Before PMF, stay lean and agile, focus on manual traction to build a momentum

Before PMF : making it happen. It’s a movement, not a moment

• Focus on user engagement (would the customer consider the project as a “must have” or be very disappointed if it stops)
• Validate business case … and then think backwards from the desired end state
• Find customer pattern and identify, test and validate each elements of the product
• Grow your audience manually with beta programs, early access and extra care in the sales funnel activities

Stay lean and agile early

“In this early stage, SHV will keep the team quite small for a long period of time. There are no pressures to grow headcount. Production does not necessarily scale linearly with headcount. Early on, it may be counter-productive. The founders + a few founding engineers will remain a team of <5-10, so they can build & iterate quickly.

Build a product. Test it with customers. Refactor based on data. Rinse. Repeat.”

Early on, you can’t skip manual recruitment of your first customers

Manually recruit early customers

Find visionary

Extra-care to retain them while you are iterating on your product.

It can’t be skip.

Some myth

MYTH 1 : Product market fit is always a discrete, big bang event

MYTH 2: It's patently obvious when you have product market fit