Running Lean, 3rd Edition

Part III. Growth

Achieving problem/solution fit is the first significant validation milestone in a startup. From a business model perspective, this indicates that you have successfully demonstrated sufficient initial demand for your product to warrant moving on to the build stage, which sets you off on your journey toward product/market fit (stage 2).

However, be wary that when you first launch an MVP, lots of things can and do go wrong. When that happens, it’s easy to slip back into viewing your solution as the product. The typical reaction is to want to build more stuff—especially when it comes disguised as a customer feature request. In short order, your simple and focused MVP quickly devolves into a bloated monster.

While listening to customers is key, you have to know how—and blindly pushing features is almost never the answer. You need to continue to holistically view your business model as the product (Mindset #1) and use the same process that got you here in the journey ahead.

More specifically, you need to continue running 90-day cycles where you:

• Define 90-day goals using your traction roadmap

• Identify the key constraints holding you back

• Make bets on campaigns for breaking these constraints

• Systematically test your campaigns using sprints

• Make evidence-based 3P (pivot, persevere, pause) decisions

The Journey Ahead

As we’ve covered previously, the journey from problem/solution fit to product/market fit takes roughly 1–24 months. While that seems like a long ...