The Product-Market Fit has become the Grail of any startup. We are looking for it, we claim it, we sometimes lose it without realizing it. Supposed to mark the meeting between a product and a real need, it is also the sine qua non condition of healthy growth. However, its definition remains vague, often intuitive, rarely quantified. In the absence of a clear grid, many startups believe they have reached it – until the traction freezes. So how do you know if the PMF is real? And how to evaluate it with rigor?
A fundamental concept, but poorly framed
Popularized by Marc Andreessen, the Product-Market Fit designates this moment when “the market literally draws the product from the hands of the team”. It is a switch. Before the PMF, each client is difficult to convince. Afterwards, word of mouth is accelerating, the sales cycles shorten, adoption becomes organic. The problem is that few founders can recognize this tilting. Many confuse punctual validation and structural traction.
The danger is twofold: believe in an early PMF, and start recruiting, raising, scaling too early; Or conversely, never dare to recognize it, and unnecessarily curb expansion. It is therefore necessary to objectify this signal.
A double entry matrix: use vs desirability
To assess the level of Product-Market Fit, it is necessary to get out of the mere metric of growth. The right prism combines two axes: Usage intensity (what customers do) and Perceived desirability (what they say). It is their crossing that makes it possible to analyze the solidity of the PMF.
We then obtain four zones:
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- No use, no enthusiasm : The product is ignored. The need is poorly posed, the solution poorly calibrated. We must start from the problem.
- Weak use but desire expressed : Customers say that the product is useful, but adoption remains sporadic. It is often the sign of a “Nice-to-Have”, or an unresolved activation friction.
- Strong use but without attachment : the product is used for lack of better, or because it is integrated into a process. But the churn is high as soon as an alternative appears. We must work on the value proposition.
- Strong use and very attachment : the product becomes difficult to replace. Users recommend it. They pay, come back, insist on staying. This is where the PMF sets in.
This simple frame allows fast reading, without waiting for months of data.
Concrete indicators to follow
If we want to go further, several indicators make it possible to qualify the level of PMF, depending on the nature of the product:
- For a SaaS: the monthly retention rate, the number of sessions per user, the speed of re -reset or upsell.
- For a B2C product: NPS (> 40 is a good signal), the share of the acquisition made by organic recommendation, the retention rate J7/D30.
- For any product: the rate of voluntary unsubscription, free conversion → paid, the share of active customers without recovery marketing.
But beyond the figures, the most revealing test is often qualitative: if we delete the product tomorrow, how many customers call within the hour to complain?
The PMF, a rocking point – not a permanent state
Achieving product-market Fit does not mean that everything is resolved. It is a threshold, not a guarantee. It may disappear if the market evolves, if the competition changes the standards, if the use slides towards another case of use.
The wise founder therefore never considers the PMF as acquired. He monitors him, tests him, maintains him. He knows that each geographic expansion, each added client segment, each change of pricing can question it.
In conclusion
The Product-Market Fit cannot be decreed, it is measured. It is not due to raw growth, but the intensity of use and the perceived value. A simple grid – use vs desirability – allows you to navigate without illusion. Because in reality, everything else – lifting, acquisition, recruitment, scales – depends on this inflection point.
