Startups Stack Exchange Archive

I know it when I see it

As it relates to product-market-fit, what are the pros & cons of taking “I know it when I see it” approach to product development?

Answer 3505

Suppose the following:

  1. Your leads get excited by what you have to offer upon merely hearing about it.
  2. Your prospects worry more about whether they can afford what you have to offer than about whether they actually have any use for it.
  3. Your clients are constantly blabbering about how they’re using what you delivered and about the awesome results they’re getting from using it.
  4. You’re profitable or you’re well on your way of being so.

If you’re seeing a dynamic that combines all of those, congratulations! You have a great product-market fit. Your solution is selling like hotcakes or attracting scores of users or both, and you’ve OMG-crap-tons-lots of traction. Example: Slack.

At the other extreme, you’re seeing none of them. Your solution is either crap or something that’s looking for a problem. The only reasons you could possibly have any traction is because you’re getting random viral buzz or because you’ve a nearly limitless advertisement budget. Get back to the drawing board, or prepare to rapidly go bankrupt. Example: Color.

Between the two, there’s no precise scale that lets you say how much of a good fit you have graded between one and ten. But you’ll definitely know it’s good when you see it, because you’ll have absolutely no problem selling or attracting users – your day-to-day problem will be to wonder how you can sell to more clients or attract more users faster.

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