pmf = the mythical unicorn.

every time i see startups start marketing or scaling their team before finding pmf, you know it's a red flag.

what even is pmf?

pmf = product-market fit.

it’s the ultimate goal for literally every startup.

it’s like hitting a perfect bullseye in the market.

and trust me—you’ll know when you have it.

the problem?

a lot of founders think they’ve found pmf.

they tell investors they have.

but i can guarantee you—most startups never do.

and they die.

michael seibel (co-founder of twitch) once said that yeah, twitch made a ton of money early on.

but that still didn’t mean they had pmf.

so how do you actually know when you’ve found pmf? you probably need to check all the boxes below.

1. your bank account is overflowing - you don’t even need to raise capital.

2. your servers are crashing.

3. customer inquiries are flooding in every minute.

4. your team is panicking because they have no idea how to handle the sudden surge in demand.

a recent example?

david park and his startup, jenni.ai.

once you hit pmf, you literally can’t keep up with the workload.

david rusenko (founder of weebly) said it best.

before pmf, it feels like you’re pushing a massive boulder uphill.

once you hit pmf?

that same boulder starts rolling downhill on its own.

you don’t even have to push.

so, how do you actually find pmf?

the best way?

start lean and use a bottom-up approach.

know the problem you’re solving better than anyone else.

understand every angle of it.

build the absolute best solution.

your customers should be desperate for your product.

and what does that mean?

they should be reaching out to you, not the other way around.

pmf is that elusive, magical unicorn.

it’s harder than hitting challenger in league of legends.

but once you find it?

it changes everything.

(dall-e - if pmf was a magical unicorn)