Why you cannot get to PMF
date
Apr 18, 2025
slug
no-pmf
status
Published
tags
essay
summary
things i am thinking about
type
Post
Why you cannot get to PMF
The startup jargon PMF means product market fit. The problem with this is that this is the point where you need to get in order to survive, yet there is no clear definition of this milestone.
lets break it down.
Product is something which create more value with less energy in a standardized way.
Value is perceived contribution to a person’s wanting.
Because of these, a product can be only exist with people.
Therefore a product is a standardized contribution to specific people in the direction of they wants. People have names, email addresses so its pretty concrete. A standardized contribution is by definition concrete. The only thing which can vary in this definition is the want. At the time the want change, you either change the list of the concrete people or the solution.
Why I broke it down to the sole definitions and described inner connections? The way we understand product is clearer than all the other parts of the PMF jargon.
Market is a concept for describing supply and demand between people. The problem with market is that it doesn't exist in a two parameter world. People who created the concept were those who wanted to be around money, and had little to no understanding of describing systems in a way thats effective. The more complex the system, more of the kind of people need. The incentives why economics described complex is clear this way.
Fit is also strange. What is enough? It is pure subjectivity from the perspective of the company building the product.
the way out of this nonsense
the goal of a founder is to create value for people. value as described, is coming from a desire/want from people. a desire to change. change happens when there is a drive, a clear vision and clear first steps, and the product of these three is overcoming the resistance of both the person’s own mind and the environment’s.
To get to the point of creating value for users, one should do experiments till they can supply constant value for them. Each experiment consists of 4 parameters.
Problem statement (what makes the users change, desire/want/problem)
Who are the people (list of names, with phone numbers and emails)
Who do I measure the amount of value it created
what are the list of solutions to these three?
Based on the resources (time, money, skills) one have, can should a global optimal solution of the list, which fits the three based hypothesis.
At the end of the experiment, the results should be compared to the hypothesis.
My bad news is that there is no ending of this process. There is no goal, endgame or final boss which after you can log out of the game. If you want to grow is users, go in that direction with the experiments. If you want to take more profit, work on that. These are the never ending tiny steps on the infinite road of making something people want.
The good news is that this is giving a purpose to life.