Startup Founders often make this one deadly mistake. They raise capital and invest it into marketing BEFORE the business model is sustainable. Remember the rule of thumb. Nail it then scale it.
First Achieve Product-Market Fit. Nail It Then Scale It.
As a startup, achieving product-market fit is essential for your long-term success. This means that the product or service you are offering is meeting the needs of your target market, and you are gaining and retaining customers as a result.
Here are the steps you need to take to achieve product-market fit:
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➽ Identify your target market: The first step in achieving product-market fit is to identify your target market. This means understanding who your potential customers are and what their needs and pain points are. You can do this through market research, surveys, and focus groups, as well as by talking to potential customers and industry experts.
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➽ Develop a product or service that meets the needs of your target market: Once you have identified your target market, the next step is to develop a product or service that meets their needs. This means conducting product development and testing to ensure that your offering is solving the problems of your target market and providing value to them.
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➽ Get feedback from your target market: Before launching your product or service, it’s important to get feedback from your target market. This can help you to refine and improve your offering, and ensure that it is meeting the needs of your customers. You can do this through beta testing, focus groups, and surveys.
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➽ Launch and refine your product or service: Once you have developed a product or service that meets the needs of your target market, it’s time to launch. This means getting your product or service out into the market and starting to gain customers. However, achieving product-market fit is not a one-time event – it’s an ongoing process. You should be continuously gathering feedback from your customers and refining your offering to ensure that it continues to meet their needs.
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➽ Measure and track your progress: To know if you are achieving product-market fit, you need to measure and track your progress. This means setting metrics and goals to track the success of your product or service. Then regularly reviewing these metrics to see how you are doing. This will help you to identify areas where you need to improve and ensure that you are on track to achieving product-market fit.
Takeaway. Nail It Then Scale It.
In conclusion, achieving product-market fit is essential for the long-term success of your startup.
By following these steps and continuously refining your product or service, you can ensure that you are meeting the needs of your target market and gaining and retaining customers.
This will help you to build a sustainable business and achieve long-term success.
Author's note
It’s not an external investor’s job (Angels or Venture Capital) to pay for you to build your rocket ship. Once you’ve built the rocket and proven it can fly, they are there to pay for the fuel so they can ride along on what they hope will be a wild ride “to infinity and beyond”.
About the Author
James Spurway is an Angel Investor, Advisor, Mentor, Speaker, former Commercial Pilot, and Author specializing in raising debt and equity funds for pre-seed or early-stage seed rounds for Startups in the Fintech, DeepTech, AgTech, ClimateTech and AgeTech verticles. He lives in Singapore and has spent the past 30 years living and building businesses in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, the USA, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia, where he was born.