Mike Pryke’s Post

📌Lets talk about Product-Market Fit (PMF) 💡 Ever wondered why some startups hit it big while others just fizzle out? Nine times out of ten, it comes down to one thing: Product Market Fit. PMF is the sweet spot where your product perfectly meets what the market wants. Get this right, and growth starts to flow almost naturally. Miss it, and things will feel like pushing a boulder uphill. So, if you’re in the startup game, this is your golden ticket to scaling up. 🚀🚀 Here are a few simple points for Product Managers and founders aiming for PMF: 1. First Things First: Make PMF the Priority 🚀 If you haven’t reached PMF, don’t focus on scaling just yet. It’s like trying to build a house without a solid foundation. When you’ve hit PMF, you’ll know the demand will feel unstoppable, and users will start coming back because they genuinely need what you’re offering. 2. The Market Matters as Much as the Product 🌍 A strong product is essential, but a strong market is even more powerful. Sometimes, even a half-baked product can succeed if it’s in a market that’s craving it. So, make sure you’re in a space where there’s a real need for your solution. 3. PMF is Both a Number and a Feeling ⚡ Sure, data matters in engagement rates, retention, and growth stats. But PMF also has a vibe to it. You’ll feel the energy around your product when people truly connect with it. If users are excited, and there’s genuine demand, you’re likely onto something. 4. Listen to the Market, Not Just Your Vision 🔍 As much as you might love your solution, it’s all about the problem you’re solving. PMF means you’re listening closely to users and adjusting as needed. So, if feedback suggests a change, adapt rather than stick to your initial ideas. 5. Stay Flexible 🧘 PMF often needs some trial and error. Sometimes you have to adjust features, rethink who your audience is, or try a new strategy. Be open to refining things as you go along. A flexible approach can help you reach PMF faster. 💡 Takeaway: Product-market fit is the backbone of growth. Keep tuning into what your users need, make changes if required, and let PMF become your guide. Once you have it, the growth possibilities are endless. Product Space Akhil Yash Tiwari Subhasis Chandra #StartupTips #ProductManagement #GrowthHacks #ProductMarketFit #PMF #IndianStartup

"Before you jump into building your startup, it's important to validate that the problem exists, and that your solution would solve. Here’s some ways to do that: Talk to potential Users/Clients: The best feedback comes straight from potential users. Get out there and chat with people who would be your target audience. Ask about their pain points and see if your solution clicks with them. If your product involves different stakeholders, make sure to talk to all of them. I highly recommend reading The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick. It’s packed with practical advice on having conversations that lead to honest and useful feedback, without the bias from friends and family. Create Landing Pages: Set up a landing page that explains your product or service. Include a call-to-action, like signing up for a newsletter, early access, or even prepayment. Tools like Webflow or Carrd make it easy to build professional-looking landing pages quickly. Watch the sign-ups and feedback to see how interested people are. If your product isn’t free, include the price and even a payment link for early access or extra features. It’s key to test whether users are willing to pay for your solution. Your product might be useful, but if no one is willing to pay for it, it's better to find out early. Run Small Campaigns: Try running small, low-cost campaigns to gauge interest. Use social media ads or Google Ads to drive traffic to a simple landing page. This can help you see what parts of your idea get the most attention and interest. Building the landing page is not enough, you also need to distribute it. Build a Small MVP: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test your idea. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just needs to show the core value of your product. No Code platforms like Bubble or Flutterflow are great for building an MVP quickly and cheaply. You can save time and money and make sure you’re building something people actually want. #Startup #Validation #NoCode #ProductManagement #TheMomTest #Entrepreneurship"

The Step-by-Step PLG Playbook for Startups This is part 2 of a comprehensive 5-part series that will guide you through the process of implementing Product-Led Growth at your company. Each part dives into a specific aspect of PLG, providing actionable insights and best practices to help you execute successfully. In Part1 of this series (From Sales-Led to Product-Led: A Guide to the PLG Model | by Liat Ben-Zur | Jul, 2023 | Medium), we delved into the fundamentals of product-led growth (PLG), its importance, and the unique momentum it’s gaining in the SaaS world. Now, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and dive into the practical implementation of PLG in your startup. Here’s how you can start implementing PLG today: 1️⃣ Define Your Ideal Customer: Understand who your customers are and what they need to create an intuitive experience that resonates. Example: Calendly simplifies scheduling for professionals who value time efficiency. 2️⃣ Identify Core Problems: Pinpoint customer pain points to build solutions that offer real value. Example: Notion solves the issue of fragmented work tools by creating a unified workspace. 3️⃣ Design Intuitive Solutions: Make your product simple and user-friendly. Example: Figma lets teams collaborate on design in real-time, straight from their browser. 4️⃣ Seamless Onboarding: First impressions matter! Simplify signups and guide users through your product. Example: Loom makes video recording and sharing incredibly easy. 5️⃣ Build Engagement Hooks: Keep users coming back with features like gamification or personalized content. Example: Headspace uses streaks and reminders to keep users engaged in their meditation practice. 6️⃣ Encourage Sharing: Make it easy for users to share your product. Example: Revolut grows through referrals by rewarding users for bringing in new customers. 7️⃣ Optimize Conversion Funnels: Use data to experiment and refine your funnels. Example: Netflix nails onboarding and engagement with personalized recommendations. 8️⃣ Foster Advocacy: Turn your users into advocates by delighting them. Example: G2 motivates users to share reviews, creating valuable UGC. 9️⃣ Drive Ongoing Innovation: Never stop improving your product based on feedback and data. Example: Airtable constantly rolls out new features based on user needs. PLG isn’t just a growth strategy—it’s a mindset. How are you leveraging your product to drive growth? Let’s exchange strategies and insights! 💡 #ProductLedGrowth #SaaS #Startups #CustomerExperience #GrowthHacking #PLG #Innovation https://lnkd.in/ewuRrtQH

Founders need to be well-rounded with solid experience to maximize the opportunity for startup success. However, reflecting on my own journey, I’ve realized that three critical traits a founder must possess are the ability to adapt quickly, embrace change, and operate in uncertainty for an extended, and often unreasonable, amount of time—while simultaneously building and leading a growing team. Building a team is one of the most challenging yet rewarding parts of starting a company. Startup teams must be extremely cohesive, highly agile, and accept that a significant portion of their efforts will fail and need to be redone, sometimes for the 10th or even 100th time. We are constantly testing paths to reach "hockey stick" growth. There is both an art and a science to the process. The science involves analyzing the data from each test, while the art requires reading between the lines, trusting your gut, and deciding whether it’s the wrong path—or if you just haven’t let it play out long enough. For example, over the past six weeks, we've run a high volume of Facebook ads for Entry Envy. When someone engages with us from an ad, they’re likely at the beginning of their customer journey, but not always. When they land on our website, they could be someone who has followed us on social media for years, just saw the ad, and clicked - ready to buy. On the other hand, they may have never heard of us, clicked the ad out of curiosity, but they’re far from ready to hand over their credit card for a $129 non-impulse purchase. After all, they’re selecting a sign for their home that every neighbor and guest will see, and it will be screwed into their siding or brick. Our "add to cart" rate is high, but our conversion to checkout is low. We’re testing variables — Is there a disconnect between the ad copy and the website? Is the initial one-time sign purchase priced too high? Are customers put off when they realize there’s an optional subscription attached to the product? Or, are they simply at the very beginning of their customer journey with us and don’t yet know, like, and trust us enough to buy? None of these answers are black-and-white. 25 agencies are going to reach out to me after this post to convince me they can solve our challenge. That is NOT why I am sharing this! We will keep testing to find the answers - the process can be tedious, expensive, time-consuming, frustrating, and disheartening for team members who are trying their hardest, but we'll get there. The startup world is rough. Founding teams work long, hard hours for unknown long term payoffs, but the stats on startups are grim. Is the founding team the right team to get the company across the finish line? Can they see the vision and believe in it for long enough to make it happen? Can the founder(s) sustain the energy and enthusiasm needed to lead the team and the company through the abyss for years? Believe in your product, build the right team, trust the process, and keep going.

💡 Struggling to Launch Your Startup? You’re Not Alone. Starting a business can feel like standing at the base of a massive mountain, staring up at an endless climb. The weight of decisions, responsibilities, and uncertainty is overwhelming—I know because I’ve been there. I’ve stood exactly where you are now, grappling with where to begin and how to make it all work. But here’s the thing: you don’t need to have it all figured out at once. In the early days, it’s easy to feel paralyzed by the sheer number of tasks demanding your attention. Trust me, I’ve made that mistake—focusing on everything at once and losing sight of what really matters. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s this: your first and most important priority is solving a real problem for real people. The Common Trap It sounds simple, but this is where many founders (my past self included) get it wrong. We get caught up in creating something “cool” or “innovative” and forget to focus on real customer pain points. Without knowing who you’re serving and why they’ll care about your product, all the other tasks—like branding, marketing, and partnerships—don’t matter. The Approach That’s Worked for Me 1️⃣ Identify the Problem • Ask yourself: What keeps my target audience up at night? • If you don’t know the answer, ask them. Conduct research, surveys, or one-on-one conversations to understand their struggles deeply. • When I started, I underestimated how much I needed to listen—and it was a game-changer. 2️⃣ Validate Your Solution • Before pouring resources into building your product, test your idea. • Create a simple prototype, talk to your audience, and gather feedback. • Early on, I learned to take criticism as a gift—it saved me from going all-in on ideas that didn’t resonate. 3️⃣ Start Small • Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that solves the problem in its simplest form. • Forget perfection—your MVP is about proof of concept, not polish. • One of my biggest wins came from realizing that early success doesn’t look flashy—it looks functional. Why This Works This approach cuts through the noise, keeps you focused, and prevents you from wasting time and money on what doesn’t matter. More importantly, it brings you closer to your customers—the people who hold the key to your success. My Hard-Earned Lesson Launching a startup isn’t about perfection; it’s about taking that first step and learning as you go. You’ll adjust, pivot, and refine your approach based on feedback. Every successful startup evolves—mine included. I’ve had to embrace failures, learn from missteps, and keep moving forward. If you’re feeling stuck, know this: you’re not alone. Every entrepreneur has faced this moment of uncertainty, myself included. But with the right focus and persistence, you’ll find your way to the top. What’s your next step? Are you focusing on solving a real problem? Let me know in the comments—I’d love to hear about your journey. 🚀 #StartupJourney #Entrepreneurship

As an early-stage founder, you've poured your heart and soul into building a product that solves a real problem. But how do you know if you've truly cracked the code? The answer lies in achieving product-market fit. Product-market fit is the holy grail of startup success. It's the point where your product resonates with your target audience, and they can't imagine living without it. But how do you measure it? Rahul Vohra, founder of Superhuman, has a simple yet powerful approach to measuring product-market fit. In this post, we'll dive into his framework and provide actionable tips to help you achieve product-market fit. His approach is centered around a single metric: the percentage of users who would be "very disappointed" if they could no longer use your product. Here's how it works: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀: Reach out to a representative sample of your users and ask them one simple question: "How would you feel if you could no longer use [Your Product]?" 𝟮. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲: Calculate the percentage of users who respond with "very disappointed." This is your must-have metric. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: 𝟰𝟬% According to Rahul Vohra, if 40% or more of your users say they'd be "very disappointed" without your product, you've achieved product-market fit. This means that your product has become an essential part of their daily lives. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝟰𝟬% Don't panic if your must-have metric is below 40%. This is an opportunity to iterate and improve. Here are some actionable tips to help you get closer to product-market fit: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀: Conduct customer interviews to understand their pain points and gather feedback. 𝟮. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀: Analyze your data to identify users who are already experiencing high value from your product. Understand what they love about your product and how you can replicate that for others. 𝟯. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: Focus on building features that address your power users' pain points and needs. 𝟰. 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲: Continuously measure your must-have metric and iterate on your product until you reach the 40% threshold. Achieving product-market fit is a milestone that can make or break your startup. By using this simple yet powerful approach, you can measure your progress and make data-driven decisions to improve your product. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩-𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘? 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬. #productmarketfit #superhuman #rahulvohra #startup

Bad pricing can sabotage your startup! You can have product features and market fit. None of it matters if people never make it to your product. A poorly structured pricing strategy is like an unappealing storefront. It can deter customers, stifle growth, and lower your company's value. Here is what to pay attention to ↓ ☑️ Signs that your pricing strategy needs a revamp - High Churn Rates: Are customers leaving soon after joining? - Low Conversion Rates: Plenty of interest but few conversions? - Customer Complaints: Frequent complaints about pricing or value perception. ☑️ How to Fix Your Pricing Strategy 1. Understand Your Customer's Willingness to Pay: - Conduct surveys and interviews to gauge what your target audience is willing to pay. - Use A/B testing to find the sweet spot for pricing. 2. Align Pricing with Value: - Ensure your pricing reflects and quantifies the value your product delivers. - Create different tiers that cater to different segments of your market. 3. Simplify Your Pricing Model: - Keep it simple and transparent. - Clearly communicate what’s included in each tier and avoid hidden fees. 4. Leverage Data for Continuous Improvement: - Regularly analyze data to understand how pricing changes impact behavior. - Be ready to iterate and adjust your strategy based on feedback and data. 📈 Case Study At a B2B e-commerce startup I mentored, we faced a high-volume, low-margin challenge. By fine-tuning customer personas and running pricing experiments focused on activation and retention, we: ↳ Increased monthly GMV to $700K ↳ Boosted profit margins by 70% ↳ Successfully raised $4.5M in seed funding ✅ Let's Discuss: → Have you struggled with pricing your product? → What strategies have worked for you? Share your experiences and tips below! ♻️ Found this useful? Repost to help others ♻️ ____________________________ Hi! I am Christos. 👋 I am passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, and their potential for positive change. When not posting, I help product-led startups scale. Feel free to follow or DM me. I love making new connections!

Although 99,9% of startups fail - can product managers and entrepreneurs avoid this? Why do they fail, really? Most probably, because they run out of money. But why is that? Here are some reasons that I managed to brainstorm: 1. Planning and not doing. Teams often have set up task managers, a roadmap for 3 years ahead, and brochures, but never reach out to their persona with an e-mail or LinkedIn message. 2. There is a giant already taking up all the paying users on the market. Described in more detail in my previous (*rant) post. Start with a small market you have access to and know well, then scale! 3. This startup is just your first-born mistake. First-time founders will most likely have to iterate, change, and transform their business to hit Bullseye. 4. There is no real problem. You didn't ask your persona whether they even have the problem you are solving and whether it's a big enough problem to pay money for. 5. Not enough attention to competitors. The way for your business to survive is to outcompete the others (thought from 0 to 1 by Peter Thiel). So make sure to subscribe to their e-mail list, track shifts in features, value proposition changes, and traction channels. 6. Poor marketing. People need to know about your product for it to exist at all. 50% (and that's the bare minimum) of your time should be dedicated to building a community, e-mail outreach, speaking engagements or any other channel you find smart and working. 7. Wrong team. Make sure to shape your team as you go, so that each individual is personally involved and has a unique skill to bring to the table. 8. Feedback resistance. Founders are the evangelists of their business, so hearing it is ugly is more than unpleasant. Learning to balance feedback and critical thinking with a strong stand is important. Anticipating the 1000 reasons why a buisiness fails is mission impossible, but the more context you acquire with time, the closer you get to becoming the next Facebook, Dropbox or Airbnb 💪. Each happy startup is different, but all failed ones are alike. There is no one way - you are the expert! And if reading this post started your imagination as to why ideas fail - feel free to leave a comment, interested to hear your thoughts!

For VCs, Product-Market Fit is the ultimate milestone. It’s where startups prove their worth.  But for founders, it feels like a distant, blurry goal. But it doesn’t have to be.  Here are three actionable steps to achieve PMF I call it the Product Ladder Framework. Here’s how it works. Step 1: The Foundation (Founder Fit)   Every strong product starts with a solid foundation: the business model. This step ensures your idea aligns with your mission and has the potential to succeed.  Ask yourself:  - Does this idea match my goals?   - Is it viable and profitable?   - Is the timing right for the market?  Take an example: A founder wanting to reduce food waste might start by testing a model for connecting surplus food from restaurants to local communities. Before building an app or investing heavily, they’d stress-test the idea by piloting partnerships with a few local restaurants.  This stage is about ensuring your vision aligns with reality.  Step 2: The Test (Customer Fit)   The second step focuses on finding paying customers. There’s a big difference between users (who might enjoy your product for free) and customers (who pay for it).  At this stage, avoid diving straight into building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Instead, prioritize understanding customer problems and validating solutions before writing a single line of code.  For example, when Dropbox started, instead of building their full product, they created a simple explainer video showing how the service would work. Key actions:   - Talk to potential customers about their biggest problems.   - Share mockups or simple demos to validate interest.   - See if people are willing to pay for the solution—even before it’s fully built.  Step 3: The Growth (Market Fit)   Once you’ve validated your solution with paying customers, it’s time to scale. But growth isn’t about throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. It’s about testing strategies systematically.  Start by identifying potential growth strategies, testing them, and doubling down on the one that works best.  Example: Airbnb started small, focusing on Craigslist to attract users to their platform. They tested and refined this strategy, which gave them the momentum to scale globally.  At this stage, ask:   - What channels can help me reach more customers?   - Which strategies deliver the best results for the least effort?   - How can I sustain growth without breaking my product?  4/ Where Are You on the Ladder?  - Are you confident your business model aligns with your goals?   - Have you validated your solution with paying customers?   - Are you ready to test and scale growth strategies?  Each step on the ladder builds on the one before it. You can climb steadily toward Product-Market Fit without feeling lost by taking the right actions at the right time.  –   P.S. I’m Avi Gupta, sharing actionable insights to help early-stage startups grow smarter.

Before, many startups faced the all-too-familiar struggle of creating a product no one wanted. They poured time and money into ideas, only to find their offerings met with indifference. The root of the problem? A shocking lack of understanding about product-market fit. It's not just a buzzword; it’s the make-or-break point that determines whether you’re building something worthwhile or just spinning your wheels. After paying attention to their customers and engaging in the necessary research, these entrepreneurs began to see real traction. They shifted their focus from what they thought was great to what the market actually demanded. Imagine waking up to a flood of inquiries, seeing customers line up unwilling to let go of your product; that's the momentum you should strive for. So, how did they pull off this transformation? The formula's straightforward. Start with a minimal viable product that directly addresses a specific need. Get out there—talk to people, gather feedback, iterate on your design. Don’t be afraid to pivot when the data points to a different path. It’s messy, it’s complex, but it’s essential to avoid becoming another statistic in the 80% of SaaS companies that fail to find their product-market fit. For those looking to make strides in their own ventures, remember this: prioritize customer engagement above everything. Explore the feedback diligently and act on it. It’s vital to cultivate user loyalty from the outset. Focus on delivering real value, and the rest—sales, marketing, growth—will follow. Reflecting on this experience reveals a staggering truth: achieving product-market fit is not just a milestone; it’s the foundation of sustainable growth. Embrace the challenges, learn from your users, and watch your startup flourish from a mere idea into a thriving business. If you're eager to dive deeper, my newsletter 5 Minute Founders breaks this down further—benefits of a complete business book in just 5 minutes.