Finding Product/Market Fit (PMF) is a Hard, Lonely Journey

Building a startup is the hardest, most lonely thing I’ve done in my life.

The hardest part I’ve experienced (to date) is searching for the elusive “product-market-fit”.

For non-startup folk, #PMF has many definitions depending on who you ask.

I’ve heard:

- “When it's overwhelming to your customers that whatever you’re offering is of value and solves their pain. Convos are quick, easy and adoption is fast.” - Pat East

- “Customers are beating on your doors. Lining around block to pay you to solve their problem.”

- “The only thing that matters.”

Finding #PMF is a seemingly endless circle of talking to customers, building, pivoting, re-building, taking to more customers, and so on.

Hence, the reason it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced.

Yet (somehow) the search and desire to solve big problems for others is the most exhilarating thing you’ll experience and 100% worth the challenges.

Here are a few helpful tips in your journey to PMF:

1) Focus on the market first

Founders often hold too tightly onto solutions and too loosely onto problems. The problem, i.e. the market, is the real opportunity.

2) Know the difference between Happy vs. Successful Customers.

For successful customers, the value your product creates far outweighs what they pay for it. Customers seeing that kind of ROI are much more likely to stick around long-term. As a startup, you need successful customers to grow and scale. Successful customers are a sign that you’re on the road to product-market fit.

Even though your product is new and unpolished, there are already people who can’t live without it—they go to work every day and use it to get shit done.

Successful customers have a vested interest in your improvement because the better your product is, the stronger a company they are—your product is that vital to them.

They give you feedback on how the product needs to evolve, which empowers you to iterate, improve, and serve your market better in the long-run. They’ll help you find more successful customers through referrals.

3. Sales is your fast track to PMF

Don't build and then sell. Do it in reverse. Once you have people that give you real money in order to get the chance to buy your product before others, you know you're really onto something worth building. It’s a simple strategy that will help you to get to product/market faster and with a lot less pain.

If you’ve ever thought about building a startup, take this as your sign to make it happen in 2023.