What is Product-Market Fit?

Product-Market Fit (PMF) is when you've built something people want so badly they'll pull it out of your hands. You know you have it when users stick around, tell their friends, and would be "very disappointed" if your product disappeared. Before PMF, growth is hard. After PMF, retention takes care of itself. Most startups die before finding it.

When Should You Use This?

You don't "use" PMF—you search for it. Focus on finding PMF before scaling marketing, hiring a big team, or raising a big round. The search involves talking to users constantly, iterating quickly, and being willing to pivot. Once you find PMF (high retention, organic growth, "very disappointed" survey >40%), then you pour fuel on the fire.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• •Thinking you have PMF too early—excitement isn't PMF, retention is
• •Scaling before PMF—hiring and ads don't fix a product people don't want
• •Not measuring it—track "very disappointed" score, retention, NPS
• •Building for everyone—PMF starts with a specific niche loving you
• •Giving up too early—most successful founders pivoted 2-3 times before PMF

Real-World Examples

• •Slack—100% team retention, users demanded it when Stewart Butterfield tried to shut it down
• •Superhuman—used "very disappointed" metric >40% as PMF threshold
• •Facebook—90% day-1 retention at Harvard before expanding to other schools
• •Notion—rebuilt product 3 times before finding PMF with knowledge workers