Startupr Founder Series

In this episode of the Startupr Founder Series, we sit down with Howard Lerman, the legendary entrepreneur behind Yext (NYSE: YEXT) and current CEO of Roam, a groundbreaking virtual HQ platform designed for distributed teams and AI-powered collaboration.Howard shares his full journey—from launching viral college startups (like JustATip.com) and scaling Yext to a successful IPO, to his newest mission with Roam: building the future of work by eliminating unnecessary meetings and enabling eight-minute conversations inside virtual offices powered by AI coworkers.As a gift to the Startupr community, Howard is offering 8-minute meetings to founders — Book directly at https://ro.am/howard.In this interview we cover:-How Yext scaled from a paper-call product to IPO-Howard’s radical advice on MVPs, delegation, and product-market fit-Why Roam was built to kill calendar bloat and empower global, async teams-The case for advisor-led growth over traditional outbound-Viral product loops, real-time collaboration, and the rise of AI teammatesThis is one of the most insightful founder interviews we’ve done—packed with first-principles thinking, hard-earned lessons, and practical startup wisdom for anyone building in SaaS, AI, remote work, or enterprise tools.🎥 Watch the full interview and subscribe for more founder-driven conversations. 🔗 Try Roam: https://ro.am 🌐 Explore more from Startupr: https://startupr.xyz/⏱️ Chapters00:00 – From JustATip.com to Founding Yext03:45 – Scaling Yext: Pay-per-call, Listings, and the IPO08:00 – Why MVP Advice Has Changed in 202511:15 – The Case for Advisor-Led Growth (and What Startups Get Wrong)14:00 – Building Roam: A Virtual HQ to Eliminate Meeting Bloat19:35 – Founders Should Never Delegate Product-Market Fit24:00 – The Reality of IPOs and Venture-Backed Expectations29:00 – Discipline, Lifelong Learning, and Leadership Evolution32:00 – Why Howard’s Bullish on Gen Z Founders35:00 – The Future of Work: Global Talent, AI, and Roam’s Vision#HowardLerman #RoamHQ #Yext #StartupFounders #FounderInterview #SaaS #AI #FutureOfWork #VirtualHQ #StartupAdvice #ProductMarketFit #Leadership #StartupStrategy