I’d argue that you can never know the “truth” about your PMF, as it’s not something that exists in language. You can only create good enough (and then better) explanations. The explanations need to be good enough to help us take coherent action.
This is so true John. I am practically living this out right now. One sign that I noticed is that the stakeholders stopping to ask some fundamental questions like “what problem are we trying to solve for who”, “why us”. And another cause of it (IMHO) is when the company (wrongly) believed that they HAVE a lot of resources, for example: a lot of funding. Curse of having too much money (last few years phenomenon) I guess.
Interesting to look at the bigger picture above the first-level PMF, John.
Any of the “ideas” could have inherent value, as long as they’re part of fully coherent strategy.
In other words, before you change your “Where to Play” and choose to “go upmarket,” are you clear about “How to Win” there, and the Capabilities and Management Systems necessary to make that happen in a sustainable way?
“One interesting phenomenon with PRF is that part of the issue is figuring out WHY you had product market fit in the first place.”
The *most* important takeaway of this post imho. So easy to miss this or do this at a cursory level - especially for newer employees
Agreed!
I’d argue that you can never know the “truth” about your PMF, as it’s not something that exists in language. You can only create good enough (and then better) explanations. The explanations need to be good enough to help us take coherent action.
Well said. And the curiosity & search for better explanations is valuable in and of itself. Especially to help make future strategy and PMF decisions.
This is so true John. I am practically living this out right now. One sign that I noticed is that the stakeholders stopping to ask some fundamental questions like “what problem are we trying to solve for who”, “why us”. And another cause of it (IMHO) is when the company (wrongly) believed that they HAVE a lot of resources, for example: a lot of funding. Curse of having too much money (last few years phenomenon) I guess.
Interesting to look at the bigger picture above the first-level PMF, John.
Any of the “ideas” could have inherent value, as long as they’re part of fully coherent strategy.
In other words, before you change your “Where to Play” and choose to “go upmarket,” are you clear about “How to Win” there, and the Capabilities and Management Systems necessary to make that happen in a sustainable way?
I see a lack of new perspectives hampering a lot of organisations over the next year or with hiring slowed down.
Jolly good!
Perhaps we can all strive to be Reality-Led :)