How to Find Product-Market Fit: Lessons from Furqan Rydhan
As an entrepreneur, one of the most important milestones is finding product-market fit - building something that people truly need and love. But how do you actually achieve that?
Furqan Rydhan, an experienced entrepreneur who has built multiple successful companies, recently shared his insights and lessons learned on finding product-market fit. Here are the key takeaways:
Build, Measure, Learn
The most important loop for any startup is: build something, measure how users respond to it, and learn from the feedback to improve. You need to go through this cycle rapidly.
The goal is to find evidence, not just build false confidence. Be brutally honest with yourself about what the data is telling you.
'We lie to ourselves. Each and every one of us create these truths in our heads, and they're lies. Sometimes we do it to motivate ourselves, but we really need to believe in our inputs and efforts, not force ourselves to believe the outputs will happen.'
Identify Your Target Users
When you're starting out, it's tempting to think your product is for 'everyone.' But realistically, you need to narrow it down to find a specific group of users who really need what you're building.
Don't try to boil the ocean. Get specific on the types of users who would be power users of your product. For example, rather than a study app for all students, perhaps focus on students preparing for the MCAT or SAT.
As Furqan explains, even a giant like Amazon only has about 40% of people using it. Most products are not that general. Dial in on who truly needs your product, not who could theoretically use it.
Find Users Who LOVE Your Product
Beyond people liking or using your product, you ultimately need to find a cohort of users who love it and would be very disappointed if it went away. These are the people who will become your early evangelists.
Furqan suggests setting a specific metric, like finding 100 people who are power users and couldn't imagine not having your product. Brute force your way to that initial group of passionate users.
Talk to Users Constantly
There is no substitute for speaking directly to your target users, both fans and skeptics of your product. You need their honest, unfiltered feedback to learn what's working and what needs improvement.
In the early days of one of his startups, Furqan and his team resorted to tactics like buying burritos for people to try their app, crashing high school classes to force students to test it, and cornering people in parking lots to get feedback. You have to be relentless and a little shameless to get enough user data.
'If you don't have enough user feedback, you need to get more users so you can talk to more users.'
Finding product-market fit is not easy, but it's essential for building a successful startup. You have to build, launch and iterate rapidly, while constantly collecting user feedback. Stay focused on finding a core group of users who truly love and need your product.
Ultimately, when you've achieved product-market fit, it should be obvious - users should be banging down your door for the product. As Furqan says, it becomes 'a feeling that whether I wanted to contain it or not, I couldn't.'
Keep pushing through the build-measure-learn loops, stay focused on your target users' needs, and don't give up until you find that magic moment of undeniable product-market fit.
Measure and Set Accountability
Once you've launched an initial version of your product, you need to set clear metrics to measure success and hold yourself accountable.
Furqan suggests creating a single metric that acts as your 'scoreboard.' For a study app, that could be number of active users or study sessions completed. For a musician, it could be song streams. Pick a number that undeniably reflects whether users are getting value from your product.
With your scoreboard set, you can properly evaluate your progress each week. Be honest about whether you're meeting the metric. If not, what can you improve in the next iteration? Having a clear scoreboard keeps you focused on what really matters.
Furqan also recommends building in external accountability. Share your product and metrics with other entrepreneurs. Surround yourself with people who are in a similar stage and can give you honest feedback and pushback. You need people who will call you out if you're just lying to yourself.
Find the One Thing Users Need
To find product-market fit, you have to relentlessly prioritize the one thing your target users need most. All the other features and ideas are distractions until you nail the core value.
Furqan explains it with a simple analogy. Imagine your product is a river, and there are boulders blocking it from flowing. Each week, your job is to remove the biggest boulder. Maybe that's a confusing onboarding flow, maybe it's poor messaging about your core value prop.
Ignore the small pebbles and side ideas. Stay laser-focused on removing the biggest obstacle to delivering what users need. Once you do that, then you can expand and add secondary features. But in the early days, it's all about finding the one thing people really need from you.
The path to product-market fit is not easy. You'll face countless obstacles, and there will be weeks or months where you feel like you're going nowhere. But don't give up.
Keep pushing yourself to talk to users. Keep iterating based on feedback. Surround yourself with supportive but honest peers. And stay focused on delivering real value to a specific type of user.
'At every stage, there is something you need to win today. It's finding that one thing, whether it's a company, a project, or whatever.'
Product-market fit may seem elusive, but it is achievable. Rely on the build-measure-learn loop. Find your scoreboard metric. And just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
'It's not meant to be easy. That's why we're all here. We've chosen that hard path. It's why not everyone is an entrepreneur, a musician, or whatever your path is. Most things you do will only work a little bit. You're seeking the thing that works a lot.'
I hope Furqan's wisdom and experience helps you on your journey to product-market fit. It's worth the struggle. Keep building!
Ready to hear more hard-earned insights from Furqan? Check out the full interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/s2_QvQqZGZc