Achieving Product Market Fit should be the main aim of your startup during your ‘Seed’ phase of growth.
Ultimately during this phase you are trying to understand the core unit metrics behind your business. If you get this right you are able to scale the business typically by raising a Series ‘A’ type round.
Unit metrics are the core commercial drivers behind your startups. For example are you able to accurately measure Life Time Value (LTV) of a customer? Can you run a successful marketing campaign at scale generating positive Returns On Advertising Spend (ROAS). If you are a Business to Business (B2B) startup are you able to generate non founder led sales and manage a predictable sales pipeline?
If you are able to achieve these things at scale then typically you have found some type of product market fit. Your customers are buying what you have at an exponential rate.
Product Market Fit is an external validation of the problem you are solving, by your actual customers that is creating a profitable business. Unlike winning awards, hiring new customers, developing new products, or even winning customers but in a non-scaling or sustainable way.
The video above describes it in a brilliant way “once you find product market fit, it’s your’s to screw it up”. Essentially you’ve discovered the play book, you don’t need to pivot again. You simply need to raise big, to expand big.
Top Tip: When your startup has been going for a few too many years, and you are still confused about what you do, you’re running out money and can’t raise anymore you are are essentially stuck in the Vally of Death. Therefore in the Seed phase of growth your north star objective is to achieve Product Market Fit ASAP!