6 frameworks to keep in mind to experience the first signs of PMF

PMF is a spectrum. It starts with zero on one end and high PMF on the other. In Pre-PMF, you’re somewhere around the starting end of the spectrum and attempting to go upstream.

It’s the first step you have to get right and go from zero to one. Pre-PMF has these characteristics:

1. People give you money for trying out your product
2. Users tell you what it would take to adopt your solution company-wise
   3.Users react sensitively when there’s sudden downtime.
3. Your website conversion rate (signing up, booking demos) is > 2%
4. 50 active accounts for b2b.
5. Active users growing 3% WoW
6. User retention stays 20-40% across a 6 month cadence

This pre-PMF phase is where to go from zero to one, and experience the first signs of PMF. To get to this stage, there seems to be some anecdotal evidence on what to do and what to avoid. I’m listing it down for my reference more than anything.

Ship fast. Don’t build a roadmap

It’s no use building a roadmap at this stage. Ship fast and put your MVP out there in the market. Do 1-week sprints instead of 2. Set 6-week goals instead of a quarter. Do everything faster and scope accordingly. Take big bets. Don’t start with low-hanging fruits.

Prioritize Ruthlessly. Don’t write user stories.

Don’t spend too much time writing user stories and workflows.

Instead, prioritize what your most important action items are for the week. Use the 80-20 principle to identify high-leverage activities that move the needle (either quantitatively or qualitatively). Set one goal and align your incentives.

Get feedback fast. Don’t do too much user research.

Your market & customers will teach you more about what you need to build. Don’t spend time doing user research. At the start it is fine but when your product is out there, actual feedback from users is the key.

Think big but scope small.

Start a community. Don’t listen to everyone.

Build a community from day one. It’s your moat and gives you a chance to listen to your users and understand their problems, use-cases better. Don’t listen to everyone. Listen in on the people who matter.

Talk to users everyday. Don’t get stuck on strategy docs.

Talk to users daily. Either existing ones or prospective ones. Strategy docs aren’t really helpful at this stage. Your customers should help shape your product direction.

Write regular product releases.

Publishing a changelog at a regular cadence is a forcing function to ship fast. A weekly changelog is like a superpower.

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