Lenny Rachitsky
Lenny Rachitsky

@lennysan

9 Tweets 5 reads Aug 11, 2022
In my research into the product-market fit journeys of the most successful B2C startups, I found that there are essentially five archetypes of finding PMF:
1. Lightning in a bottle: Immediately clear, up and to the right
Examples:
2. Delayed lightning: Eventually instantly clear, but after 6-18 months of iterating on the product, distribution, or business model
Examples:
3. Foothold: Very clear with just a narrow segment, unclear if itโ€™ll work broadly, but with growing confidence as you expand (usually 3-18 months)
Examples:
4. Milestone: Glimmers early on, and with steady and consistent growth you hit a meaningful milestone that finally tells you itโ€™s working
Examples:
5. Grind: 2-10 years of iterating, and eventually you get there
Examples:
There's a sixth, sad, archetype (letโ€™s call it 15 minutes of fame) that initially looks like PMF, but then fizzles out. You can probably tell you're on this path if retention is super low.
Which path do you suspect your product is on?
For much more on this, don't miss the full post lennysnewsletter.com
Major thank you to @AreteRoss and @hayleybay for inspiring these archetype names ๐Ÿ™Œ

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