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Why Product Market Fit for Startups Fails (And How to Get It Right)
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If you’ve ever worked with early-stage founders, you know this: product market fit for startups is rarely lost in execution. It’s usually lost long before a single line of code is written.
That truth came through loud and clear in my recent conversation with Shweta Agrawal on Productside Stories. Shweta’s a seasoned product leader whose work spans Philips, Brightcove, and more than a decade of advising founders across health tech, fintech, edtech, and beyond. And she’s seen every possible way PMF (product market fit) can go sideways.
As we talked, I realized how many teams (whether a one-person startup or a 500-person enterprise) fall into the same traps. The same shortcuts. The same assumptions. The same desire to move fast… without doing the one thing that determines whether product market fit for startups is even possible:
Talking to real customers.
What follows is the story Shweta shared and the lessons every founder and product leader should take from it.
When Founders Rush the Journey to Product Market Fit
Shweta said something early on that made me laugh because I’ve seen it so many times: founders wanting to “launch a product in two months.”
Not an alpha.
Not a prototype.
Not an MVP.
A full product.
She gave one example of a founder who had already designed the website, the pitch, and the entire AI writing tool intended “for everyone.” Writers, journalists, book authors… or maybe just anyone, really. When she asked him how many customers he’d spoken with, the answer was as familiar as it was painful:
“None. But I think this is a real problem.”
Another founder was building an AI learning platform for seniors, people over 60. The whole site was up. The idea was fully formed. And yet when asked who she’d talked to?
No one.
Another founder spent months building a mental-health wearable that would mix sound and music to ease anxiety. They were even trying to raise money. But when Shweta asked how many pilot customers they had?
Zero.
I paused during the interview. Because this isn’t a startup problem. It’s a human problem. When we see a problem ourselves, it becomes hard to imagine other people don’t see it the same way. That’s exactly how product market fit for startups quietly slips out of reach: the founder becomes the customer.
And you can’t find PMF if you’re building only for yourself.
“I Want to Launch Before Someone Else Does”
When I pushed on why founders skip discovery, Shweta explained something important: it’s not that they don’t value it. It’s that they feel pressure.
Pressure from the market.
Pressure from AI hype.
Pressure from the speed of other startups.
Pressure from the belief that whoever “launches first” wins.
But the cost of going fast in the wrong direction is far higher than going slower in the right one.
One founder learned that the hard way. They spent months developing a complete product before talking to customers. When they finally launched?
No one wanted it.
So they had to start over. This time, talking to hundreds of customers, looking for patterns, building alpha tests, creating focus groups, and slowly shaping what the MVP needed to be.
It took more time. But it saved them from repeating the same mistake twice.
This is the heart of product market fit for startups: it’s not a magical moment. It’s a set of evidence points that show people are using your product consistently, paying for it, renewing, and returning.
You can’t sprint your way to evidence. You have to gather it.
The Notebook That Had “Everyone” as the ICP
One of my favorite stories Shweta shared involved a smart notebook: a physical book paired with a pen that syncs your handwritten notes to the cloud.
The founders were convinced it was universal. Students! Professionals! Anyone taking notes!
In early conversations, people said they’d use it. Great. That must be PMF, right?
But when they launched pilots, only two or three customers actually used the product, and not very often.
The early enthusiasm didn’t sustain. The novelty didn’t translate to real behavior. And the glaring question emerged:
Why wouldn’t someone just use an iPad?
When they realized students wouldn’t pay hundreds of dollars for a notebook, they pivoted away from the “everyone” market. They moved toward enterprise buyers who had the budget and use case.
It’s a perfect example of how product market fit for startups isn’t something you “declare.” It’s something market behavior confirms (or contradicts).
And sometimes, as in this case, the market forces you to narrow before you can ever scale.
The Most Underrated Skill: Letting Go of Your Own Assumptions
Shweta told story after story that came back to one theme: the hardest part of achieving PMF is being willing to be wrong.
One founder insisted 5–10 customer interviews were enough. Another assumed their experience alone gave them the insight they needed. Another believed the need was “obvious” because they felt it personally.
But PMF comes from:
- Customers who renew
- Customers who spend more time in your product
- Customers who come back daily or weekly
- Customers who pay every month
- Customers who would be upset if your product disappeared
None of these things are assumptions. They’re behaviors.
And behaviors tell the truth.
How Product Market Fit for Startups Shapes Go-to-Market Success
Toward the end of our conversation, we talked about GTM, not as something you do after finding PMF, but something shaped by PMF.
Your ICP changes.
Your positioning changes.
Your messaging changes.
Your partnerships change.
Your pricing changes.
Everything becomes clearer once product market fit for startups is real.
Shweta described founders expanding internationally without considering cultural differences, compliance, or even how parents in India think about mental health solutions for students (“This is for mental resilience” sells better than “This is for anxiety”). Even the same product requires different messaging and distribution depending on the region.
You can’t get any of that right unless you deeply understand who you’re building for and how they behave.
Where You Go Next With Product Market Fit for Startups
Spending time with Shweta reinforced something I see across so many founders who eventually succeed: they stay curious longer than they stay certain. They pause when others rush. They talk to real customers. They rethink their assumptions. They pivot when the evidence tells them to.
And they redefine what founder discipline really looks like.
- Listen to the full conversation with Shweta Agrawal on Productside Stories — available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. You can also watch it on YouTube.
- Want to strengthen your own ability to validate markets, uncover real customer needs, and build the right product before you build the big product? Explore our Optimal Product Management Certification — the course designed to help PMs and product leaders shift from reactive delivery to strategic, customer-centric judgment.
- Now it’s your turn. Which part of Shweta’s journey resonated most with you? Have you ever had to unlearn your own assumptions in the pursuit of PMF? Share your reflections and tag @Productside on LinkedIn. We’d love to hear how you’re navigating your own path to product market fit.
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