Stop Looking for Product Market Fit

Everyone’s obsessed with product-market fit. As if it’s some magical moment when confetti falls from the sky and Mark Andreessen sends you a congratulatory text.

But here’s the thing: Product-market fit isn’t an event. It’s not something you find. It’s something you build. Slowly. Painfully. One customer at a time.

The Silicon Valley Trap #

Silicon Valley wants you to think you need to:

1. Raise millions
2. Hire fast
3. Scale faster
4. Exit fastest

Nonsense.

Weebly took 18 months to find their footing. Eighteen months of work before things clicked. No shortcuts. No growth hacks. Just work.

What Actually Matters #

You know what matters? Three things:

1. Do people come back?
2. Do they tell others?
3. Do they pay?

That’s it. Everything else is noise.

The Only Numbers That Matter #

Forget your total signups. Meaningless. Forget your Twitter followers. Who cares.

Watch these instead:

• How many users return within 7 days?
• What’s your NPS score?
• What’s your renewal rate?

Real businesses need real metrics.

Stay Small #

Here’s something nobody tells you: Stay under 20 people until you know what you’re doing.

Why?

• You can move fast
• You can change direction
• You can actually talk to customers

Past 20 people, politics creep in. Meetings multiply. Speed dies.

The Real Work #

Want to build something people want? Do this:

1. Talk to customers. But ignore their solutions. Listen to their problems.

2. Watch them use your product. Shut up while they struggle. You’ll learn more from silence than suggestions.

3. Build less. Launch sooner. Your first version will be wrong anyway.

A Better Way #

Stop obsessing over product-market fit. Instead:

• Build something small
• Show it to real people
• Watch what they do (not what they say)
• Make it better
• Repeat

That’s it. That’s the whole game.

No framework needed. No consultant required. Just honest work and open eyes.

What This Means for You #

Tomorrow morning:

• Delete your product roadmap
• Cancel your strategy meetings
• Talk to one customer
• Fix one thing they hate

Do that every day for a year. You’ll be shocked where you end up.

The Three Stages Every Startup Must Navigate #

Stage 1: Finding Your Direction #

You start with an idea. But ideas are worthless without execution. Here’s what you need to know:

Problem Alert #1: Building Without Talking to Users

• What founders do: Lock themselves in a room and build for six months
• What works: Talk to users before writing a single line of code
• Real Example: The Weebly team spent their first six months building. Result? Only 12 signups on their best day.

The Fix:

1. Talk to 10 potential users this week
2. Write down their exact words
3. Look for patterns in their problems

Stage 2: Building the Right Thing #

Key Metrics to Watch:

• Daily Active Users (DAU)
• 7-day return rate (should be >30%)
• NPS score (aim for >50)

Problem Alert #2: Focusing on the Wrong Numbers

• What founders do: Chase total signups
• What works: Track how many users come back
• Real Example: Dropbox ignored total signups. They focused on how many users synced files in their first day.

The Fix:

1. Set up analytics on day one
2. Track only three key metrics
3. Review numbers weekly with your team

Stage 3: Finding Product-Market Fit #

You’ll know you’ve found it when:

• Users come back without prompting
• Your NPS score tops 50
• Paying customers stick around

Problem Alert #3: Scaling Too Early

• What founders do: Hire fast after raising money
• What works: Stay under 20 people until you find fit
• Real Example: Weebly kept their team tiny for 18 months. After finding fit, they grew to 350 people.

The Action Plan: Your First 90 Days #

Week 1-4: Research Phase #

• Talk to 40 potential users
• Build a landing page
• Test your core idea

Why this matters: Most founders skip research. Don’t. It saves months of building the wrong thing.

Week 5-8: Build Phase #

• Create your MVP in 2 weeks
• Get 5 users to try it
• Watch them use it (stay silent)

Why this matters: Real users break your assumptions. Let them.

Week 9-12: Measure Phase #

• Track daily active users
• Measure 7-day return rate
• Calculate NPS score

Why this matters: Numbers don’t lie. They tell you when to pivot.

Real Numbers That Matter #

Early Stage Metrics #

• Week 1: Talk to 10 users
• Week 2: Get 5 test users
• Week 4: Launch MVP

Growth Stage Metrics #

• Month 3: 30% weekly return rate
• Month 6: 50+ NPS score
• Month 12: 60% annual renewal rate

Common Traps and How to Avoid Them #

The Feature Trap #

• What it looks like: “We just need one more feature!”
• Why it’s dangerous: You delay launching
• The fix: Launch with one core feature

The Funding Trap #

• What it looks like: “We need money to build”
• Why it’s dangerous: You waste time fundraising
• The fix: Bootstrap until you have users

The Scaling Trap #

• What it looks like: “Let’s hire more developers!”
• Why it’s dangerous: You burn cash faster
• The fix: Stay small until you find fit

Your Next Steps #

1. Today: Talk to one potential user
2. This week: Build a simple landing page
3. This month: Launch your MVP

Remember: Every successful startup you admire started with these same steps. They weren’t special. They just followed the process.

Quick Reference Guide #

Signs You’re on Track #

• Users ask when they can pay
• People tell friends without prompting
• Usage grows without marketing

Signs You Need to Pivot #

• Users don’t come back
• Growth relies on ads
• People say “nice idea” but don’t use it

Final Thoughts #

Remember: Every massive success started as a tiny experiment that worked.

Your job isn’t to find product-market fit. Your job is to serve customers so well they can’t imagine going anywhere else.

Follow these steps:

1. Talk to users
2. Build something small
3. Measure what matters
4. Repeat until it works

The rest is just noise.