Robert is a partner at Fletch, which works with startups on Product Market Fit.
Guest Author: Robert Kaminski
I always hated the common definitions of “Product Market Fit”.
They read more like fortune cookies than actual definitions.
Most of them are some rephrasing of:
“When you’ve built something people want”
Anthony Pierri 🎸 and I think founders need something more actionable.
So in addition to a definition, we created a model. (See image)
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Here’s our definition:
👉 “PMF is when you can repeatably find, sell, serve, and retain customers.”
And here’s a breakdown of our model introducing the 2 types of fit and the 4 supporting pillars.
Go-to-Market Fit
🟧 Find → Can you consistently get in front of your ideal customers?
This pillar boils down to selecting and executing the right channels and tactics to reach and engage prospects.
This can take different shapes depending on your business model.
For PLG companies, this means getting people to your homepage.
For Sales-Led companies, this means getting a meeting.
🟩 Sell → Can you consistently close deals with your ICP?
This pillar is about selecting and executing the right sales model along with developing the right offer.
Again, closing deals can mean different things for different business models.
For PLG, this means getting a site visitor to sign up.
For Sales-Led, this means getting a prospect to sign a contract.
Problem-Solution Fit
🟦 Serve → Can you consistently get customers to value?
This pillar is about selecting and executing the right delivery model to get your customers off and running with your product.
This can be self serve, white glove services, using partners, or some combination of these.
🟪 Retain → Can you get customers to stick around?
This pillar is about selecting and executing the right support model for growing your customers success with your product.
*This function can also act as input for course correcting other pillars to reach product market fit — It’s here where you really start to see whether the other pillars are actually working.
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Founders often think that because they have a few customers using their product that they’ve found PMF.
But when we pressure test their business with this framework, we often find only partial progress towards real PMF.
We recommend founders give this model a try with their own startup.
And be honest about your progress — specifically on how repeatable your operations are across these pillars.
#productmarketfit #startups #saas
