup, to working with founders in the trenches. Along the way, I learned that the early-stage game is not for the faint-hearted — and that mental resilience isn’t optional, it’s oxygen.

Here’s what I’ve learned, the hard way."

It’s Always About the People, Not the Product

Choose your foxhole wisely
When I joined Hypertest, it wasn’t because of the product. It was because the founder was someone I wanted to build with. I knew we could have disagreements, push each other, and still respect the mission. Early-stage startups are people games first, product games second. You can have the slickest tech stack in the world, but if you don’t trust the humans in the foxhole with you, the rest will break under pressure.

Expect debates, not harmony
Founders are opinionated. Good ones are really opinionated. I’ve had some lively discussions (read: full-on debates) about whether we should launch a feature early or wait, whether a deal was worth bending the roadmap for, whether we were chasing the right ICP. And here’s the thing — those debates made me sharper. Iron sharpens iron. If you avoid friction, you avoid growth.

The people become your playbook
When I joined Loadmill, I realised it was Hypertest 2.0. Same problem space, different maturity level. Every fight, every trade-off, every “I wish I’d known that sooner” moment from the Hypertest days became a shortcut. In startups, nothing is wasted if you keep the lessons — even the messy bits.

Zero to One? Founder. One to Five? Not the Founder.

The illusion of repeatability
Founders often think the magic they used to get the first 10–15 customers can be bottled and poured out at scale. It can’t. Those early buyers often bought you, not your process. They were sold on your passion, your urgency, your midnight emails. That doesn’t scale — and it’s dangerous to pretend it does.

Why founders need to step back
From $1M–$5M ARR, you’re not just selling vision anymore — you’re building repeatability. That means documenting what works, hiring your first AE, SDR, and SE, and making sure your revenue engine runs even when the founder’s not in the room. The skill set shifts from “hunter” to “system builder.”

The dangerous comfort zone
If founders stay too hands-on at this stage, they unconsciously keep selling the old way. They handhold deals, overpromise features, and operate as if every prospect still sees them as a visionary hero. At this point, you need someone who can say, “That worked before, but it won’t get us to $10M.”

Fall in Love with the Customer, Not the Product

Your baby is ugly — sometimes
Every founder thinks their product is beautiful. In the early days, you have to believe that — otherwise you’d never have the courage to ship. But at scale, you need to be willing to admit your “baby” might have flaws the market can see even if you can’t.

Losses teach more than wins
We love to ring the bell on wins. But the losses? They’re gold mines of information. I’ve learned to analyse lost deals obsessively. Why didn’t they buy? Was it price? Timing? Missing functionality? Sometimes the answer stings, but it’s better than pretending everything’s fine.

Signals over sentiment
The early-stage game is about listening for weak signals — hints that a segment’s heating up, that a feature is actually hurting adoption, that a competitor is shifting their positioning. Sentiment feels good; signals build strategy.

Your Story Changes Daily — Get Used to It

AI years are like dog years
When I joined Loadmill, there were 300 native AI testing companies. Six months later? 750. That’s not a typo. In AI, six months feels like six years. Your story can’t be a static artefact — it’s a living document.

Visibility is survival
In a crowded market, the best product doesn’t always win. The company with the clearest, most resonant story does. That means you need to evolve your messaging constantly, or risk being invisible in a sea of “AI-powered” noise.

Adapt or be irrelevant
Your pitch deck from last quarter might already be outdated. Features that were once differentiators might now be table stakes. The companies that survive are the ones that don’t just accept this — they embrace it.

Mental Resilience Is Built, Not Bought

The day everything changes
At 29, I landed a job at Google — the supposed “arrival” moment. But I felt hollow. That search for meaning took me through launching Modern Health (with zero founding experience), failing to raise funding, losing my mother unexpectedly, and eventually, a mini-stroke.

From crisis to clarity
That stroke didn’t give me fear — it gave me freedom. I stopped second-guessing. I asked myself, “If I had only one day left, what would I do?” The answer was not “play it safe.” It was “live my dream.” That’s why I chose Loadmill over a cushy consulting gig.

Conviction over comfort
Now, I operate with absolute honesty. I don’t hedge my bets or tiptoe around decisions. Every “yes” and “no” is deliberate. It’s amazing how much mental space you free up when you stop living in hesitation.

Weightlifting Will Teach You Everything You Need to Know

Discipline is non-negotiable
The barbell isn’t going to lift itself. Whether you’ve had five hours of sleep or you’re nursing an injury, you show up. You might adjust the load, but you never skip the session. Startups are the same — you adapt, but you keep showing up.

The real reward is transformation
I started as a 64-kilo “teeny-meeny” girl. Today, I carry 12 extra kilos of muscle — and a lot more presence. The physical transformation is nice; the internal transformation is priceless. I carry myself differently, in the gym and in the boardroom.

The sport doesn’t lie
In Olympic weightlifting, there’s no faking it. Either the bar goes up or it doesn’t. That same honesty applies in sales. The market doesn’t care about your intentions — only your results.

Women Belong in Early-Stage Sales Leadership

The trust advantage
Early-stage sales is about trust, not feature checklists. And trust-building? Women are naturals. We listen deeply, pick up on nuance, and build connections that last.

Lack of role models = lack of participation
Many women don’t enter early-stage leadership simply because they haven’t seen others do it. That’s why telling these stories matters — to show what’s possible and dismantle the myth that these roles are off-limits.

Australia’s untapped opportunity
Australians have a unique advantage: the E3 visa. It’s a golden ticket for Aussie women to take leadership roles in US startups, but hardly anyone uses it. It’s sitting there, unclaimed, while opportunities go begging.

Stop Playing It Safe — Life’s Too Short

You don’t need a near-death experience
I don’t recommend having a stroke to find clarity. But I do recommend regularly interrogating whether what you’re doing lights you up. The safest path often leads to the dullest destination.

Big swings beat small regrets
In startups and in life, you can recover from a miss. You can’t recover from years of wondering “what if?” The pain of a failed experiment is nothing compared to the ache of unrealised potential.

Every decision is a vote
Every “yes” and “no” is a vote for the life you’re building. Make them count. If your next decision won’t get you closer to the life you want, why make it?

Summary

Early-stage startups are a crucible. They’ll test your patience, your creativity, and your self-belief. They’ll also teach you more about yourself than any “safe” job ever could. The secret is to choose your people wisely, step back when it’s time, listen harder than you talk, and keep rewriting your story as the market shifts. Mental resilience isn’t something you’re born with — it’s forged in these fires. And if you’re going to be in the game, you might as well play it with conviction.