A Founder's Guide to Product Market Fit (PMF): Find Out Why 90% Fail

Read Time: 5 mins | 10 Steps to Follow to Achieve Solid PMF

Read Time: 5 mins

Today I’m talking about why startups fail and 10 steps for PMF. Today’s essentials are relevant to Founders, Product Designers, and really anyone at an early stage startup. 🆕

For paid subscribers, scroll to the bottom to listen to the audio and get the framework for PMF.

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Why 90% of Startups Fail

What if the traditional approach to Product Market Fit is fundamentally flawed?

Did you know 90% of startups fail within their first few years? Most people can understand that building a product is hard work. What's less discussed is why these failures happen, even among teams with brilliant ideas and substantial funding. In fact, some serial founders openly share their ideas because they know the success is in the execution. 🎯

What’s the deal?

Most startups aren't solving real problems that customers are willing to pay for.

In my years working with startups, I've witnessed a consistent pattern. Founders fail when they:

1. Rush to build what they like instead of what customers need.

2. Get offended by customer dissatisfaction. (Have I got stories for you 🫣)

3. Prioritize rapid growth over sustainable foundations.

Maybe the quote should be, “move fast and it will break.” 😂

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time for speed and that’s layered on the foundation of a clear business strategy.

Product Market Fit (PMF) isn't just another milestone on your startup journey—it's the fundamental difference between the 10% of startups that create lasting value and the 90% that become cautionary tales. Bye Felicia. 👋🏽

But here's what most conventional PMF advice misses: finding any market for your product isn't enough. In today's world, the most successful startups find markets that align with both sustainable business growth AND impact—what I call Conscious Product Market Fit.

This guide will show you exactly how to achieve it, with frameworks I've personally developed to help founders survive, build businesses that thrive long term. 🌱

The PMF Paradox

Many founders get trapped in what I call the "PMF Paradox":

• Building too early before understanding customer needs

• Defining the market too narrowly or too broadly

• Confusing initial traction with true product-market fit

• Ignoring sustainability factors that affect long-term viability

These mistakes lead to wasted resources, disengaged teams, and eventually, failure. In fact, I saw a startup shut down this week and I saw that coming 3 years ago. 😬 Why? The Founder was offended by negative feedback from customers. ☠️

The Product Market Fit Framework

After working with startups at Y Combinator and companies like BetterUp and Webflow, I've developed a framework that helps founders achieve PMF in a way that supports both business growth and sustainable impact.

✨ Bonus: PMF Validation Framework ✨

Get this is you’re really serious

For paid subscribers, I'm sharing my complete PMF Validation Framework—a comprehensive tool to assess where you stand in your PMF journey and identify specific next steps:

• 20-point quiz for PMF

• Interview guide template

• PMF pivot assessment

⚠️ Warning: Park your ego at the door and let’s continue.

1. Define Your Target Customer

Go beyond demographics to understand customer profiles and underlying motivations. Who are they, what do they value, and what drives their decisions?

• Beyond demographics: Understanding customer profiles and underlying motivations

• Pain point hierarchy: Distinguishing between symptoms and root causes

2. Come Up With a Promising Idea

Your idea should directly address problems you've observed in the market. Don't fall in love with solutions—fall in love with the problem. You MUST be able to kill your darlings. ⚔️

3. Get Some Paying Customers

Nothing validates an idea like someone willing to pay for it. Early revenue is the strongest signal that you're on the right track.

4. Talk to Your Customers Early and Often

Most founders conduct superficial customer interviews that confirm their biases. 😅 🛑 Friend, please, the more real info you get the better your product can become. Instead, create carefully crafted customer interviews. Ask open-ended questions and really listen to the answers (even if it’s not what you want to hear.)

5. Deeply Understand Pain Points and Opportunities

Distinguish between symptoms and root causes. The "jobs-to-be-done" framework helps identify what customers are truly hiring your product to do. Hint: your competition may not be who you think.

Listen to my episode on JTBD here.

6. Conduct Competitive Analysis

Know your landscape, but don't be paralyzed by it. Understanding competitors helps clarify your unique position in the market. To succeed, you must be clear on your product strengths and weaknesses.

I like to use Nielsen Norman’s Usability Heuristics.

7. Clearly Articulate Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

It's not just about being different—it's about being meaningfully different in ways that create customer value:

• Competitive Advantage: Identify and leverage your difficult-to-replicate strengths

• Triple-bottom-line evaluation: Assess your value across people, planet, and profit

• Value articulation: Communicate complex value simply and powerfully

I went to a startup pitch recently and some Founders spoke for a minute and I still had no idea what they did. 🫣

8. Refine or Pivot Your Target

As you learn, you may discover your ideal customer profile is different than you initially thought OR that they need a different solution. I’ve encountered this recently with a Climate Tech Founder who needed to adjust the product slightly to meet the needs of his luxury target market.

Be willing to pivot or narrow your focus. Some of the most successful companies today started as something completely different. Think Slack, YouTube, Shopify, and Netflix to name a few. If you didn’t have to pivot at some point, I’d be really surprised.

• Slack → game

• YouTube → dating site

• Shopify → snowboarding equipment

• Netflix → DVDs

9. Ensure People Continue Using Your Product

Retention is the ultimate PMF signal. ⭐️ Go beyond simple usage metrics to understand true engagement:

• Leading vs. lagging indicators: Which product metrics actually predict long-term customer success on your product?

• Retention & engagement analysis: Understanding not just if, but how people use your product. Is there habit formation?

• Fan confirmation: Ask questions that reveal genuine PMF (beyond the numbers.) Do you have power users? Super fans? Word of mouth acquisition?

10. Expand Your Customer Base

Only after validating with your core audience should you look to expand. Scale from a position of confidence, not blind hope.

For Designers: Elevating Your Role in PMF

(Founding) Product designers who understand PMF become strategic partners:

• Conduct customer research that informs both UXR & PMF

• Translate customer insights into testable prototypes

• Design experiments that validate or invalidate market hypotheses

For Founders: The Sustainable PMF Advantage

Finding PMF isn't just about survival. Get out of the lack mindset. If you already feel pressured, your going to have a rough startup journey. This is a long-term journey and finding PMF sets your foundation for sustainable growth.

• Avoid the "false positive" trap in early traction

• Know when to pivot vs. persevere

• Ask 3 questions that reveal whether you've achieved true PMF (coming next week!)

Doing this right is not only the difference between failure and success, it’s the difference in energy and resource savings for future you. Don’t screw yourself over with shortcuts.

— Sera

Your Next Steps

Have you found Product Market Fit?

I'd love to hear where you are in your journey:

• Are you currently struggling with finding PMF?

• What signals convinced you that you had found PMF? Looking back, were those reliable indicators?

• How are you balancing short-term growth metrics with sustainable impact?

Share your experience in the comments below – I'll personally respond to questions and insights.

Watch This Week’s Shorts 🎥

• Merging Indigenous Wisdom With Tech

• It’s NOT That You’re a Procrastinator (Part 1)

• Examples of Subconscious Blocks (Part 2)

• It’s Not About Doing THE MOST

• The Heights of What You’re Capable Of

• The Role of Process (Design Thinking)

• Startup Traction & Early Validation

Sera Tajima

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