Traction First - A Corporate Innovator's Guide to Unlocking Market Traction

Pivoting isn’t failure—it’s progress. In this episode of the City Innovations Podcast , Chris Tromp (COO, City Innovations) talks with Josh Barker (CEO & Founder, City Innovations) about the emotional and strategic realities of changing course, calling it quits, or pivoting. They unpack why failure is a critical part of learning and how focusing on traction first leads to breakthroughs. They d...

In this episode, Josh Barker, CEO of City Innovations, dives deeper into the principles behind his book Traction First . Hear how rapid pivots, lightweight experiments, and a “sell first, build later” approach helped transform costly startup mistakes into powerful lessons. Josh reveals how founders can shorten learning cycles, avoid over-engineering, and find product-market fit faster—without burn...

Josh Barker, CEO of City Innovations, shares raw and hard-earned lessons from his Silicon Valley startup journey that inspired his upcoming book, Traction First . Hear how a $500K mistake taught him to “sell first, build later,” why chasing product-market fit is like riding a bike downhill, and the critical difference between solving an “aspirin problem” vs. a “vitamin problem.” From multiple pivo...

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