Product Market Fit or PMF is a topic I have been obsessed with for a while now. It is arguably the single most important event in the early stages of a startup’s journey. Given this, it is a pity that PMF is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in startup terminology, with varied definitions including touchy-feely ones like ‘PMF is like love, you’ll know it when you have it’. The lack of common ground over a definition of PMF means that founders do not have a commonly understood framework for understanding it and working towards PMF. Hence I set out to create one, leveraging my work over the past several years of working closely with founders to help them achieve PMF, as well as having simultaneously tracked the PMF journeys of over a hundred others. My framework, along with a systematic plan to achieve PMF accompanied by a host of case studies is laid out in this online playbook. The playbook has five parts or chapters, which I will plan to release in phases online. The chapters are detailed below.
Founders in the early days of their startup, aspiring founders, and ‘intrapreneurs’ launching a new unit / product in a larger company, will find this playbook most relevant, as they can use it as a systematic guide to work towards PMF, removing guesswork and fuzziness, out of the startup journey. PMF is easily the single biggest milestone in the early startup’s journey. Don’t leave it to chance.
About me: I am Sajith Pai (LinkedIn, Twitter). I work with Blume Ventures, an early stage Indian venture fund. I invest across consumer as well as India-focused B2B categories, typically at the seed stage. PMF is a topic I have been obsessed with for a while, given how much achieving it matters to the founders I back. I have other obsessions too, in fact too many to boot, but what is relevant here would be my interest in venture history, as well as the Indian startup ecosystem (specifically on how it is shaped by the wider Indian economy, and which in turn it influences). You will find my writings at sajithpai.com. I also co-author an annual report on the Indian startup ecosystem called The Indus Valley Report. You can share feedback on this piece at sp@sajithpai.com (I don’t respond to pitches there).
No content or opinion stated in this blog should be taken as the official view of my employer, Blume Ventures. This blog is entirely my personal view.