Hey y’all — maybe you shouldn’t be looking for a market at all.

That sounds a bit surprising, right?

Well, Ratmir Timashev sold his last company for $5 billion, and he recommends founders look for what he calls “waves” instead of markets.

I sat down with him to discuss the difference, what “founder magic” really is, and why he’s now betting $130 million on Columbus, Ohio becoming the go-to-market headquarters for North America through his new company, OH.io:

There’s a lot of FOMO out there in the startup world.

Everything moves so fast, and everyone’s worried about missing the right time for their big idea.

For example, many founders I know who had raised money for non-AI companies in the last few years have told me they felt like they were missing out on building something AI-native.

But whenever a founder tells me they’re worried they’ve missed the boat on a market, I give them the same advice.

Being a founder is like being out in the water on your surfboard.

You’re watching the waves as they come towards you, looking for one you can ride into shore.

And if you miss a great one, it’s actually ok, but there’s another one coming soon behind it.

Innovation and the startup ecosystem works the same way.

Today’s big ideas create new space for tomorrow’s.

Ratmir Timashev’s philosophy, that’s led him to two massive exits so far, takes my analogy one step further.

He says that founders shouldn’t be looking for “markets” in the first place because, by the time a market exists, someone else is already building for it.

Instead, founders should look for “waves” that are just now starting to form. And you either catch it or let it fully pass you by.

The distinction matters. And Ratmir’s done it twice.

First, in the 90’s, Ratmir co-founded Aelita Software which was sold for $115 million after riding the wave of internet adoption.

Ratmir noticed that servers would crash without an easy way for IT administrators to quickly recover their data, so he and his co-founder built one.

Next, he started Veeam Software which saw a similar type of wave forming with virtual servers.

VMware was turning physical servers into virtual ones. Every company was adopting it. And the backup tools that worked for physical infrastructure were useless in a virtual environment

Both were built with the same insight: every new technology layer creates a management problem. And whoever solves that management problem first cleanly, for the actual people running the system day-to-day, wins.

Right now, the entire stack is being reimagined due to LLMs. And the layer Ratmir’s looking at is distribution and GTM strategy.

And he believes in Columbus, Ohio’s potential to be a hub for GTM knowledge and talent, in the same way SF is a hub for engineering talent.

When Ratmir first came to the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he landed at a PhD program at Ohio State University, so it’s an area he both knows well and has an affinity for.

But this isn’t charity. Through OH.io, he’s investing in the region building something unique to capitalize on and ride this new wave of AI adoption.

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Founders: treat yourself for once.

A few of our partners are offering $$$ for taking a quick call with them (that’s it).

Honestly, block off a couple hours, knock them all out, and walk away with some cash to get off the ramen diet for the weekend.