The Myths About Finding Product-Market Fit

A Step by Step Guide to Finding Product-Market Fit

Do you feel like growth is more challenging than it should be? That you are working so hard but not seeing the fruits of your labour? If you answered yes, then let me ask you then another question:

Do you have product-market fit?

Product-Market Fit is defined as 40% of your customers answering “Very Disappointed” to the following question:

How disappointed would you be if you could no longer use the product/service?

In other words:

Are you providing a product/service to a market that wants and needs your product/service?

Not sure? The best test is asking the question I just did, but there is a quicker way. If you aren’t sure, then you probably don’t.

“If you have to ask whether you have Product-Market Fit, the answer is simple: you don’t.” — Eric Ries

I thought growth had to be hard for every organisation, and sure, it is definitely challenging at times, but it is 10x easier when you have Product-Market Fit (PMF). That is why I’m dedicating a whole series to the subject.

If you don’t have PMF, don’t worry, though; we are going to get you there. This series is based on my own experiences in helping 50+ companies with their PMF challenges and how to solve them. It is what helped us at Heights go from having 25% answer “very disappointed” to find an audience where we had 63% answer “very disappointed”.

Each article in this series will cover part of the journey to finding PMF:

1. The myths about finding PMF
2. The different types of mismatches of PMF
3. Why Jobs to be Done is the crucial framework in finding PMF
4. Various techniques to find PMF
5. How to approach growth in the meantime
6. Once you have PMF, how to also find Channel-Market Fit.

But first, let’s get some bullshit, I mean myths, out of the way. There are just too many lies out there that are preventing companies from getting closer to having PMF.

Myth 1: You have to be a specific size before you can start focusing on product-market fit.

Some startups I talk to feel they are too small to start focusing on PMF; they need to grow before doubling down on PMF.

Finding PMF is not a chicken or egg debate; PMF definitely came before hypergrowth. You don’t need a huge sample size or a large budget to find PMF. Actually, the best way to find PMF is through user interviews, and they don’t have to cost much. Another way is testing through ads; both don’t require substantial user bases. We’ll cover more about the techniques in a later article but first, let’s get some more myths out the way.

Myth 2: You can’t focus on growth and PMF at the same time.

That being said, I don’t think you have to kill growth completely. Sure, in the ideal world, you focus 100% on PMF, and if you have no PMF, that makes sense.

But most of the companies I meet that don’t have PMF are in the in-between zone; they have a bit of PMF but not 40%, they have a bit of growth but not skyrocketing. When I started at Heights, we had 25% of users say they’d be very disappointed if they could no longer use the Smart Supplement. It wasn’t low enough to stop growth or high enough to only focus on growth, so yes, it would be great to focus 100% on PMF, but the truth is:

1. You have stakeholders and investors who want to see progress in terms of the growth of the company.
2. There are bills and employees to pay, and you are getting some customers in at a decent cost of acquisition, just not the volume you’d ideally like.
3. You actually need a bit of growth to work out if you are getting closer to finding PMF.

I try to balance the two by suggesting lower growth targets than you’d ideally like and using the growth to help you find PMF.

Myth 3: You don’t have time now to focus on PMF, so you’ll do it later.

I sadly hear this one a lot; they wonder how to fit PMF in with all their other focus points.

Simple, kill some of the other focus points. Ok, I know it is not that simple, but it needs to be done. A lack of focus too often holds companies back from growing. This is not the time to build ten features and try out three new growth channels. You need to align as an organisation on finding PMF and that you aren’t going to if you don’t give that search some quality love. PMF is the catalyst that will make all your other growth efforts easier.

Myth 4: You need to improve the features before checking for PMF again.

NO. Just no. Sorry, I lost my temper there a bit, but you don’t find PMF; your customers do. So don’t you dare creep into your dark cave and work on extra features; you are wasting your time.

I knew a company (they don’t exist anymore) that started by spending six months of building and building… only to have zero sales at the end of it. They weren’t solving an actual problem and learnt the hard way that no amount of features can force PMF. Focus instead on understanding your target audience better first to know if you even need additional features to hit PMF; it may not even be your product that is holding you back from reaching PMF.

So what are the truths about PMF?

We’ve covered the myths, but what is then the truths? How can you make sure you are starting from the right place to focus on PMF?

• You can start at any point focusing on PMF; actually, the sooner, the better.
• You can focus on growth and PMF, but you do need to give PMF focus.
• Take time from growth to focus on finding PMF, as it will only make your growth easier.
• You don’t find PMF; your customers do, so it is time to start talking to them.

But how do you do that last part? Well, it starts in knowing where it all went wrong with your PMF so that you can start asking the right questions.