Founder Insights #2: Finding Product-Market Fit
Welcome to the second edition of our Founder Insights. In this series, we seek to support entrepreneurs by sharing key insights from founders who have paved the way before us. In our first edition, we covered a general overview of how startups can build a strong foundation. In this edition, we will dive deeper into one of these key areas, finding product-market fit.
1. Build a product that users love and share
Founders should focus on building a product that users genuinely love so much that they naturally recommend it to others. Strong word-of-mouth growth is a clear indicator of product-market fit.
“I think the right initial metric is ‘Do any users love our product so much they spontaneously tell other people to use it?’ Until that’s a ‘yes’, founders are generally better off focusing on this instead of a growth target.” - Sam Altman, Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, former president of Y Combinator
2. Start with the needs of a niche audience
Achieving product-market fit requires deep localisation to meet the specific needs of each niche market. By adapting your product to local habits and offering relevant services, startups can drive higher user engagement and organic growth.
“We believe that as we offer more localized everyday services, there will be more users and higher engagement across the user base, when that happens, it attracts more partners and it's a virtuous upward cycle.” - Anthony Tan, Co-founder and CEO of Grab
3. Let actions speak louder than words
Customers may not always fully understand their own needs or behaviours, and their stated preferences can differ from their actual behaviour. Relying solely on user feedback can lead to misguided assumptions, so it is essential to test assumptions and observe how people truly engage with the product.
"When you’re in the early stages, interviewing customers. So many people will say things to you about what they’ll do and how they’ll act, but then how they act is actually really different." - Moses Lo, Founder and CEO of Xendit
4. Build fast and iterate
Attaining product-market fit often requires several attempts and pivots. Failures and setbacks are part of the journey. Founders must embrace them as learning opportunities and iterate on their products to satisfy the needs of users.
"If you’re an entrepreneur, you want to fail… early and often. If you haven’t failed, it means you haven’t tried anything new." - Joel Neoh, Founder and ex-CEO of Fave
5. Stay agile and ready to adapt
Markets evolve, customer needs shift, and external factors (competition, regulation, technology) change. Even after reaching product-market fit, founders must stay agile, adaptable, and ready to adapt. The journey of building a startup is continuous, and adaptability is key to long-term success.
“We’ve gone through some [tough] times, but times will get tough again. Right now I believe we have a strong product-market fit, but the market could shift again. Part of the journey is being always ready and agile.” - Caecilia Chu, Co-founder and CEO of YouTrip
Leave your thoughts on our LinkedIn post! If you are a founder seeking Seed to Series A funding, we invite you to share your journey with us. Please submit your pitch deck through our website, and we will get back to you on the next step.
Written by Wayne Wee (Investment Associate)